gravel--prophetes.ai

▪ I. gravel, n.
    (ˈgrævəl)
    Forms 4–7 gravell, (4 gravaile, -ayl, -eil, 5 gravylle, 6 gravele, grawell), 5 gravelle, 3– gravel.
    [a. or ad. OF. gravele, gravelle in senses 1, 2, 2 b, mod.F. gravelle in sense 4, dim. of OF. grave gravel, coarse sand, also sea-shore (mod.F. grève) = Pr., Cat. grava; of Celtic origin, cf. Welsh gro, Cornish grou, Bret. grouan gravel; possibly cogn. w. OE. gréot grit n.¹]
    † 1. Sand. quick gravel: quicksand. gravel of gold, golden gravel: see golden 3. Obs.

a 1300 Cursor M. 2347 Naman suld cun sume ne neuen..Namar þen grauel in þe see. a 1325 Prose Psalter lxxvii[i]. 31 He rained..volatils feþered as grauel of þe se. a 1340 Hampole Psalter i. 1 The rightwisman passis that way swiftly, as he that gas on qwik grauel, that gers him synk that standis thar on. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iii. metr. x. 74 (Camb. MS.) Alle the thinges that the Ryver tagus geueth yow with hys goldene grauayles. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiii. 150 In þat riuer er many precious stanes..and mykill grauell of gold. c 1450 Mirour Saluacioun 1624 My synne passes in noumbre the gravell..in the see. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 9 All is lost that is geuen vnto them right as the reyne falleth vpon the grauel. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iv. 18 All the gravell mixt with golden owre. 1712 Swift Midas Wks. 1755 IV. i. 4 People travel From far to gather golden gravel.

2. a. A material consisting of coarse sand and water-worn stones of various sizes, often with a slight intermixture of clay, much used for laying roads and paths. (In early use not clearly distinguished from sense 1.)

a 1300 Cursor M. 9938 Four strandes rinnes suete Thoru þat grauel and þat grett. ? a 1366 Chaucer Rom. Rose 127 Tho saugh I wel The botme paved everydel With gravel, ful of stones shene. 1398 Trevisa Barth De P.R. xvi. i. (1495) 552 Grauell and sonde is more harde in substaunce than comyn erthe. 1503 Hawes Examp. Virt. x. 9 The hall paued was..With none other grauell but precyous stones. 1542–3 Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, c. 9 §6 Anie maner of balast rubbish grauell or any other wracke, or filth. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xvi. 17 With great valleyes full of gravel and large stones very painful too goe upon. 1613 Shakes. Hen. VIII, i. i. 155 Proofes as cleere as Founts in July, when Wee see each graine of grauell. 1653 Walton Angler i. 22 The Cuttle-fish, being then hid in the gravel, lets the smaller fish nibble and bite the end of it. 1679–88 Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (Camden) 105 [Amount paid] for the carting of gravel..and laying the gravell upon the walks in St. James's Park. 1710 Steele Tatler No. 179 ¶8 A spacious Walk of the finest Gravel. 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) II. 431 There is one great defect in the Italian gardens, viz. the want of gravel for the walks. 1799 Med. Jrnl. I. 258 The soil consists chiefly of rich clay, loam, and sharp gravel. 1813 Bakewell Introd. Geol. (1815) 253 Gravel is evidently an alluvial production. 1833 Lyell Princ. Geol. III. 146 During the gradual rise of a large area..several kinds of superficial gravel must be formed. 1872 R. B. Smyth Mining Statist. 34 Strata of gravel and coarse sands. 1886 W. Hooper Sk. Acad. Life (Durham) 38 The fragment may be utterly pounded down, till it becomes gravel or even sand.

b. fig. and in allusions to Prov. xx. 17.

c 1440 Jacob's Well (E.E.T.S.) 282 Takyth a spade, & deluyth out þis grauel of obstinacye fro þe herte, tunge, & dede. 1535 Coverdale Prov. xx. 17 Euery man liketh the bred that is gotten with disceate, but at the last is mouth shalbe fylled with grauell. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. lxii. §16 Shall this be thought to turne cælestiall bread into grauell? 1605 Bp. Hall Medit. & Vowes ii. §77, I will not envie the gravell in the unjust mans throte. a 1639 W. Whately Prototypes iii. xxxix. (1640) 19 Wealth gotten by grinding the poore, shall never prove good meale. God will mixe it with gravell to them that eate it. 1649 Bp. Hall Cases Consc. (1650) 19 What you thus get is but stolne goods..and will prove at the last no other than gravell in your throat.

c. Geol. and Mining. A stratum of this material, esp. one that contains gold. pay gravel: gravel containing gold enough to yield a profit.

