riddle

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See also: Riddle

English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈɹɪdəl/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪdəl

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English redel, redels, from Old English rǣdels, rǣdelse (“counsel, opinion, imagination, riddle”), from Proto-West Germanic *rādislī (“counsel, conjecture”). Analyzable as rede (“advice”) +‎ -le. Akin to Old English rǣdan (“to read, advise, interpret”).

Noun[edit]

Examples (ancient form)
6th c. BCE, Laozi, Tao Te Ching 9:
Keep sharpening the blade, you'll soon blunt it.
1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 17:33:
Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

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?
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 14:12–14:
      12 ¶ And Samson said vnto them, I will now put foorth a riddle vnto you: if you can certeinly declare it me, within the seuen dayes of the feast, and finde it out, then I will giue you thirtie sheetes, and thirtie change of garments:
      13 But if ye cannot declare it me, then shall yee giue me thirtie sheetes, and thirtie change of garments. And they said vnto him, Put foorth thy riddle, that we may heare it.
      14 And hee said vnto them, Out of the eater came foorth meate, aud out of the strong came foorth sweetnesse. And they could not in three dayes expound the riddle.
    • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 72:
      To wring from me and tell to them my ſecret, / That ſolv'd the riddle which I had propos'd.
    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
      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[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

riddle (third-person singular simple present riddles, present participle riddling, simple past and past participle riddled)

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

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English riddil, ridelle (“sieve”), from Old English hriddel (“sieve”), alteration of earlier hridder, hrīder, from Proto-West Germanic *hrīdrā, from Proto-Germanic *hrīdrą, *hrīdrǭ (“sieve”), from Proto-Germanic *hrid- (“to shake”), from 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[edit]

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[edit]
sieve — see sieve

Verb[edit]

riddle (third-person singular simple present riddles, present participle riddling, simple past and past participle riddled)

  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.
    • 2019 February 27, Drachinifel, 29:08 from the start, in The Battle of Samar - Odds? What are those?‎[2], archived from the original on 3 November 2022:
      Kalinin Bay is also in trouble, trading fire with Japanese destroyers and taking hits from both them and cruisers at the same time. Unlike the Gambier Bay, however, it does not appear that these ships have realized they need to switch to high explosive from armor-piercing, and, despite being riddled with shellfire, the ship stays afloat, despite this rather-unequal battering going on for another twenty to thirty minutes.
  3. To fill or spread throughout; to pervade.
    Your argument is riddled with errors.
Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

From Middle English riddel, ridel, redel, rudel, from Old French ridel ("a plaited stuff; curtain"; > Medieval Latin ridellus), from rider (“to wrinkle”), from Old High German rīdan (“to turn; wrap; twist; wrinkle”). More at writhe. Doublet of rideau.

Noun[edit]

riddle (plural riddles)

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

Etymology 4[edit]

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

Verb[edit]

riddle (third-person singular simple present riddles, present participle riddling, simple past and past participle riddled)

  1. (transitive, obsolete) To plait.

Further reading[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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