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# shingles

noun (shingles — uncountable illness; shingle — a pebble beach; a shingle, shingles — roof tiles)

«shingles» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. An illness that causes a painful rash with blisters, usually on one side of the body; it is caused by the same virus as chickenpox waking up again years later. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#m1)
2. (shingle, UK) Small smooth stones on a beach. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#m2)
3. Small flat pieces of wood or other material that overlap to cover a roof or wall. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#m3)

### In the lessons

In health lessons shingles shows that a virus (chickenpox) can hide in the body for years; it is mostly older people who get it, and there is a vaccine. In geography lessons on coasts, a shingle beach is a pebbly beach, common in Britain. In North America, roof shingles are what most house roofs are covered with.

### Examples

- Grandad has shingles and his side is very sore. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#x1)
- You can only get shingles if you have had chickenpox. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#x2)
- Shingles is not caught from someone's cough the way a cold is. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#x3)
- Brighton beach is covered in shingle, not sand. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#x4)
- The storm blew some shingles off our roof. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#x5)
- The shingle crunched under our feet as we walked to the sea. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#x6)
- Old people can have a vaccine against shingles. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/#x7)

### Note

The illness "shingles" looks plural but takes a singular verb: "Shingles is painful." The beach word is usually "shingle" (uncountable: a shingle beach). Roof shingles are countable. Health fact: a person with shingles can give chickenpox (not shingles) to someone who never had it, through the blisters.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «shingles» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/shingles/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«shingles» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/shingles.html) on Mova free.