riddle

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See also: Riddle

English

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English redel, redels, from Old English rǣdels, rǣdelse (“counsel, opinion, imagination, riddle”), from Proto-Germanic *rēdisliją (“counsel, conjecture”). Analyzable as rede (“advice”) +‎ -le. Akin to Old Saxon rādisli, rādislo, rēdilsa (Low German Radels, Dutch raadsel), Old High German rātisla (German Rätsel (“riddle”)), Old English rǣdan (“to read, advise, interpret”).

Noun

Template:examples-right riddle (plural riddles)

  1. A verbal puzzle, mystery, or other problem of an intellectual nature.
    Synonyms: enigma, conundrum, brain-teaser
    Here's a riddle: It's black, and white, and red all over. What is it?
    • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      To wring from me, and tell to them, my secret, / That solved the riddle which I had proposed.
    • Template:RQ:Chmbrs YngrSt
      Elbows almost touching they leaned at ease, idly reading the almost obliterated lines engraved there. ¶ "I never understood it," she observed, lightly scornful. "What occult meaning has a sun-dial for the spooney? I'm sure I don't want to read riddles in a strange gentleman's optics."
  2. An ancient verbal, poetic, or literary form, in which, rather than a rhyme scheme, there are parallel opposing expressions with a hidden meaning.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

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  1. To speak ambiguously or enigmatically.
  2. (transitive) To solve, answer, or explicate a riddle or question.
    Riddle me this.
Translations

Etymology 2

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English riddil, ridelle (“sieve”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English hriddel (“sieve”), alteration of earlier hridder, hrīder, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *hrīdrą, *hrīdrǭ (“sieve”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *hrid- (“to shake”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *krey-. Akin to German Reiter (“sieve”), Old Norse hreinn (“pure, clean”), Old High German hreini (“pure, clean”), Gothic 𐌷𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (hrains, “clean, pure”). More at rinse.

Noun

riddle (plural riddles)

  2. 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.
  3. A board with a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is drawn to straighten it.
Translations
sieve — see sieve

Verb

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  1. To put something through a riddle or sieve, to sieve, to sift.
    You have to riddle the gravel before you lay it on the road.
    • 2014 April 8, Helen Yemm, “Thorny problems: How can I revive a forsythia hedge? [print version 5 April 2014, p. G9]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Gardening)‎[1], London:
      In its finest form – two years old or more – leaf mould can be riddled (sieved) and used, mixed 50/50 with sand, to make fine potting compost for seeds and cuttings.
  2. To fill with holes like a riddle.
    The shots from his gun began to riddle the targets.
  3. To fill or spread throughout; to pervade.
    Your argument is riddled with errors.
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English riddel, ridel, redel, rudel, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French ridel ("a plaited stuff; curtain"; > Medieval Latin ridellus), from rider (“to wrinkle”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old High German rīdan (“to turn; wrap; twist; wrinkle”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *wrīþaną (“to turn; wind”). More at writhe. Doublet of rideau.

Noun

riddle (plural riddles)

  1. (obsolete) A curtain; bed-curtain
  2. (religious) One of the pair of curtains enclosing an altar on the north and south

Etymology 4

From Middle English ridlen, from the noun (see above).

Verb

riddle (third-person singular simple present riddl, present participle ing, simple past and past participle riddled)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To plait

Further reading

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  • riddle on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

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