techn. Also 4–5 tyngyl, -il, 6 tyngle. [Cognate with MHG. zingel ‘little tack, little hook’ (Lexer), of which the LG. form would be tingel. App. f. the same verbal stem ting-, teng- as in TINGER1 + instrumental suffix -el: see -LE suffix 1. The original sense was thus ‘that which fastens,’ a name susceptible of many applications.]
1. A very small kind of nail; the smallest size of tack. Usually tingle nail (also tingle sprig).
[1288. Bosham Acc. (Sussex), in Rogers, Agric. & Pr., I. 472/4. Tingle 750 @ /11/2.]
1377–8. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 587. In D.C tyngylnaile empt. pro fenestr. in granario, xij d.
[1415. York Acc., in Rogers, Agric. & Pr., III. 447/4. Tingle nail 4 m 3 c @ 1/-.]
1449–50. Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees), 239. CCma del Tyngilnaill.
1582. Wills & Inv. N. C. (Surtees), II. 67. vj hondert hetche naills 3/-, xv hondert latt brods 6/-, xij hondreth tyngle naills 5/-.
1832. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 194. The smallest tingle nails of about a quarter of an inch.
1886. G. R. Sims, in Daily News, 4 Dec., 5/6. The smallest [nails], which he calls ‘tingles,’ he can buy a farthing’s worth of.
1892. Labour Commission Gloss., Tingles, also called tacks.
2. A strip of metal bent into an S shape, forming a clip to support heavy panes of glass on roofs; also, a strip of lead turned up at one end, used in replacing slates; also, a strip of lead bent in the middle, of which the lower half is nailed to the board, while the upper half forms a core on which the edges of two contiguous sheets of lead are folded together, to form a close joint.
1884. Spon’s Mechanic’s own Bk. (1886), 627. Tingle for fixing Ridge.
1887. Notes Building Constr. (Rivingtons), 420. When [the roof panes] are large and heavy, any tendency for them to slip down is prevented by hanging the tail of each on to the head of the pane below by means of a zinc or copper tingle. Ibid. (1901), 218. The ends of two adjacent sheets are turned up against one another…; the two are then bent over together to form a roll…. Between the ends of the two sheets so treated is a ‘clip’ or ‘tingle’ … a narrow strip of lead, of which about 2 inches is nailed to the boards.
3. Bricklaying. A small loop of string attached at intervals to a bricklayer’s line, to keep it horizontal and prevent sag. The tingles (Sc. latchets) are supported on bricks laid at intervals along the course, and kept in place by laying another brick upon each. (In some handbooks the name tingle is erroneously given to the supporting bricks.)
1886. Col. Seddon, Builder’s Work, 43. To prevent sagging, if the line be long, it must be carefully propped at intervals … by … tingles.