1849 Murchison Siluria xix. 473 The various ages of golden gravels or Drifts. 1872 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 81 Several companies..are taking out pay gravel. Webster & Co...have struck gravel from 2 feet to 6 feet in thickness which prospects very rich. 1876 Whitney in Encycl. Brit. IV. 701/2 It was not long before it was discovered that the so-called ‘high-gravels’—that is, the detrital deposits of Tertiary age—contained gold. 1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 622 Gravel.—The term refers to the water-worn pebbles or bowlders which occur generally as a more or less compact conglomerate, immediately overlying the bed-rock. Ibid. 623 The term red gravel is given to the brownish or reddish colored conglomerate which forms the top and overlies the blue gravel.

3. U.S. = ballast 5. (See quot.)

1868 B. J. Lossing Hudson 280 Many vessels are employed in carrying away lime, limestone, and ‘gravel’ (pulverized limestone, not fit for the kiln). [Cf. gravel-car, -train in 8.]

4. Path. A term applied to aggregations of urinary crystals which can be recognized as masses by the naked eye (as distinguished from sand); also, the disease of which these are characteristic. ‘Also popularly used to indicate pain or difficulty in passing urine with or without any deposit’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886).

c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 274 If þe grauel of his vrine be whit: þan þe stoon is in þe bladdre. 15.. Almanak for 1386, 24 Rede gravel bytokens ache, and þe stoon in þe raynes. 15.. in More's Wks. 1434, I had a while talked with him..of his diseases bothe in his brest of olde, & his reynes nowe, by reason of grauel and stone. ? a 1550 Freiris Berwik 40 in Dunbar's Poems (1893) 286 For he wes awld, and micht nocht wele travell, And als he had ane littill spyce of gravell. 1655 Culpepper Riverius xiv. ii. 379 The Spaniards void much Gravel, and yet are not subject to the stone. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 89 ¶8, I am very much afflicted with the Gravel. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. II. 351 Those [waters] of St. Amand cure the gravel and obstructions. 1846 J. Baxter Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) I. 74 Afflicted with symptoms of gravel, and other calculous affections. 1874 Von Buren Dis. Genit. Org. 357 Gravel is more frequently seen in summer than at other seasons, on account of the greater activity of the skin.

† 5. Farriery. = gravelling vbl. n. 2. Obs.

1675 Lond. Gaz. No. 988/4 Stolen..A Coal black Nag..the further Foot before his Hoof is cut for a Gravel.

6. Brewing. Applied to yeast-cells swimming in beer with the appearance of fine gravel.

1882 tr. Thausing's Beer ii. §2. ii. 596 It is a bad sign if the beer..is not transparent, when it has an appearance as if a veil was drawn over it, when no ‘gravel’ can be perceived.

7. Financial slang. (See quot.)

1884 Pall Mall G. 2 Feb. 5/1 A result of the appearance of gravel, as the phrase is when the supply of money in the market is growing bare.

8. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attributive, as (senses 2 a, c) gravel-bank, gravel bar, gravel-bed, gravel-claim, gravel-deposit, gravel-diggings, gravel-drive, gravel-ground (also attrib.), gravel-heap, † gravel-heart (fig.), gravel-mill, gravel-mine, gravel-mining, gravel-path, gravel-place, gravel-soil, gravel-spit, gravel-sweep, gravel-terrace, gravel-working; (sense 3) gravel-car, gravel-train; b. parasynthetic, as gravel-pathed, gravel-bottomed adjs.; c. instrumental, as gravel-spread, gravel-strewn adjs.

1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 122 There being..no cemented strata to obstruct the washing down of the *gravel-banks.

1821 T. Nuttall Jrnl. Trav. Arkansa vii. 136 Four miles above Dardennes commences the first *gravel-bar, accompanied by very rapid water. 1968 R. M. Patterson Finlay's River 20 We followed the trail through the water⁓lilies and slipped over the last gravel bar into the little stream that calls itself the Crooked River.

1852 C. W. Hoskyns Talpa 202 It broke away into a perfect *gravel-bed.

1864 J. A. Grant Walk across Africa 38 Clear, *gravel-bottomed river M'gazee. 1960 Times 13 Feb. 9/4 Clean gravel-bottomed reaches..will also yield good quality roach.

1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Gravel-car, a railway ballast-wagon.

1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 12 Permitting the development of the *gravel claims.

1873 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age (1894) 559 In the deep and broad valleys so formed we encounter a second series of *gravel deposits.

1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 35 There are about forty acres on this claim, all rich *gravel-diggings.

a 1450 Fysshynge w. Angle (1883) 22 He [the trout] wyl not be but yn cleyn *grauel grounde watur and yn a streme.

