tile

—tilelike, adj.

/tuyl/, n., v., tiled, tiling.

n.

1. a thin slab or bent piece of baked clay, sometimes painted or glazed, used for various purposes, as to form one of the units of a roof covering, floor, or revetment.

2. any of various similar slabs or pieces, as of linoleum, stone, rubber, or metal.

3. tiles collectively.

4. a pottery tube or pipe used for draining land.

5. Also called hollow tile. any of various hollow or cellular units of burnt clay or other materials, as gypsum or cinder concrete, for building walls, partitions, floors, and roofs, or for fireproofing steelwork or the like.

6. Informal. a stiff hat or high silk hat.

v.t.

7. to cover with or as with tiles.

[bef. 900; ME; OE tigele (c. G Ziegel) < L tegula]

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Thin, flat slab or block used structurally or decoratively in building.

Tiles traditionally have been made of glazed or unglazed fired clay, but modern tiles are also made of plastic, glass, asphalt, and even cork. Ceramic tiles, used for walls, floors, and countertops, are usually machine-pressed, made of fine clays, and very hard. Quarry tiles (used for flooring) and terra-cotta, made of natural clays, are less hard and more porous but very popular for economic and aesthetic reasons. Structural tile, made of fired clay, is a hollow tile containing parallel cells or cores and is used for building partitions. Roof tiles of baked clay and of marble were used in ancient Greece. Tiles came to be widely used in Islamic architecture. Multicoloured, glazed tiles were common in Spain from an early period (see azulejo), and from there spread to Portugal and Latin America. By the 15th century, tilework was used widely in northern Europe; blue-painted tiles from Delft, Holland, were especially renowned. Modern clay roofing tiles may be flat or curved; in the Mediterranean countries, S-shaped tiles (pantiles), laid with alternate convex and concave surfaces uppermost, are common. Modern wall tiles may be highly glazed and semivitreous.

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 thin, flat slab or block used structurally or decoratively in building. Traditionally, tiles have been made of glazed or unglazed fired clay, but modern tiles are also made of plastic, glass, asphalt, or asbestos cement. Acoustical tiles are manufactured from fibreboard or other sound-absorbing materials. Glass blocks are used in partitions. Hollow, ceramic-glazed structural tile is used for partitions in public buildings.

      Roof tiles of some Greek temples were made of marble; in ancient Rome, of bronze. Stone slabs used for roofing in parts of England are called tiles. Many rough forms of terra-cotta are called tiles when used structurally. The steel forms for casting certain types of reinforced concrete floors are referred to as steel tiles.

      Modern ceramic roofing tile, similar to brick, is substantially the same in form as the classic ancient types; improvements have been made only in manufacturing methods, not in design. The most common type of covering for a small house roof in England and parts of France is flat tile designed to hook over roof battens or boards. In Italy, Spain, Greece, and Turkey, pitched roofs are covered with a layer of concave tiles, with convex over-tiles. Around the Mediterranean, tiles of S-shape section are commonly used. Curved tiles are almost always laid in overlapping rows in heavy, waterproof mortar, with the roof's ridges and hips covered by courses of similarly bedded tiles. With flat tiles, the use of mortar is restricted to the convex or pointed tiles covering the hips and ridges.

      Floor tiles are usually made in small geometric shapes. They are machine-pressed, made of fine clays, thoroughly vitrified, and very hard. A gritty substance such as silicon carbide may be added to prevent slipping, even when the tile is wet.

      Wall tiles were first made in ancient Syria, the Tigris-Euphrates valley, and Persia. By the 13th century the manufacture of wall tiles for both exterior and interior use was well established in Persia. By the 14th century a tile developed in Germany and used principally for stoves, with ornament in relief and a glaze of green, yellow, or brown, was in widespread use in northern Europe; blue-painted tiles made in Delft, Neth., from 1600 on were especially renowned. Modern wall tiles may be highly glazed and semivitreous or structural ceramic tile made of fireclay or shale.

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