| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
cradle (ˈkreɪdəl) ![]() | |
| —n | |
| 1. | a baby's bed with enclosed sides, often with a hood and rockers |
| 2. | a place where something originates or is nurtured during its early life: the cradle of civilization |
| 3. | the earliest period of life: they knew each other from the cradle |
| 4. | a frame, rest, or trolley made to support or transport a piece of equipment, aircraft, ship, etc |
| 5. | a platform, cage, or trolley, in which workmen are suspended on the side of a building or ship |
| 6. | the part of a telephone on which the handset rests when not in use |
| 7. | a holder connected to a computer allowing data to be transferred from a PDA, digital camera, etc |
| 8. | another name for creeper |
| 9. | agriculture |
| a. a framework of several wooden fingers attached to a scythe to gather the grain into bunches as it is cut | |
| b. a scythe equipped with such a cradle; cradle scythe | |
| c. a collar of wooden fingers that prevents a horse or cow from turning its head and biting itself | |
| 10. | Also called: rocker a boxlike apparatus for washing rocks, sand, etc, containing gold or gem stones |
| 11. | engraving a tool that produces the pitted surface of a copper mezzotint plate before the design is engraved upon it |
| 12. | a framework used to prevent the bedclothes from touching a sensitive part of an injured person |
| 13. | from the cradle to the grave throughout life |
| —vb | |
| 14. | (tr) to rock or place in or as if in a cradle; hold tenderly |
| 15. | (tr) to nurture in or bring up from infancy |
| 16. | (tr) to replace (the handset of a telephone) on the cradle |
| 17. | to reap (grain) with a cradle scythe |
| 18. | (tr) to wash (soil bearing gold, etc) in a cradle |
| 19. | lacrosse to keep (the ball) in the net of the stick, esp while running with it |
| [Old English cradol; related to Old High German kratto basket] | |
| 'cradler | |
| —n | |
cradle cra·dle (krād'l)
n.
A small low bed for an infant, often furnished with rockers.
A frame used to keep the bedclothes from pressing on an injured part.