A friend who asked about a night on the tiles alerted us to the fact that we've been missing out on a good time. The phrase a night on the tiles—or more simply, on the tiles—refers to the actions involved in being on a debauch. Our fun-loving questioner hoped we could track down the connection between "tiles" and "an occasion of indulging to excess, especially in a violent, emotional, or pleasurable activity."

Since we were pretty sure the tiles involved had nothing to do with a popular board game in which players spell out words with tiles, we decided to continue our search for debauchery in the reference books.

As long as English has been a language, folks have been employing the term tile to refer to "a flat or curved piece of fired clay, stone, or concrete used especially for roofs, floors, or walls." And the word has an established place in slang, too, where tile names a hat, especially a high silk hat (after the idea that a hat is to the head what tiles are to a roof); and to have a tile loose is another way to say "to be slightly crazy."

Don't think it's necessary to don a tile or have a loose tile in order to enjoy a night on the tiles. Although all those semantic developments are associated with tiled roofs, a night on the tiles also has a connection to cats. It seems that phrase is an allusion to the nocturnal activities—presumably on roofs—of felines.

Meow?