tile

Etymology 1

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”).

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.
   Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind. 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess
2. (computing) A rectangular graphic.
   Each tile within the map consists of 256 × 256 pixels.
   Sprites and tiles that are hidden in the prototype ROM file can be recovered.
3. Any of various flat cuboid playing pieces used in certain games, such as dominoes, Scrabble, or mahjong.
4. (dated, informal) A stiff hat.
   Tile - Tile, a Hat. 1865, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions
   1911, Charles Collins, Fred E. Terry and E.A. Sheppard, "Any Old Iron", British Music Hall song Dressed in style, brand-new tile, And your father's old green tie on.

verb

1. (transitive) To cover with tiles.
   The handyman tiled the kitchen.
   White marble tiled the bathroom.
   Some professionals begin tiling a wall by setting a full tile in the most visually prominent corner […] 1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, page 38
2. (graphical user interface) To arrange in a regular pattern, with adjoining edges (applied to tile-like objects, graphics, windows in a computer interface).
3. (computing theory) To optimize (a loop in program code) by means of the tiling technique.
4. (Freemasonry) To seal a lodge against intrusions from unauthorised people.

Etymology 2

See tiler (“doorkeeper at a Masonic lodge”).

verb

1. To protect from the intrusion of the uninitiated.
   to tile a Masonic lodge
   tile the door