Forms: α. 1 tiʓule, 1–2 tiʓele, 3 tiȝel, 4 teȝele, tijl, 4–5 tiel, 4–6 tyel, 4–9 tyle, 5 til, tyl, tille, tyell, tyil, tyȝl(l, tele, 5–6 teylle, tylle, 4– tile. β. Sc. and north. dial. 5–6 tild, tyld(e. [OE. tiʓule, tiʓele:—WGer. tegala, ad. L. tēgula a tile, f. teg-ĕre to cover. So OHG. ziagal (MHG., G. ziegel), Du. tegel, tichel, ON. tigl (Sw. tegel, Da. tegl).]
1. A thin slab of burnt clay, shaped according to the purpose for which it is required; usually unglazed and flat or curved for covering the roofs of buildings, flat for lining ovens, etc.; flat, usually glazed and sometimes encaustically ornamented when used to pave floors, or line walls, fire-places, etc.; semi-cylindrical or tunnel-shaped when used for purposes of drainage.
a. originally and generally as used for roofing purposes; hence also applied to similar coverings of metal, marble, † wood ‘shingles,’ etc.
a. 725. Corpus Gloss., 1992 (O.E.T.), Tegula, tiʓule.
c. 825. Vesp. Ps. xxi. 16 [xxii. 15]. Adruʓade swe swe tiʓule [L. testa] meʓen min.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 156. ʓebærn under tiʓelan to ahsan.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18930. Þe fire es god to strengh þe tile.
1340. Ayenb., 167. Tribulacion makeþ pacience … ase þet uer makeþ þe teȝele hard.
c. 1400. Brut, ccxlii. 352. A large hous of tymbir … couered with tylez ouyr.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 667/22. Hec tegula, teylle.
1552. Huloet, Tyles of woode called shyngles.
1555. Eden, Decades, 150. Their houses … are couered eyther with tyles, slates, reades, or stalkes of certeyne herbes.
1613. Purchas, Pilgrimage (1614), 467. The house wherein his Pagode … standeth, is couered with Tiles of siluer.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 64. The building is very faire, of free stone…, but covered with tiles of wood for the most part.
1678. Cudworth, Intell. Syst., I. iv. 460. He uncovered another Temple…, and taking off the Marble-Tyles thereof, sent them into Spain to adorn his new erected Temple withal.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1818), 27. Even a single tile, dropping from the roof, may be as fatal as the fall of the whole structure.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xiii. 30. The better houses … have red tiles upon the roofs.
1850. Leitch, trans. C. O. Müller’s Anc. Art, § 53. Byzes of Naxos invented the art of cutting marble tiles about the 50th Olympiad.
1857. Birch, Art. Pottery (1858), I. 162. Tiles were extensively used in Greece for roofing.
† b. As used in building generally, and including thicker slabs of the shape and quality of bricks: cf. TILE-STONE 1. Obs.
(Cf. the corresponding use of G. ziegel. The word brick first appears in E. in the 15th c.)
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Oros., II. iv. § 7. [Se weall] is ʓeworht of tiʓelan & of eorðtyrewan. [c. 1250–1387: see 2.]
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 709. & wallis make Fal hye of harde tilis wel I-bake.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., III. xi. 158. They made other [pillar] … of tyles all hole wythoute ony Ioyntures.
c. As used for paving floors, lining walls, fire-places, etc.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Sompn. T., 397. Ne of our pauement Nys nat a tyl yet with-Inne oure wones. [c. 1394, 1426–7: see 2.]
1611. Cotgr., Quarreau,… a square tile, or bricke, fit to paue with.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 343/2. Roman Tiles … found in Vaults and Cellars in Chester.
1715. Leoni, Palladio’s Archit. (1742), I. 27. The Floors may be made … of square Tyles.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Flemish or Dutch Tyles are of two kinds, antient and modern.—The antient were used for chimney foot-paces…. The modern Flemish tyles are commonly used plastered up in the jaumbs of chimneys, instead of chimney-corner-stones.
