riddle

riddle
    n 1: a difficult problem [syn: {riddle}, {conundrum}, {enigma},
         {brain-teaser}]
    2: a coarse sieve (as for gravel)
    v 1: pierce with many holes; "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: {riddle},
       {screen}]
    4: spread or diffuse through; "An atmosphere of distrust has
       permeated this administration"; "music penetrated the entire
       building"; "His campaign was riddled with accusations and
       personal attacks" [syn: {permeate}, {pervade}, {penetrate},
       {interpenetrate}, {diffuse}, {imbue}, {riddle}]
    5: speak in riddles
    6: explain a riddle
    

Riddle \Rid"dle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Riddled} (r[i^]d"d'ld);
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Riddling} (r[i^]d"dl[i^]ng).]
   1. To separate, as grain from the chaff, with a riddle; to
      pass through a riddle; as, riddle wheat; to riddle coal or
      gravel.
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   2. To perforate so as to make like a riddle; to make many
      holes in; as, a house riddled with shot.
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Riddle \Rid"dle\, n. [For riddels, s being misunderstood as the
   plural ending; OE. ridels, redels. AS. r[=ae]dels; akin to D.
   raadsel, G. r[aum]thsel; fr. AS. r[=ae]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.
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         To wring from me, and tell to them, my secret,
         That solved the riddle which I had proposed. --Milton.
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         'T was a strange riddle of a lady.       --Hudibras.
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Riddle \Rid"dle\ (r[i^]d"d'l), n. [OE. ridil, AS. hridder; akin
   to G. reiter, L. cribrum, and to Gr. kri`nein 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.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A board having a row of pins, set zigzag, between which
      wire is drawn to straighten it.
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Riddle \Rid"dle\, v. t.
   To explain; to solve; to unriddle.
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         Riddle me this, and guess him if you can. --Dryden.
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Riddle \Rid"dle\, v. i.
   To speak ambiguously or enigmatically. "Lysander riddles very
   prettily." --Shak.
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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."
    

Riddle, OR (city, FIPS 61850)
  Location: 42.95370 N, 123.36612 W
  Population (1990): 1143 (427 housing units)
  Area: 1.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
  Zip code(s): 97469
    

Riddle, OR -- U.S. city in Oregon
   Population (2000):    1014
   Housing Units (2000): 406
   Land area (2000):     0.667267 sq. miles (1.728214 sq. km)
   Water area (2000):    0.000000 sq. miles (0.000000 sq. km)
   Total area (2000):    0.667267 sq. miles (1.728214 sq. km)
   FIPS code:            61850
   Located within:       Oregon (OR), FIPS 41
   Location:             42.951605 N, 123.365052 W
   ZIP Codes (1990):     97469
   Note: some ZIP codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   Headwords:
    Riddle, OR
    Riddle
    

392 Moby Thesaurus words for "riddle":
      Chinese puzzle, anagram, answer, arabesque, assort, auger, babble,
      baffle, bafflement, basketry, basketwork, be Greek to,
      be beyond one, be too deep, beat one, bewilderment, bite, blaze,
      blaze a trail, blemish, blotch, blow to pieces, blow up, bolt,
      bolter, bore, bother, bottom, brain, brand, bring down, broach,
      burn to death, cancellation, categorize, chalk, chalk up, charade,
      charge, check, check off, cicatrize, clarifier, classify, clear up,
      cock, colander, collate, confoundment, confusion, conundrum,
      cordon, cordon off, countersink, crack, cradle, cribble,
      cribriformity, cribrosity, cross-hatching, crossing-out, cull out,
      cut down, cut to pieces, dapple, dark horse, dash,
      deal a deathblow, debug, decipher, decode, define, delimit,
      demarcate, detonate, dilemma, discharge, discolor, discomposure,
      disconcert, disconcertedness, disconcertion, disconcertment,
      disentangle, disintegrate, disturbance, divide, divine, do, dope,
      dope out, dot, drill, drop, eject, embarrassment, empierce,
      engrave, enigma, escape one, explain, fathom, fell, figure out,
      filigree, fill, filter, find out, find the answer,
      find the solution, fire, fire off, fix, fleck, frag, freckle, fret,
      fretwork, frontier, frontiers of knowledge, gash, get, get right,
      ghettoize, gibber, gin, gore, gouge, gouge out, gradate, grade,
      grate, grating, grid, gridiron, grille, grillwork, group, guess,
      guess right, gun, gun down, gun for, hachure, hatch, hatching,
      have it, hit, hit it, hole, honeycomb, impale, impress, imprint,
      incinerate, infect, infest, insulate, interlacement, interpret,
      intertexture, intertwinement, isolate, jam, jugulate, keep apart,
      keep aside, lace, lacery, lacework, lacing, lance, lapidate,
      lattice, latticework, lay aside, lay low, let fly, let off, line,
      lixiviator, load, logogriph, lose one, make a mark, make out, mark,
      mark off, mark out, matter of ignorance, mesh, meshes, meshwork,
      mottle, mystery, mystification, n, need explanation, needle, net,
      netting, network, nick, nonplus, not make sense, not penetrate,
      notch, open the lock, pass comprehension, pelt, pencil, penetrate,
      pepper, percolator, perforate, permeate, perplex, perplexity,
      perturbation, pervade, pick off, pick out, pickle, pierce, pink,
      pistol, plexure, plexus, plight, plug, plumb, point, poleax,
      porosity, porousness, poser, pot, pother, potshoot, potshot,
      predicament, prick, prime, print, problem, psych, psych out, punch,
      punctuate, puncture, purifier, put aside, puzzle, puzzle out,
      puzzlement, quandary, quarantine, question, raddle, rank, ravel,
      ravel out, ream, ream out, rebus, refiner, refinery, resolve,
      reticle, reticulation, reticule, reticulum, rocker, run through,
      scar, scarify, score, scotch, scrape, scratch, screen, screening,
      seal, sealed book, seam, seclude, segregate, separate, set apart,
      set aside, shoot, shoot at, shoot down, shoot to death, shotgun,
      sieve, sievelikeness, sift, sifter, silence, size, skewer, snipe,
      solve, sort, sort out, sorter, speak in tongues, spear, speck,
      speckle, spike, spit, splotch, sponge, spot, spread, stab,
      stab to death, stain, stamp, stew, stick, stigmatize, stone,
      stone to death, strainer, streak, striate, strike, strike dead,
      stripe, subordinate, take a potshot, talk double Dutch, tap,
      tattoo, terra incognita, texture, the incalculable, the strange,
      the unfamiliar, the unknowable, the unknown, thrash, thresh, tick,
      tick off, tissue, torpedo, trace, tracery, transfix, transpierce,
      trellis, trelliswork, trepan, trephine, unassuredness, underline,
      underscore, undo, unexplored ground, unexplored territory,
      unknown quantity, unlock, unravel, unriddle, unscramble, untangle,
      untwist, unweave, upset, vaporize, wattle, weave, weaving, web,
      webbing, webwork, weft, why, wicker, wickerwork, winnow,
      winnowing basket, winnowing fan, winnowing machine, work, work out,
      x, z