Library / English Dictionary

TILE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A flat thin rectangular slab (as of fired clay or rubber or linoleum) used to cover surfaces

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tile" is a kind of...):

slab (block consisting of a thick piece of something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tile"):

tessera (a small square tile of stone or glass used in making mosaics)

Holonyms ("tile" is a part of...):

tile roof (a roof made of fired clay tiles)

Derivation:

tile (cover with tiles)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Game equipment consisting of a flat thin piece marked with characters and used in board games like Mah-Jong, Scrabble, etc.

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("tile" is a kind of...):

man; piece (game equipment consisting of an object used in playing certain board games)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A thin flat slab of fired clay used for roofing

Synonyms:

roofing tile; tile

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("tile" is a kind of...):

roofing material (building material used in constructing roofs)

Meronyms (substance of "tile"):

clay (a very fine-grained soil that is plastic when moist but hard when fired)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "tile"):

hip tile; hipped tile (a tile shaped so as to cover the hip of a hip roof)

pantile (a roofing tile with a S-shape; laid so that curves overlap)

ridge tile (a decorative tile that is bent in cross section; used to cover the ridge of a roof)

Derivation:

tile (cover with tiles)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cover with tiles

Example:

tile the wall and the floor of the bathroom

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "tile" is one way to...):

cover (provide with a covering or cause to be covered)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "tile"):

tessellate (tile with tesserae)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

tile (a flat thin rectangular slab (as of fired clay or rubber or linoleum) used to cover surfaces)

tile (a thin flat slab of fired clay used for roofing)

tiler (a worker who lays tile)

tiling (the application of tiles to cover a surface)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Even then, I would have avoided the room where they all were, but for its being the neat-tiled kitchen I have mentioned more than once.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A sort of tiled veranda extended along one side of it, lined by several windows and two doors.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It is my husband! she quickly hid the roast meat inside the tiled stove, the wine under the pillow, the salad on the bed, the cakes under it, and the parson in the closet on the porch.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

You see, between you an' me close-tiled, I look on this South American business as a mighty serious thing, and if I have a pal with me I want a man I can bank on.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The great fire crackled in the grate, the hooded hawks slept upon their perches, the rough deer-hounds with expectant eyes crouched upon the tiled floor; close at the elbows of the guests stood the dapper little lilac-coated pages; the laugh and jest circled round and all was harmony and comfort.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The ladders were now applied, and mounted by several men; which the monkey observing, and finding himself almost encompassed, not being able to make speed enough with his three legs, let me drop on a ridge tile, and made his escape.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

It was lined with books, and there were pictures and statues, and distracting little cabinets full of coins and curiosities, and Sleepy Hollow chairs, and queer tables, and bronzes, and best of all, a great open fireplace with quaint tiles all round it.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I put up at the old inn, and went down to look at the sea; staggering along the street, which was strewn with sand and seaweed, and with flying blotches of sea-foam; afraid of falling slates and tiles; and holding by people I met, at angry corners.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)