1632 Sherwood, A *grauell-heape, gravoir.

1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iv. iii. 68 Unfit to liue, or die: oh *grauell heart.

1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 624 The gravel must then be crushed in a *gravel mill.

1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., *Gravel-mine, U.S. An accumulation of auriferous gravel. 1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 13 Two of the principal gravel mines in the State.

1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 93 The extensive *gravel-mining operations of Nevada County.

1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xvi, The old man and the child quitted the *gravel path.

1898 Month Nov. 482 A trim *gravel-pathed garden.

1580 Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Vne sablonniére, a *grauell place.

1897 Omond Fletcher of Saltoun vi. 86 The *gravel soil, and the salubrious climate [of London].

1874 Green Short Hist. i. §2. 8 The little *gravel-spit of Ebbsfleet.

1855 Tennyson Daisy 34 Where oleanders flush'd the bed Of silent torrents, *gravel-spread.

1927 W. G. Kendrew Clim. Cont. (ed. 2) 241 The rivers, whose beds, dry, wide, and *gravel-strewn in summer, often become filled in a few hours in winter by swollen torrents.

1810 Splendid Follies II. 104 The Ellercott family drove round the *gravel sweep of Mistley Manor. 1888 J. Payn Myst. Mirbridge III. xl. 120 The noise of wheels and hoofs upon the gravel-sweep.

1873 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age (1894) 514 The low-level *gravel-terraces and moraines of the inner zone.

1881 Chicago Times 18 June, The *gravel train was backing up the track. 1881 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abr. xxxvi. 375, I have not jumped to this conclusion; I have travelled to it per gravel train, so to speak.

1882 Rep. to Ho. Repr. Prec. Met. U.S. 641 The cars and track used in the *gravel workings.

9. Special comb.: gravel-brook, a brook that flows over a gravel-bed; gravel court, a lawn-tennis court with a gravel surface; gravel-crusher, -crushing ppl. a., slang (see quots.); gravel culture, a hydroponic method of plant cultivation, using beds of gravel supplied with nutrient solutions; gravel eye, -eyed adj. (see quot. 1951); gravel-grass, Galium verum (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886); gravel-plant, Epigæa repens (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1886); gravel-powder, ‘coarse gunpowder, otherwise known as pebble-powder’ (Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl. 1884); gravel-rash colloq., abrasions caused by a fall on a gravelly or rugged surface; gravel-root, Eupatorium purpureum (Treas. Bot. 1866); gravel-throated a. = gravel-voiced; gravel voice, a thick, husky voice; so gravel-voiced a.

1591 Troub. Raigne K. John ii. (1611) 85 Here are my proofes, as cleere as *grauel brooke.

1890 C. G. Heathcote Lawn Tennis xv. 294 *Gravel courts, though at first sight attractive, have many serious defects. 1934 T. S. Eliot Rock i. 30 In the land of lobelias and tennis flannels..The nettle shall flourish on the gravel court.

1889 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang *Gravel-crusher (military), a soldier compelled to tramp about a square at defaulter's drill. 1901 Daily News 9 Jan. 5/2 The ‘gravel-crushers’ (as the dismounted service is generically known). 1918 E. S. Farrow Dict. Mil. Terms, Gravel crushers, a slang expression equivalent to doughboy or infantry soldier, and the French fiflot. 1948 Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 86 Gravel-crusher, a Drill Instructor; a P.T. Instructor. (Mostly Air Force.)

1900 Kynoch Jrnl. Feb.–Mar. 63/2 Cyclists..act more in conjunction with and as the eyes of their *gravel-crushing comrades.

[1936 Withrow & Biebel in Jrnl. Agric. Res. LIII. 697 Fine gravel..appears to be the most suitable for this type of culture.] 1940 A. Laurie Soilless Culture Simplified viii. 136 The advantage often claimed for sand or *gravel culture—that of increased production—can easily be overstressed. 1942 Laurie & Ries Floriculture v. 104 If flat-bottomed concrete benches have already been built, they can be converted to gravel culture. 1966 New Scientist 23 June 784/3 Gravel culture may also open possibilities for basic food production in malnourished countries.

1855 Poultry Chron. III. 9/1 The Suabian Pigeons..have generally a turned crown, *gravel eye, and clean feet. 1879 L. Wright Pract. Pigeon Keeper 101 An altogether red, gravel, or orange eye is a decided fault. 1951 E. Haedy A–Z Pigeon Guide 71 Gravel-eyed, white or pearl eye with red mixed in it.

