Free TranslationFree Translation
Synonyms, antonyms, pronunciation

  Home 		English Dictionary      examples: 'day', 'get rid of', 'New York Bay'




Riddle   /rˈɪdəl/   Listen
noun
Riddle  n.  
1.
A sieve with coarse meshes, usually of wire, for separating coarser materials from finer, as chaff from grain, cinders from ashes, or gravel from sand.
2.
A board having a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is drawn to straighten it.


Riddle  n.  Something proposed to be solved by guessing or conjecture; a puzzling question; an ambiguous proposition; an enigma; hence, anything ambiguous or puzzling. "To wring from me, and tell to them, my secret, That solved the riddle which I had proposed." "'T was a strange riddle of a lady."


verb
Riddle  v. t.  (past & past part. riddled; pres. part. riddling)  
1.
To separate, as grain from the chaff, with a riddle; to pass through a riddle; as, riddle wheat; to riddle coal or gravel.
2.
To perforate so as to make like a riddle; to make many holes in; as, a house riddled with shot.


Riddle  v. t.  To explain; to solve; to unriddle. "Riddle me this, and guess him if you can."


Riddle  v. i.  To speak ambiguously or enigmatically. "Lysander riddles very prettily."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


Advanced search
     Find words:
Starting with
Ending with
Containing
Matching a pattern  

Synonyms
Antonyms
Quotes
Words linked to  

only single words


Share |




"Riddle" Quotes from Famous Books



... no riddle," said Dolly. "I knew him when I was at school, a little girl, and I have ...
— The End of a Coil • Susan Warner
... riddle, which puzzled all the magicians and wise men, was given by an old woman, who came up to the palace and told the chamberlain that, for two handfuls of gold, she would reveal ...
— The Olive Fairy Book • Various
... Viewed from the street, the town houses of well-known personages seem quite inadequate for their purpose; viewed from within, they are all that is stately and appropriate. Those of us who live in less favoured neighbourhoods would fain solve the riddle. ...
— The Independence of Claire • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
... could look beyond them we might read the Riddle of the Universe. I think we could—I think so!" Here was the undercurrent of sadness again, sounding through an odd intensity of tone. "Surely, there is something beyond them. There must be! ...
— The Monk of Hambleton • Armstrong Livingston
... the least objection to telling one everything that it is doing. Unfortunately, it speaks its own language, which is incomprehensible to the civilian. But you will find it all in "The Channel Pilot" and "The Riddle of the Sands." ...
— Sea Warfare • Rudyard Kipling


More quotes...


Copyright © 2025 e-Free Translation.com