1735. Berkeley, Querist, § 117. Whether tiles and plaster may not supply the place of Norway fir for flooring.
1844. Dickens, Christmas Carol, i. The fireplace … paved … with quaint Dutch tiles.
1888. Miss Braddon, Fatal Three, I. v. The walls were lined with Minton tiles.
d. As used for draining land, roads, buildings, etc., or for other purposes. These are either hollow tubes or semicircular and open.
1830, 1844. [see tile-draining, -machine in 6].
1869. Boutell, Arms & Arm., iv. (1874), 60. One of these shields is an elongated and convex oblong, somewhat resembling a hollowed water-course tile.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., vi. 122. See what the farmer accomplishes by a cartload of tiles: he alters the climate by letting off water.
1875. W. M‘Ilwraith, Guide to Wigtownshire, 118. The spring … has been diverted into tiles, and forms a spout-well.
1883. Fisheries Exhib. Catal., 297. Tiles prepared for collecting Spat…. Knives for detaching the young oysters from the chalked tile.
e. Metallurgy. A small flat piece of baked earth or earthenware used to cover vessels in which metals are fused.
1741. Cramer, Art Assaying Metals, 67. In Fusions, it is often necessary to cover the Vessels with Tiles…. These are made of the same Matter as the melting Pots and Crucibles.
1753. Chambers, Cycl. Supp., Tile, or Tyle, in assaying, a small flat piece of dried earth, used to cover vessels in which metals are in fusion…. The Tile sits close upon the vessel.
1877. Knight, Dict. Mech., Tile … 2. (Brass-founding.) The cover of a brass furnace. Now made of iron, but formerly a flat tile…. 3. (Metallurgy.) A clay cover for a melting-pot.
f. The name given to a small flat plate of copper: cf. tile copper in 6.
1868. Joynson, Metals, 99. The copper, when at the proper state of refining, is cast into ‘ingots,’ ‘tiles,’ or ‘wire bars,’ according to the demands of the trade.
g. To have a tile loose (and similar expressions derived from roofing tiles): to be slightly crazy, or not quite right in the head. slang.
1846. W. H. Maxwell, Brian O’Linn, xvii. (1849), 133/2. Well, in charity let us admit that there is not a tile off your upper story, as they say in the north,—and only write you down a fool.
1870. G. Macdonald, At Back of North Wind xix. (1882), 187. ‘The cabbies call him God’s baby,’ she whispered. ‘He’s not right in the head, you know. A tile loose.’
1877. Besant & Rice, Harp & Crown, I. iv. 60. Is he cracked? Has my cousin dropped a tile? None of the family ever showed any inclination to mania.
2. The material of which tiles or bricks consist, burnt clay (cf. BRICK sb.1 1); tiles (or † bricks) collectively (in early use const. as pl.). † Oil of tile = brick-oil (BRICK sb.1 10). Obs.
α. c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2552. Ðo sette sundri hem to waken His tiȝel and lim, and walles maken.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1533 (Cott.). Tua pilers þai mad, o tile þe tan, Þe toþer it was o merbul stan.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 297. I fonde a citee of brend tyle, and now I leve a citee of marbil.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 194. Þat cloister … was … y-paued wiþ peynt til, iche poynte after oþer.
1426–7. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 64. Payd for xjll pavyng tyle.
1566. in J. Morris, Troubles Cath. Forefathers (1877), 336. All the residue of tile, timber, and stuff.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IV. 139. The couertures being erected … after the Italian fashion with gutterd tyle.
1634. J. B[ate], Myst. Nat., 64. Take of oyle of Tile one pound.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 142. To do them with Dutch Tile, such as they set Chimneys with.
1842. Dickens, Amer. Notes, xi. (1850), 112/1. Cincinnati is a beautiful city … with … its well-paved roads, and foot-ways of bright tile.
β. c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., I. v. 235. He gert twa pilleris sone be maid: Off tild or plaister wes the tane, The toþer wes of merbill stane.
c. 1450. Maitl. Club Misc., III. 205. A litill basyn of payntit tild for the hee alter.