1860 Slang Dict., *Gravel-rash, a scratched face,—telling its tale of a drunken fall. 1891 Standard 21 Oct. 3/1, I admitted him and then saw he had the gravel-rash.

[1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §188.7 Gravel-throat, a granular enunciation. Ibid. §422.9 Gravel-throat, one with a husky granular voice.]

1955 Jazzbook 1955 45 Joseph ‘De De’ Pierce, *gravel-throated vocalist. 1962 K. Orvis Damned & Destroyed viii. 157 A gravel-throated switchboard cop.

1947 Time 24 Nov. 29 The very sound of Earl Long's *gravel voice. 1958 Times 5 July 4/1 The umpire's voice echoed the gravel voice on the radio which tells us what ‘the next object will be’ in a parlour game.

1947 Time 29 Dec. 15 *Gravel-voiced Joe Curran, president of the National Maritime Union. 1952 Ibid. 2 June 46/2 When Collier's hired gravel-voiced Louis Ruppel as editor three years ago, it knew it was buying a whirl-wind. 1963 Daily Tel. 25 Nov. 1/2 Dallas's detective chief, Capt. Will Fritz, a gravel-voiced Texan who sports a white cowboy hat.

▪ II. gravel, v.
    (ˈgrævəl)
    [f. prec. n.]
    1. a. trans. To cover, lay, or strew (a street, etc.) with gravel or sand. † Also, to sprinkle (a newly-written document) with sand (obs.).

1543 Churchw. Acc. St. Giles, Reading 67 For Amerciamentes for Cristyne Mores hous because it was not gravelled iiijd. 1549 Wriothesley Chron. (1877) II. 29 All the streates of the City of London beinge gravelled. 1607 Tourneur Rev. Trag. i. iii. Wks. 1878 II. 27 And in a world of Acres Not so much dust due to the heire t'was left to, As would well grauell a petition. 1661 Pepys Diary 22 Apr., The streets all gravelled, and the houses hung with carpets before them, made brave show. 1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening 45 This Way of Graveling and Beating Walks. 1753 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 137 That the Public Walk.. be repaired and gravell'd. 1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek ii. 44 Half of it [the bridge] is prettily gravelled. 1841 Marryat Poacher xxvii, The road was newly-gravelled.

† b. To smother or choke with gravel or sand; also with up: lit. and fig. Obs.

1602 W. Fulbecke 2nd Pt. Parall. 74, I see your inuention and memorie are not grauelled nor dryed vp, parched as it were with summers drought. 1635 Quarles Embl. i. vii. 5 O thou the fountain of whose better part Is earth'd, and gravell'd up with vain desire. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 274 Now leave off watring your Meadows, lest you gravel or rot your Grass. 1686 R. P. in Phil. Trans. XX. 383 The Towns have either of them a great Beck (as we call it) or Current of Water running through them, which by the first Flood were gravel'd up.

† c. To injure with grit or sand. Obs.

1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1880) 45, I fearefull presume not to look into the milstone, least I grauell my eye sight.

† 2. To bury in gravel or sand; to overwhelm with gravel; hence fig. to suppress, stifle. Obs.

1577–87 Holinshed Chron. II. 29/2 The dead bodies need not in that Iland to be gravelled. 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 106 Graueling in his hert [L. sub corde premebat] his sorroful anguish. 1686 R. P. in Phil. Trans. XX. 382 Several Houses were quite demolished, and not a Stone left; others gravel'd to the Chamber-Windows.

† 3. To run (a ship) aground on the gravel or beach, mud, etc. Also, in pass., of a person: To be set fast in sand or mud. Obs.

1582 N. T. (Rhem.) Acts xxvii. 41 When we were fallen into a place betwene two seas, they graveled the ship. 1597–8 Bp. Hall Sat. iii. vi. 14 Till the blacke Carauell Stands still fast grauel'd on the mud of hell. 1605 Camden Rem., Wise Sp. 189 William Conquerour when he invaded this Iland, chanced at his arrivall to be graveled, and one of his feet stacke so fast in the sand, that he fell to the ground. 1660 F. Brooke tr. Le Blanc's Trav. 271 Our Almadie was so fast gravell'd, we were forced to unload.

fig. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 21 So grounded and grauelled were they in this opinion. 1596 ― Saffron Walden 96 At a Commensment dinner..he graueld and set a ground both him and his brother. 1606 Ford Honor Tri. (1843) 25 Ere I wade further, and be grauel'd in the owze, and quicksand of my own intention. a 1610 Healey Cebes (1636) 167 They are so graueled in the quick-sands of erroneous ignorance. 1613 Wither Abuses Stript & Whipt Occas. this Wk. 90, I was gravell'd, like a ship that's grounded. 1648 Earl Westmoreland Otia Sacra (1879) 78 A great Professor, Master of Israel, once was gravelled Upon that Shelf. 1682 Norris tr. Hierocles Pref. a 3 Whosoever denies the possibility..must necessarily gravel himself upon one of these Absurdities.

