shingle

¹

[ shing-guhl ]

noun

1. 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.
2. a woman's close-cropped haircut.
3. Informal. a small signboard, especially as hung before a doctor's or lawyer's office.

verb (used with object)

, shin·gled, shin·gling.

1. to cover with shingles, as a roof.
2. to cut (hair) close to the head.

shingle

²

[ shing-guhl ]

noun

1. small, waterworn stones or pebbles such as lie in loose sheets or beds on a beach.
2. a beach, riverbank, or other area covered with such small pebbles or stones.

shingle

³

[ shing-guhl ]

verb (used with object)

, Metalworking.

, shin·gled, shin·gling.

1. to hammer or squeeze (puddled iron) into a bloom or billet, eliminating as much slag as possible; knobble.

shingle

¹

/ ˈʃɪŋɡəl /

noun

1. a thin rectangular tile, esp one made of wood, that is laid with others in overlapping rows to cover a roof or a wall
2. a woman's short-cropped hairstyle
3. a small signboard or nameplate fixed outside the office of a doctor, lawyer, etc
4. a shingle short informal.
   unintelligent or mentally subnormal

verb

1. to cover (a roof or a wall) with shingles
2. to cut (the hair) in a short-cropped style

shingle

²

/ ˈʃɪŋɡəl /

noun

1. coarse gravel, esp the pebbles found on beaches
2. a place or area strewn with shingle

shingle

³

/ ˈʃɪŋɡəl /

verb

1. tr metallurgy to hammer or squeeze the slag out of (iron) after puddling in the production of wrought iron

Derived Forms

• ˈshingler, noun
• ˈshingly, adjective

Other Words From

• shingler noun

Word History and Origins

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of shingle¹

C12 scingle, from Late Latin scindula a split piece of wood, from Latin scindere to split

Origin of shingle²

C16: of Scandinavian origin; compare Norwegian singl pebbles, Frisian singel gravel

Origin of shingle³

C17: from Old French dialect chingler to whip, from chingle belt, from Latin cingula girdle; see cingulum

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. hang out one's shingle, Informal. to establish a professional practice, especially in law or medicine; open an office.
2. have / be a shingle short, Australian Slang. to be mentally disturbed, mad, or eccentric.

More idioms and phrases containing shingle

see hang out one's shingle .

Example Sentences

That rate, set by Medicare, is similar to reimbursement fees for administering other vaccines, such as for the flu or shingles.

From Washington Post

Now they have solar panels that integrate into the roof shingles or the tile on the roof, and you can hardly tell, you can hardly see it.

From Time

To make matters worse, the study found that follow-up vaccination rates for the shingles were much lower for certain groups.

From Fortune

Most obviously, while shingles can be extremely painful and even debilitating, it is rarely life-threatening.

From Fortune

Experts say the new coronavirus vaccine has similar side effects to the widely distributed shingles vaccine.

From Washington Post

I could go to college and hang out a shingle and make $10,000 a year.

From The Daily Beast

The shingle recently bid its co-founder and CEO James Schamus adieu, replacing him with FilmDistrict CEO Peter Schlessel.

From The Daily Beast

Pundits put out a shingle with a new website and go around asking the usual suspects for money to get them up and running.

From The Daily Beast

They accepted, and re-released their debut in 2010 on Interscope shingle Cherrytree Records to critical acclaim.

From The Daily Beast

Some of you may be departing the corporate world, going freelance, or hanging out an eponymous shingle.

From The Daily Beast

Standing in the wet shingle, Maynard regarded the speckled atom as it lay in the palm of his hand.

From Project Gutenberg

He is actually climbing the roof, to make sure every old, worn-out shingle is replaced by a new one.

From Project Gutenberg

At two o'clock she drew rein before a large brown shingle house on the highest point of Rosewater.

From Project Gutenberg

Scattergood Baines was not a man to shingle his roof before he built his foundations.

From Project Gutenberg

There were further red spots on the shingle, and they led forward in the direction in which the rescue party had gone.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• brush
• cut down
• kiss
• pare
• prune
• shear
• shred
• skim
• slash
• trim