1552. Lyndesay, Monarche, 1702. All fell to warke, boith man and chylde, Sum holkit claye, sum brynt the tylde.
1553–4. Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1871), II. 346. Item, to Maister Johne Prestoun for ane hundreith tylde … xvs.
† b. The covering of a roof, roofing. Obs. rare.
1611. Coryat, Crudities, 362. The tyle of most of their houses is made of pieces of wood.
3. slang. A hat. Cf. TILED ppl. a. 1 c.
1823. in Spirit Pub. Jrnls., 55. The prompter’s boy threw up his tile.
1825. Sporting Mag., XVI. 59. The Suffolk Champion took off his tile, and made a silent appeal.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xii. Afore the brim went it was a wery handsome tile.
1873. O. W. Holmes, Centen. Dinner Boston Pier, 22. The square-toed boys in the three-cornered tiles.
4. Applied to an ancient Greek game: see quot.
1837. B. D. Walsh, Aristoph., Knights, II. iv. 212, note. ‘The game of tiles’ was played [thus].—A tile is provided,… black on one side, and white on the other. The players are separated into two … parties, the blacks and the whites. A child tosses up the tile in the air,… if it falls with the black side uppermost, the blacks run after the whites [etc.].
5. Short for TILE-FISH.
1893. Worthington’s Mag. (Hartford, Conn.), I. 150. The Tile should be obtainable in numbers equal to the cod … its flesh is more delicate and has a better flavor.
6. attrib. and Comb., as tile pavement, paving, roof, roofing, sole; tile-layer, -moulder, -scraper; tile-clad, -covered, -floored, -like, -lined, -paved, -roofed adjs.; tile-burner, one who burns or bakes clay into tiles, a tile-maker; tile-clay, a kind of clay adapted for making tiles; tile copper, impure copper or ‘bottoms’ (BOTTOM sb. 8 b) made in flat rectangular plates or ‘tiles’; tile creasing: see CREASING vbl. sb.2 2; tile-drain sb., a drain constructed of tiles; so tile-drain v. trans., to drain (a field, etc.) by means of tiles; tile-draining vbl. sb.; tile-earth = tile-clay; tile-field, a piece of ground where tiles are made: cf. brick-field; tile-laths, laths supporting the tiles of a roof; tile-machine, a machine for making tiles, esp. drain-tiles; † tile-oast = TILE-KILN; tile-ore, an earthy variety of cuprite or copper ore, usually of a reddish color; tile-oven = TILE-KILN; tile-pipe, a hollow cylindrical tile for drainage; tile-pit, a pit in which clay for tiles is dug; tile-red a. and sb., (of) a red color like that of tiles; tile-root, name for the South African genus Geissorhiza of iridaceous plants, from the overlapping scales on the rhizome, the remains of the bases of the leaves; tile-seed, name for the Australian genus Geissois of saxifragaceous trees, from the flattened seeds; † tile-stricker, a workman who formed the clay into a brick or tile; tile-tea, an inferior kind of brick-tea: see quots.; † tile-theeker, one who covers roofs with tiles, a tiler; tile-ways adv., in the manner or form of a tile or tiles; tile-work, work consisting of tiles; formerly including brick-work, and pottery in general; tile-works, a place in which tiles are made; tile-wright [repr. OE. tiʓel wyrhta], a maker of tiles; tile-yard, a yard or enclosure where tiles are made. See also TILE-FISH, -KILN, etc.
1563–6. in Archæologia, XXXVI. 303. To the *tyle burner.
1830. Cumb. Farm Rep., 62, in Lib. U. K., Husb., III. The engagement with the Staffordshire tile burner.
1849. Clough, Amours de Voyage, III. 233. Looking down on the *tile-clad streets.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), I. 78. A sort of yellow *Tile-Clay.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 714. The copper should be tough cake, and not *tile.
1870. Roskell, in Eng. Mech., 18 Feb., 547/3. They are then separated … and worked up to make an inferior quality of copper, known in the trade as ‘tile copper.’
1854. H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 316. Dingy, low-roofed, *tile-covered hovels.
1591. Percival, Sp. Dict., Tejo, a *tile couering.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 585. The Marquis of Tweeddale … has … *tile-drained extensively.
