Shingle

The word shingle has several distinct meanings in the English language:

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• A shingle is a flat covering element for a roof. Shingles can be made of wood, slate, ceramics or bitumen fabric and are laid in overlapping rows, with half the shingle visible and half covered by the one above or by the roof ridge. Other roof coverings are shakes and tiles. See also: Queen Anne style.
• A shingle can also be a small wooden platform, as used for shingle dancing.
• The same word is also used for a wooden spanking implement resembling it, so in fact a type of paddle, notably for domestic discipline.
• The term shingle can refer to an alluvial material of flat, rounded stones typically forming a beach at the seashore. Shingle is a coarse gravel formed by wave erosion of sedimentary rock formations.
• There is also a disease of the nerves known as shingles (plurale tantum: always with a final s).
• There is a species of skink called a Shingle back (Trachydosaurus rugosus) that is found in Australia.
• Shingle is also a slang term for a sign for a business, as in "to hang out one's shingle", meaning to open a business.