4. fig. but without explicit reference to 3. a. To set fast, confound, embarrass, non-plus, perplex, puzzle.

1548 Detect. Unskil. Physic. Pref. 2 in Recorde Urin. Physick (1651), He is much troubled..for his being graveld at what is wrote against Aristotle. 1566 Drant Horace's Sat. i. x. E v, As yf some passyng man shoulde..sweate agayne to grauayle thee. c 1590 Marlowe Faust. i. 111, I..have with concise syllogisms Gravell'd the pastors of the German church. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. iv. i. 74 Nay, you were better speake first, and when you were grauel'd for lacke of matter, you might take occasion to kisse. a 1617 Hieron Penance for Sinne Wks. 1619 II. 168 Nicodemus, a Pharise by profession and breed, is grauelled in the Doctrine of Regeneration. 1638 Laud Wks. (1853) V. 213 Not propounding studied subtilties to gravel and discourage young students. 1662 J. Davies tr. Olearius' Voy. Ambass. 106 He..would not speak the Muscovian, but the Polish language, purposely to gravel the other. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 30 The Surveyor was gravell'd, being asked whence that City should be supplied with water. 1706 Stanhope Paraphr. III. 162 Such is that Passage by which our Saviour gravell'd the Scribes and Pharisees. 1741 Watts Improv. Mind i. xiii. §18 To manage his argument so well as to puzzle and gravel the respondent. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) II. 118 The free-thinker..is not so prone to anger as the bigot, except now and then when gravelled in argument. 1796 Coleridge Poems, Fire, Famine & Slaughter Pref., The subtle and witty atheist that so grievously perplexed and gravelled him [Bishop Hall]. 1841–4 Emerson Ess., Intellect Wks. (Bohn.) I. 135 The wisest doctor is gravelled by the inquisitiveness of a child. 1850 Whipple Ess. & Rev. (ed. 3) I. 105 We might hear..Socrates gravel a sophist with his interrogative logic. 1862 Sat. Rev. 5 July 23 It imparts a certain air of connexion and design, where the writer is gravelled for want of either.

b. Of a question, difficulty, practice, subject of discussion, etc.: To prove embarrassing to; to confound, perplex, puzzle. Also U.S. To irritate, to ‘go against the grain with’.

1601 Dent Pathw. Heaven 254 This question would grauell a great number. 1633 Hart Diet of Diseased i. ix. 33 Foure, or five daies abstinence, either from meate or drinke, will gravell most men and women. 1681 R. Wittie Surv. Heavens 18 A ready Answer..to the difficulties that gravel others about this stupendous Motion of the Sun. 1710 Berkeley Princ. Hum. Knowl. i. §97 It will perhaps gravel even a philosopher to comprehend it. 1794 Burns Let. to G. Thomson 19 Oct., These English songs gravel me to death. 1871 Hay Banty Tim 15 It gravels me like the devil to train Along o' sich fools as you. 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life Mississippi xiv. 138 It ‘gravels’ me, to this day, to put my will in the weak form of a request, instead of launching it in the crisp language of an order. 1886 Lowell Lett. (1894) II. 321, I wasn't thinking so much of the studies as of the method of teaching..when I wrote what gravels you.

5. Farriery. in pass. and intr. Of a horse, or its feet: To be injured by particles of gravel or sand being forced between the shoe and the hoof.

1593 Steward's Acc. Shuttleworths Sept. (Chetham Soc.) I. 100 Dressing of a mare foot, gravelled at Lostoke, iijd. 1593 G. Gifford Dial. Witches (1843) 118, I would carie him to the smith to search if he were not pricked or graveld. 1657 H. Crowch Welsh Trav. 15 His blistered feet were gravelled. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2411/4 One black Mare,..above 14 hands, and has been gravel'd of her neare Foot. 1710 Ibid. No. 4674/8 The near Foot before pared very near towards the Heel, having been gravelled. 1737 Bracken Farriery-Impr. (1756) I. 352 By such injudicious Practice the Horse often gravels.

6. intr. = dust v.¹ 3 b.

1870 D. P. Blaine Encycl. Rur. Sports §2618 Where they [sc. partridges] bask at noontide, and where they preen, scratch, and gravel.

7. (See quot.)

1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 216 In winter the eelman goes ‘gravelling’, that is, scooping up gravel from the bottom to deepen any part of the channel.