tile

[ tahyl ]

noun

1. a thin slab or bent piece of baked clay, sometimes painted or glazed, used for various purposes, as to form one of the units of a roof covering, floor, or revetment.
2. any of various similar slabs or pieces, as of linoleum, stone, rubber, or metal.
3. tiles collectively.
4. a flat, rectangular playing piece used in certain games, as Scrabble and mah-jongg.
5. a pottery tube or pipe used for draining land.
6. Also called hollow tile. any of various hollow or cellular units of burnt clay or other materials, as gypsum or cinder concrete, for building walls, partitions, floors, and roofs, or for fireproofing steelwork or the like.
7. Informal. a stiff hat or high silk hat.

verb (used with object)

, tiled, til·ing.

1. to cover with or as with tiles.

tile

/ taɪl /

noun

1. a flat thin slab of fired clay, rubber, linoleum, etc, usually square or rectangular and sometimes ornamental, used with others to cover a roof, floor, wall, etc tegular
2. a short pipe made of earthenware, concrete, or plastic, used with others to form a drain
3. tiles collectively
4. a rectangular block used as a playing piece in mah jong and other games
5. old-fashioned.
   a hat
6. on the tiles informal.
   on the tiles on a spree, esp of drinking or debauchery

verb

1. tr to cover with tiles

Derived Forms

• ˈtiler, noun

Other Words From

• tilelike adjective
• re·tile verb (used with object) retiled retiling

Word History and Origins

Origin of tile¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English tīgele (cognate with German Ziegel ), from Latin tēgula

Word History and Origins

Origin of tile¹

Old English tīgele, from Latin tēgula; related to German Ziegel

Example Sentences

The total volume is the sum of the individual volumes of all the tiles used in the triangulation.

From Quanta Magazine

“The tiles make a huge impact, and they definitely define the room,” she says.

From Washington Post

Assistant will now be possible to add as a tile on Tobii’s eye-tracking tablets and mobile apps, which present a large customizable grid of commonly used items that the user can look at to activate.

From TechCrunch

In 2014, a patient’s wife filed suit after soaked ceiling tiles fell and struck her in the head while she was sitting in the hospital lobby.

From ProPublica

Within that space, there are infinitely many ways of placing infinitely many tiles.

From Quanta Magazine

Tile work in the bathrooms, furniture, and artwork on the walls all flowed together and carried his creative touch.

From The Daily Beast

Revered and dutiful, he fought (and was injured) in World War II, and succeeded to the tile in 1953.

From The Daily Beast

As I reach the berm of sand, tile and stucco that marked a kind of front line, bodies are being piled on carts in the street.

From The Daily Beast

The second he does, her giggle sends the Queen of Spades cascading to the brown tile floor below.

From The Daily Beast

She was standing out of the way, over against the gray tile wall.

From The Daily Beast

It is in the Elizabethan style, with half-timber frame and sagging tile roof.

From Project Gutenberg

A variety of paving tile called "oven tiles" is of similar material to the ordinary red brick, and in size is 10 or 12 in.

From Project Gutenberg

Gutters also of tile ran along the eaves to conduct the water into cisterns, if it was needed for domestic purposes.

From Project Gutenberg

The roofs are of tile, for the winters on the hills are too severe to permit the flat, terraced roofs of Algiers or Bona.

From Project Gutenberg

This stopper sometimes is of tile, sometimes a plug of paper or burlap.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• brick
• plate
• shingle