shingle
1 Americannoun
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a thin piece of wood, slate, metal, asbestos, or the like, usually oblong, laid in overlapping rows to cover the roofs and walls of buildings.
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a woman's close-cropped haircut.
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Informal. a small signboard, especially as hung before a doctor's or lawyer's office.
verb (used with object)
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to cover with shingles, as a roof.
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to cut (hair) close to the head.
idioms
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hang out one's shingle, to establish a professional practice, especially in law or medicine; open an office.
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have / be a shingle short, to be mentally disturbed, mad, or eccentric.
noun
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small, waterworn stones or pebbles such as lie in loose sheets or beds on a beach.
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a beach, riverbank, or other area covered with such small pebbles or stones.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a thin rectangular tile, esp one made of wood, that is laid with others in overlapping rows to cover a roof or a wall
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a woman's short-cropped hairstyle
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a small signboard or nameplate fixed outside the office of a doctor, lawyer, etc
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informal unintelligent or mentally subnormal
verb
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to cover (a roof or a wall) with shingles
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to cut (the hair) in a short-cropped style
noun
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coarse gravel, esp the pebbles found on beaches
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a place or area strewn with shingle
verb
Other Word Forms
- shingler noun
- shingly adjective
Etymology
Origin of shingle1
First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English scincle, sc(h)ingle, shyngle, ultimately from Latin scindula, variant of scandula “lath, shingle” ( Middle English -g- is unexplained); Latin scindula is due perhaps to association with Greek schíza, schídax “piece of split wood, splinter”
Origin of shingle2
First recorded in 1530–40; apparently variant of earlier chingle; further origin uncertain; but compare North Frisian singel “gravel,” Norwegian singel “small stones”
Origin of shingle3
First recorded in 1665–75; from French cingler “to whip, beat,” from German zängeln “to shingle,” derivative of Zange “pincers, pliers”; tong
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
In prison, he became devoted to working out; after his release, Mr. James hung out his shingle as a personal trainer.
A shingles vaccine may do more than prevent a painful rash.
From Science Daily
It had previously been thought that vaccinating children against chickenpox would cause a problematic rise in the linked condition shingles, but a recent long-term study from the US disproved that theory.
From BBC
Among the three, the shingles vaccine stood out.
From Science Daily
Uprooted trees, a telephone pole, and the shingled roof of a small shed floated in the water behind the downed section of the bridge, trapped against the steel girder that now angled into the river.
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