1830. Cumb. Farm Rep., 67, in Lib. Usef. Kn., Husb., III. The system of *tile-draining is … begun in Ayrshire.
1828. Webster, *Tile-earth, a species of strong clayey earth; stiff and stubborn land.
1882. Ogilvie, s.v. Tile-field, The palace of the Tuileries is thus named from standing on what was once a *tile-field.
1849. Dickens, Dav. Copp., x. The *tile-floored kitchen.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 188. A tile roof requires *tile-lath, 11/4 inch square, and 11 inches apart.
1851. Richardson, Geol. (1885), 448. Ancient reptiles…; their … covering consisted of long, narrow, wedge-shaped, *tile-like, horny scales.
1895. Jrnl. Roy. Inst. Brit. Archit., 14 March, 348. The *tile-lined walls of the Alhambra.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 581. The … *tile-machine … makes tiles at the rate of 10,000 tiles a day.
1591. Percival, Sp. Dict., Tejar, a *tile ost.
1823. Ure, Dict. Chem. (ed. 2), *Tile ore, a sub-species of octohedral red copper ore.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Sam. xii. 31. He broughte them forth … and burned them in *tyle ouens.
1891. in Cent. Dict.
1715. Leoni, Palladio’s Archit. (1742), I. 27. Square *Tyle-Pavements are more agreeable to the Eye.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., I. 431. And yote on hit *tyl pauyng playn and stronge.
1849. Ecclesiologist, IX. 356. Cylindrical *tile-pipes.
1656. Heylin, Surv. France, 120. Many lime-kils and *Tile-pits.
1805–17. R. Jameson, Char. Min. (ed. 3), 71. *Tile-red is hyacinth-red, mixed with greyish-white…. Examples, Porcelain-jasper and zeolite.
1600. Holland, Livy, XXXVI. xxxvii. 939. Two tame oxen climed up a ladder in the street Carinæ, to the *tyle-roofe of a certaine house.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 199. In *tile-roofing, tiles are made on purpose to hold a pane of glass.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants (1836), 40. Geissorhiza, *Tile Root.
1884. Miller, Plant-n., *Tile-seed.
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 530. The bricks … could form either a smooth inclined sole like *tile-soles, or a series of steps.
1585. Canterbury Marr. Licences, 22 May (MS.). *Tyle-stricker.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Tile-tea, a kind of flat brick tea, of much solidity, made in China,… sold to the Armenians and Tartars, who distribute it to the Caucasian provinces and Eastern Siberia…. It is … stewed with milk, butter, salt, and herbs, constituting rather an article of food than a … beverage.
1882. Ogilvie, Tile-tea, a kind of inferior tea prepared by stewing refuse leaves with milk, butter, salt, and herbs, and solidifying the mixture by pressing it into moulds.
c. 1440. York Myst., xiv. (heading) The *tille thekers.
1789. Mrs. Piozzi, Journ. France, II. 272. The roofs are all wood cut *tile-ways.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. ix. 10. The *tyle worcke is fallen downe, but we will buylde it with harder stones.
1865. Eliza Meteyard, Jos. Wedgwood, I. 42. The … term of tilework embraced every article manufactured by the Saxon, and later by the Norman Potter.
1882. Ogilvie, Tile-work [? *Tile-works], a place where tiles are made; a tilery.
1891. Cent. Dict., Tile-works.
1906. A. B. Todd, Autobiog., vii. 70. I went to labour at the Lanfine tile-works.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxvii. 10. & hiʓ sealdon þæt on *tiʓelwyrhtena æcyr.
1865. Eliza Meteyard, Jos. Wedgwood, I. 93. Every worker in its clays became a tile-wright, whether he moulded tiles, or formed the homely pipkin or porringer, the slab-like dish, or ale-vat for the hall.
1832. Scoreby Farm Rep., 24, in Lib. U. K., Husb., III The price … at the *tile-yards is from thirty-five to forty-two shillings per thousand.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, vi. Some very uncomfortable places, such as brick-fields and tile yards.
