tiles

Noun

tile (plural tiles)

1. A regularly-shaped slab of clay or other material, affixed to cover or decorate a surface, as in a roof-tile, glazed tile, stove tile, carpet tile, etc.
   • Sepia Delft tiles surrounded the fireplace, their crudely drawn Biblical scenes in faded cyclamen blending with the pinkish pine, while above them, instead of a mantelshelf, there was an archway high enough to form a balcony with slender balusters and a tapestry-hung wall behind.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 3, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
2. A rectangular graphic.
   • Each tile within the map consists of 256 × 256 pixels.
3. Any of various flat cuboid playing pieces used in certain games, such as dominoes, Scrabble, or mahjong.
   • One hot summer day in the Chinese city of Nan-ning, I wandered through a park of lotus leaves and exotic flowers to a pagoda where ancient women sat, drowsily, happily playing mahjongg amidst the scent of flowers, and that excellent sound of clicking tiles enchanted me; I was far from home, but...2005, William T. Vollmann, “They Came Out Like Ants!”, in Dave Eggers, editor, The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2005 (Literature), Houghton Mifflin Company, →ISBN, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 298
4. (dated, informal) A stiff hat.
   • Tile - Tile, a Hat.1865, Charles Dickens, chapter III, in Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions
5. (Lego building) A Lego piece that is 1/3 the height of a brick, and is smooth without studs on top.

See all 10 meanings of tile