shingle

Origin:
1150–1200; Middle English scincle, sc(h)ingle < Medieval Latin scindula lath, shingle (Middle English -g- apparently by association with another unidentified word), Latin scandula (Medieval Latin -i- perhaps by association with Greek schíza lath, splinter, or related words)

Related forms

shin·gler, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

small, waterworn stones or pebbles such as lie in loose sheets or beds on a beach.

a beach, riverbank, or other area covered with such small pebbles or stones.

Origin:
1530–40; apparently variant of earlier chingle; compare Norwegian singel small stones

verb (used with object), shin·gled, shin·gling. Metalworking.

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

Origin:
1665–75; < French cingler to whip, beat < German zängeln, derivative of Zange tongs

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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World English Dictionary

shingle¹ (ˈʃɪŋɡ^əl)

—n
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.	(US), (Canadian) a small signboard or nameplate fixed outside the office of a doctor, lawyer, etc
4.	informal (Austral) a shingle short unintelligent or mentally subnormal

—vb
5.	to cover (a roof or a wall) with shingles
6.	to cut (the hair) in a short-cropped style

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

'shingler¹

—n

shingle² (ˈʃɪŋɡ^əl)

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

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

'shingly²

—*adj*

shingle³ (ˈʃɪŋɡ^əl)

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

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

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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

shingle

"thin piece of wood," c.1200, scincle, from L.L. scindula, altered (by influence of Gk. schidax "lath" or schindalmos "splinter") from L. scandula "roof tile," from scindere "to cleave, split," from PIE base *sked- "to split." Meaning "small signboard" is first attested 1842; that of "woman's short haircut"

is from 1924. The verb meaning "to cut the hair so as to give the impression of overlapping shingles" is from 1857.

shingle

"loose stones on seashore," 1513, probably related to Norw. singl "small stones," or N.Fris. singel "gravel," both said to be echoic of the sound of water running over pebbles.

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

shingle

see hang out one's shingle.