tile

Meaning

Noun

1. A regularly-shaped slab of clay or other material, affixed to cover or decorate a surface, as in a roof-tile, glazed tile, stove tile, carpet tile, etc.
2. A rectangular graphic.
3. Any of various flat cuboid playing pieces used in certain games, such as dominoes, Scrabble, or mahjong.
4. (informal) A stiff hat.

Verb

1. To cover with tiles.
2. To arrange in a regular pattern, with adjoining edges (applied to tile-like objects, graphics, windows in a computer interface).
3. To optimize (a loop in program code) by means of the tiling technique.
4. To seal a lodge against intrusions from unauthorised people.

Verb

To protect from the intrusion of the uninitiated.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/taɪl/

Etymology

From Middle English tile, tyle, tigel, tiȝel, teȝele, from Old English tieġle, tiġle, tiġele (“tile; brick”), from Proto-West Germanic *tigulā, from Proto-Germanic *tigulǭ (“tile”), from Latin tēgula. Doublet of tegula.
Cognates
Cognate with Saterland Frisian Tichel (“tile”), West Frisian teil, tegel, tichel (“tile”), Dutch tichel, tegel (“tile”), German Ziegel (“brick; tile”), Danish tegl (“brick”), Swedish tegel (“brick; tile”), Icelandic tigl (“tile; brick”).