shingle

[shing-guh l]

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noun

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, Australian Slang. to be mentally disturbed, mad, or eccentric.

Origin of shingle

1150–1200; Middle English scincle, sc(h)ingle < Medieval Latin scindula lath, shingle (Middle English -g- apparently by association with another unidentified word), Latin scandula (Medieval Latin -i- perhaps by association with Greek schíza lath, splinter, or related words)

Related formsshin·gler, noun

shingle

[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

1665–75; < French cingler to whip, beat < German zängeln, derivative of Zange tongs

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for shingled

trim, pare, kiss, shred, skim, brush, slash, shear, prune, finish, fabricate, mold, enclose, erect, construct, envelop, enfold, swathe, fold, ride

Examples from the Web for shingled

Historical Examples of shingled

So they rode on down the hill and along the shingled beach that edged a lagoon.
The Mermaid
Lily Dougall
My house had in the meanwhile been shingled down to the ground on every side.
Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience
Henry David Thoreau
"The roof must be shingled this fall," said Mrs. Page anxiously.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906
Lucy Maud Montgomery
They were shingled roofs; they will be just the same; all the rest are only walls.
Ramona
Helen Hunt Jackson
The tint of the shingled front is brown, and all the colors are low and blended.
Their Pilgrimage
Charles Dudley Warner

British Dictionary definitions for shingled

shingle

noun

a thin rectangular tile, esp one made of wood, that is laid with others in overlapping rows to cover a roof or a wall

a woman's short-cropped hairstyle

US and Canadian a small signboard or nameplate fixed outside the office of a doctor, lawyer, etc

a shingle short Australian informal unintelligent or mentally subnormal

verb (tr)

to cover (a roof or a wall) with shingles

to cut (the hair) in a short-cropped style

Derived Formsshingler, noun

Word Origin for shingle

C12 scingle, from Late Latin scindula a split piece of wood, from Latin scindere to split

shingle

noun

coarse gravel, esp the pebbles found on beaches

a place or area strewn with shingle

Derived Formsshingly, adjective

Word Origin for shingle

C16: of Scandinavian origin; compare Norwegian singl pebbles, Frisian singel gravel

shingle

verb

(tr) metallurgy to hammer or squeeze the slag out of (iron) after puddling in the production of wrought iron

Word Origin for shingle

C17: from Old French dialect chingler to whip, from chingle belt, from Latin cingula girdle; see cingulum

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for shingled

shingle

n.1

"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.

shingle

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.

shingle

"cover with shingles" (of houses), 1560s, from shingle (n.). Related: Shingled; shingling.

Idioms and Phrases with shingled

shingle

see hang out one's shingle.