shingles

[ shing-guhlz ]

noun(used with a singular or plural verb)Pathology.
  1. a disease caused by the varicella zoster virus, especially by reactivated virus in an older person, characterized by skin eruptions and pain along the course of involved sensory nerves.

Origin of shingles

1
First recorded in 1350–1400; from Medieval Latin cingulum, in Latin: “girdle,” from cingere “to gird, cinch” (cf. cincture); translation of Greek zṓnē “belt” or zōstḗr “girdle”; see zone, zoster

Words Nearby shingles

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use shingles in a sentence

  • You would think that a man with a wooden leg was having a fit on the shingles right over our heads.

  • The polite thing for him to do would be to step down on the shingles and walk around them, but does he do it?

  • He gives the nearest youngster a vicious peck that makes him jump in the air and land sprawling a few feet down on the shingles.

British Dictionary definitions for shingles

shingles

/ (ˈʃɪŋɡəlz) /


noun
  1. (functioning as singular) an acute viral disease affecting the ganglia of certain nerves, characterized by inflammation, pain, and skin eruptions along the course of the affected nerve: Technical names: herpes zoster, zoster

Origin of shingles

1
C14: from Medieval Latin cingulum girdle, rendering Greek zōnē zone

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for shingles

shingles

[ shĭnggəlz ]


The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.