a thin piece of wood, slate, metal, asbestos, or the like, usually oblong, laid in overlapping rows to cover the roofs and walls of buildings.
a woman's close-cropped haircut.
Informal. a small signboard, especially as hung before a doctor's or lawyer's office.
verb (used with object),shin·gled,shin·gling.
to cover with shingles, as a roof.
to cut (hair) close to the head.
Idioms
hang out one's shingle, Informal. to establish a professional practice, especially in law or medicine; open an office.
have/be a shingle short, AustralianSlang. to be mentally disturbed, mad, or eccentric.
Origin of shingle
1
1150–1200;Middle Englishscincle, sc(h)ingle < Medieval Latinscindula lath, shingle (Middle English-g- apparently by association with another unidentified word), Latinscandula (Medieval Latin-i- perhaps by association with Greekschíza lath, splinter, or related words)
Related formsshin·gler, noun
shingle
2
[shing-guh l]
noun
small, waterworn stones or pebbles such as lie in loose sheets or beds on a beach.
a beach, riverbank, or other area covered with such small pebbles or stones.
Origin of shingle
2
1530–40; apparently variant of earlier chingle; compare Norwegiansingel small stones
shingle
3
[shing-guh l]
verb (used with object),shin·gled,shin·gling.Metalworking.
to hammer or squeeze (puddled iron) into a bloom or billet, eliminating as much slag as possible; knobble.
Origin of shingle
3
1665–75; < Frenchcingler to whip, beat < Germanzängeln, derivative of Zangetongs
"thin piece of wood," c.1200, scincle, from Late Latin scindula (also the source of German Schindel), altered (by influence of Greek schidax "lath" or schindalmos "splinter") from Latin scandula "roof tile," from scindere "to cleave, split," from PIE root *sked- "to split." Meaning "small signboard" is first attested 1842. Sense of "woman's short haircut" is from 1924; the verb meaning "to cut the hair so as to give the impression of overlapping shingles" is from 1857.
n.2
"loose stones on a seashore," 1510s, probably related to Norwegian singl "small stones," or North Frisian singel "gravel," both said to be echoic of the sound of water running over pebbles.
v.
"cover with shingles" (of houses), 1560s, from shingle (n.). Related: Shingled; shingling.