untile

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English[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English untylle; equivalent to un- +‎ tile.

Verb[edit]

untile (third-person singular simple present untiles, present participle untiling, simple past and past participle untiled)

  1. (transitive) To remove the tiles from.
    • 1663 March 3 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “February 21st, 1662–1663”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys [], volume III, London: George Bell & Sons []; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893, →OCLC, page 47:
      But before they went, Sir W. Batten and my lady did begin to taunt them, but the rogues answered them as high as themselves, and swore they would come again, and called me rogue and rebel, and they would bring the sheriff and untile his house, before he should harbour a rebel in his house, and that they would be here again shortly.
    • 1762, Sarah Scott, A Description of Millennium Hall[1]:
      As soon as he arrived, he prepared to force his way into the house, but it was found so impracticable that at length they were obliged to untile part of the roof, from whence a person descended, and opened the door to those who did not choose so dangerous an entrance as that through which he had passed.

Anagrams[edit]