English

Proper noun

Riddle

1. A surname​.
2. A city in Oregon.

English

Noun

riddle ‎(plural riddles)

1. A verbal puzzle, mystery, or other problem of an intellectual nature.

   Here's a riddle: It's black, and white, and red all over. What is it?‎

   • John Milton (1608-1674)

     To wring from me, and tell to them, my secret, / That solved the riddle which I had proposed.

   • 1907, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “chapter VIII”, in The Younger Set (Project Gutenberg; EBook #14852), New York, N.Y.: A. L. Burt Company, published 1 February 2005 (Project Gutenberg version), OCLC 4241346:

     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.

   Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it. (Luke 17:33)

   Keep sharpening the blade, you'll soon blunt it. (Lau Tsu, Tao Te Ching 9)

Synonyms

• (verbal puzzle, mystery or problem): enigma, conundrum, brain-teaser

Derived terms

• riddler

Related terms

• a riddle wrapped up in an enigma
• riddle stick

Translations

Verb

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, meaning Answer the following question.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English riddil, ridelle ‎(“sieve”), from Old English hriddel ‎(“sieve”), alteration of earlier hridder, hrīder, from Proto-Germanic *hridą ‎(“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

riddle ‎(plural riddles)

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 with a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is drawn to straighten it.

Translations

Verb

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), 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 machinegun fire began to riddle the poor Afghanis.

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 Old French ridel ("a plaited stuff; curtain"; > Middle Latin ridellus), from rider ‎(“to wrinkle”), from Old High German rīdan ‎(“to turn; wrap; twist; wrinkle”), from 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 riddles, present participle riddling, simple past and past participle riddled)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To plait

Anagrams

• dreidl