rid·dle /ˈrɪdḷ/
謎,謎語,粗篩(vt.)解謎,給…出謎,篩,檢查,鑑定,非難,充滿于(vi.)出謎
Rid·dle 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.
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.
Rid·dle, 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. --Milton.
'T was a strange riddle of a lady. --Hudibras.
Rid·dle, v. t. To explain; to solve; to unriddle.
Riddle me this, and guess him if you can. --Dryden.
Rid·dle, v. i. To speak ambiguously or enigmatically. “Lysander riddles very prettily.”
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riddle
n 1: a difficult problem [syn: conundrum, enigma, brain-teaser]
2: a coarse sieve (as for gravel)
v 1: pierce many times; "The bullets riddled his body"
2: set a difficult problem or riddle; "riddle me a riddle"
3: separate with a riddle, as grain from chaff [syn: screen]
4: speak in riddles
5: explain a riddle
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."