See Also: tile(medicine)
tile(encyclopedia)
tile(2)(dictionary)
tile(1)(dictionary)
galley-tile(dictionary)
quarry tile(dictionary)
tile 1, noun(dictionary)
tile 2, verb(dictionary)
Tile Bars(law)
OLEAN TILE EMPLOYEES Credit Union(finance)

tile(1) (iou)



tile noun.

A thin slab of baked clay usu. of a regular shape and used in a series for covering a roof, paving a floor, lining a wall or fireplace, etc. Now also, similar covering made of other material such as concrete, glazed pottery, marble, cork, linoleum, etc. OE.
bathroom tile, carpet tile, cork tile, etc.
V. Sackville-West The damaged tiles were..half-stripped from the roof. E. Welty The..floral tiles that paved the front gallery.
b. Metallurgy. A small flat piece of earthenware used to cover a vessel in which metals are fused. M18.
c. A hollow cylindrical or semi-cylindrical section made of clay, concrete, etc., used for draining land, roads, buildings, etc. M19.
The material of which tiles or bricks consist, baked clay; tiles collectively. Now rare. ME.
Dickens Well-paved roads, and foot-ways of bright tile.
A hat. slang. E19.
A thin flat piece used in a game, esp. in mah-jong or Scrabble; a domino. M19.
Math. A plane shape used in tiling. L20.
Phrases: Dutch tile: see DUTCH adjective. have a tile loose slang be slightly crazy. hip-tile: see HIP noun1. on the tiles [after the nocturnal activities of cats] slang having a spree, on a debauch. PENROSE tile.
Comb.: tile-drain noun & verb (a) noun a drain constructed of tiles; (b) verb trans. drain (a field etc.) by means of tiles; tile-drainage: constructed of tiles; tilefish any of various fishes of the family Malacanthidae (or Branchiostegidae), having elongated or compressed bodies, esp. the brightly coloured Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps, caught for food off the US Atlantic coast; tile game: played with flat pieces; tile-hanging tiling fixed vertically to an outside wall; tile-kiln: in which tiles are baked; tile-maker a person whose trade is the making of tiles; tile-ore cuprite; tile-sherd (obsolete exc. dial.) a broken piece or fragment of tile; tile-work (a) work consisting of tiles; (b) in pl. (treated as sing.), a factory making tiles; tile-yard a place where tiles are made.
tilery noun a place where tiles are made M19.