tile. Plate of burnt clay. Thin flat tiles are termed plain tiles, and are commonly used to clad roofs or walls: in the latter case the wall is referred to as being tile-hung. Thicker tiles, often of the encaustic type, are used for paving. Glazed coloured tiles for wall-finishes were employed in Ancient Mesopotamian architec-ture, and that tradition continued in Islamic architecture. In Spain, Moorish architecture was often decorated with glazed tilework of great beauty (alicatado) formed of uniformly shaped azulejos. Glazed tiles were often employed in France and The Netherlands from C15 to C17, and during C19 were widely used throughout Europe and America, especially in Art Nouveau and Arts-and-Crafts work of the 1890s and 1900s.

Bibliography

J. Barnard (1972);
Berendsen (1967);
T. Herbert & and Huggins (1995);
Lemmen (1993);
W. McKay (1957);
J. Parker (1850);
Jane Turner (1996);
Vallet (1982)

tile / tīl/ • n. a thin rectangular slab of baked clay, concrete, or other material, used in overlapping rows for covering roofs. ∎  a thin square slab of glazed ceramic, cork, linoleum, or other material for covering floors, walls, or other surfaces. ∎  a thin, flat piece used in Scrabble, mah-jongg, and certain other games. ∎  Math. a plane shape used in tiling.• v. [tr.] (usu. be tiled) cover (something) with tiles: the lobby was tiled in blue. ∎  Comput. arrange (two or more windows) on a computer screen so that they do not overlap.

tile To arrange open windows on a display such that no window overlaps any other window. Conversely when the windows are arranged in an echelon one on top of the other such that each one reveals a little of the one beneath it, they are said to be cascaded.

tile thin slab of burnt clay for roofing, paving, etc. OE. tiġele (tiġule), corr. to OS. tiegla (Du. tegel), OHG. ziagal(a) (G. ziegel), ON. tigl — L. tēgula, f. IE. *teg- cover.