Also 4– tyle. [f. TILE sb.1; in sense 2, back-formation from TILER 2.]

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  1.  trans. To cover with tiles; to overlay (a floor or roof) or line (a wall, fire-place, etc.) with tiles; in quot. 1812, to roof.

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c. 1375.  Sc. Leg. Saints, xl. (Ninian), 930. Þar-of eftire, in schort quhile, He gert his quere rycht wele tyle.

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1467.  in Eng. Gilds (1870), 386. That the owners … tyle the thacched houses.

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1591.  in Gentl. Mag. (1779), XLIX. 81. Many offices new builded … all which were tyled.

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1605.  in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 494. Thomas Yates to Slate and Tyle ye Kytchen.

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1704.  N. N., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., III. 272. My Spanish Palace, which I might easily have Tiled with Massie Gold or Silver.

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1812.  Bigland, Beauties Eng. & Wales, XVI. 629. Open hay barns, tiled with slate.

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1829.  D. Conway, Norway, 152. Assisting to tile a house.

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1901.  Westm. Gaz., 10 Jan., 7/3. The tunnels are to be tiled-up.

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  b.  transf. and fig. To cover as with tiles; to cover over, cover up: spec. of overlapping leaves, scales, etc. (= IMBRICATE v. 2). † In quot. 1641–2, to place (a thing) upon another so as to cover it.

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1512.  Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., IV. 298. To tile the kingis oratour in the Margret schip, xxxv elnis Kendillye.

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1641–2.  J. Shute, Sarah & Hagar (1649), 62. God … hath heaped up blessings upon us; yea, tyled one favour upon anoiher.

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1719.  London & Wise, Compl. Gard., IX. 322. By tyling up, or wrapping about, or Earthing up, or otherwise covering them.

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1776.  Withering, Brit. Plants (1796), III. 783. Sphagnum… Leaves … concave, soft, tiling the branches.

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1884.  W. K. Parker, Mammalian Desct., iv. (1885), 95. The Pangolin is tiled over with patches of cemented hair.

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  2.  Freemasonry. (Usually tyle.) To protect (a lodge or meeting) from interruption and intrusion, so as to keep its proceedings secret, by placing a TILER before the door. Also transf. to bind (a person) to secrecy; to keep (any meeting or proceeding) strictly secret.

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1762.  Key to Free-Masonry (1776), 4. Master to the Junior Deacon. What is the chief Care of a Mason? Ans. To see that the Lodge is tyled.

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1768.  T. Wilson, Master-Mason (ed. 2), 26. The master asked his brother warden, if he was a mason, if the lodge was tiled from whence he came.

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1846.  Thackeray, Bk. Snobs, xxv. Come, come, Snob my boy, we are all tiled, you know.

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1859.  Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 308. The doors of those mysterious meeting places are ‘tiled’ as securely as Freemasons’ lodges.

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1896.  Law Times, CII. 123/2. A Parliament chamber [at the Inns of Court] is close tiled, except for purposes of discipline affecting character.

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