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riddle - 12 dictionary results

rid⋅dle

1  [rid-l] noun, verb, -dled, -dling.
Use riddle in a Sentence
–noun
1. a question or statement so framed as to exercise one's ingenuity in answering it or discovering its meaning; conundrum.
2. a puzzling question, problem, or matter.
3. a puzzling thing or person.
4. any enigmatic or dark saying or speech.
–verb (used without object)
5. to propound riddles; speak enigmatically.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME redel, redels (n.), OE rǣdels(e) counsel, opinion, imagination, riddle (rǣd(an) to counsel, rede + -els(e) deverbal n. suffix) with loss of -s- in ME through confusion with the pl. form of the n. suffix -el -le (cf. burial ); c. G Rätsel, D raadsel

Synonyms:
1. See puzzle.

rid⋅dle

2  [rid-l] verb, -dled, -dling, noun
–verb (used with object)
1. to pierce with many holes, suggesting those of a sieve: to riddle the target.
2. to fill or affect with (something undesirable, weakening, etc.): a government riddled with graft.
3. to impair or refute completely by persistent verbal attacks: to riddle a person's reputation.
4. to sift through a riddle, as gravel; screen.
–noun
5. a coarse sieve, as one for sifting sand in a foundry.
Origin:
bef. 1100; (n.) ME riddil, OE hriddel, var. of hridder, hrīder; c. G Reiter; akin to L crībrum sieve; (v.) ME ridlen to sift, deriv. of the n.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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rid·dle 1   (rĭd'l)   
tr.v.   rid·dled, rid·dling, rid·dles
  1. To pierce with numerous holes; perforate: riddle a target with bullets.
  2. To spread throughout: "Election campaigns have always been riddled with demagogy and worse" (New Republic).
  3. To put (gravel, for example) through a coarse sieve.
n.  A coarse sieve, as for gravel.

[Middle English ridelen, to sift, from riddil, sieve, from Old English hriddel; see krei- in Indo-European roots.]
rid'dler n.
rid·dle 2   (rĭd'l)   
n.  
  1. A question or statement requiring thought to answer or understand; a conundrum.
  2. One that is perplexing; an enigma.
v.   rid·dled, rid·dling, rid·dles

v.   tr.
To solve or explain.
v.   intr.
  1. To propound or solve riddles.
  2. To speak in riddles.

[Middle English redels, from Old English rǣdels; see ar- in Indo-European roots.]
rid'dler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Riddle

Rid"dle\, n. [OE. ridil, AS. hridder; akin to G. reiter, L. cribrum, and to Gr. ??? to distinguish, separate, and G. rein clean. See Crisis, Certain.]

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

Rid"dle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Riddled; p. pr. & vb. n. 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

Rid"dle\, n. [For riddels, s being misunderstood as the plural ending; OE. ridels, redels. AS. r?dels; akin to D. raadsel, G. r["a]thsel; fr. AS. r?dan to counsel or advise, also, to guess. [root]116. Cf. Read.] 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. --Milton.

'T was a strange riddle of a lady. --Hudibras.

Riddle

Rid"dle\, v. t. To explain; to solve; to unriddle.

Riddle me this, and guess him if you can. --Dryden.

Riddle

Rid"dle\, v. i. To speak ambiguously or enigmatically. "Lysander riddels very prettily." --Shak.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : riddle
Spanish: adivinanza, acertijo,
German: das Rätsel,
Japanese: なぞなぞ
More Translations »

riddle  (n.)
"A word game ot joke, comprising a question or statement couched in deliberately puzzling terms, propounded for solving by the hearer/reader using clues embedded within that wording" [Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore], O.E. rædels "opinion, riddle, counsel, conjecture," from P.Gmc. *rædislijan (cf. O.S. radisli, M.Du. raetsel, Du. raadsel, O.H.G. radisle, Ger. Rätsel "riddle"). Related to O.E. rædan "to advise, counsel, read, guess" (see read).

riddle  (v.)
"perforate with many holes," 1817 (implied in riddled), earlier "sift" (c.1225), from M.E. ridelle "coarse sieve," from late O.E. hriddel "sieve," altered by dissimilation from O.E. hridder "sieve," from P.Gmc. *khridan (cf. Ger. Reiter), from base *khrid- "shake" (cf. O.N. hreinn, O.H.G. hreini, Goth. hrains "clean, pure"); probably from same PIE base as L. cribrum "sieve, riddle," Gk. krinein "to separate, distinguish, decide" (see crisis).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Riddle

(Heb. hodah). The oldest and, strictly speaking, the only example of a riddle was that propounded by Samson (Judg. 14:12-18). The parabolic prophecy in Ezek. 17:2-18 is there called a "riddle." It was rather, however, an allegory. The word "darkly" in 1 Cor. 13:12 is the rendering of the Greek enigma; marg., "in a riddle."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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