gravelly, a.
(ˈgrævəlɪ)
[gravel n. + -y1.]
1. † a. Abounding in sand; sandy (obs.). b. Full of or abounding in gravel; consisting of or containing gravel; strewn with gravel. Also, resembling gravel.
| 1382 Wyclif Ecclus. xxv. 27 As a graueli steeȝing vp [Vulg. sicut ascensus arenosus]. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxx. (1495) 721 In grauely londes and to lene the vyne ouerdryeth and faylleth. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) xiii. 150 The See that men clepen the gravely See. 1578 Lyte Dodoens i. iii. 8 The wilde groweth..in barren soyle and grauelly grounde. 1590 P. Barrough Meth. Physick 239 He must vse fishes of grauelly waters. 1606 W. Birnie Kirk-Buriall (1833) 3 Sown in corruption, dishonour, and weaknes, in the grauely fielde of the graue. 1609 Bible (Douay) Ecclus. xxv. 27 As the goeing up a gravelie [1611 sandy] way. 1677 Plot Oxfordsh. 94 Filled with a kind of gravelly earth. 1713 Derham Phys. Theol. iii. ii. Note vi, The Sand was at last so gravelly, that it hinder'd our boring any deeper. 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1862) I. vi. 31 Gravelly marble. 1807 G. Chalmers Caledonia I. i. iii. 105 A Roman cinereal urn of a gravelly brown earth. 1830–3 Lyell Princ. Geol. (1875) II. iii. xl. 375 Certain species prefer a sandy, others a gravelly, and some a muddy sea-bottom. 1847 J. Wilson Chr. North (1857) II. 21 The large trouts came to the gravelly shallows. 1873 J. Geikie Gt. Ice Age xi. 146 Yellowish gravelly sand. |
2. Path. Of the nature of gravel (see gravel n. 4); characterized by, or arising from, the presence of gravel. (Cf. gravelish.)
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 536 They make an emplaister of Bacon to scatter gravelly matter in the bladder. 1743 Dr. Banyer in Phil. Trans. XLII. 633 The Treatment of a gravelly Case. 1793 Beddoes Calculus 20 He had been perfectly free from any gravelly symptoms till within a few weeks. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 420 Consumptive and gravelly cases were more frequently heard of in different parts of this district. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 162 Seldom or almost never do gravelly paroxysms coincide with the arthritic paroxysms. |
† 3. Containing gritty particles. Obs.
| a 1640 Day Parl. Bees ii. (1881) 20 An almes that by a Niggards hand is serv'd Is mold and gravelly bread. 1727 Bradley Fam. Dict., Gravelly, a Term used concerning certain Pears, which..have a kind of small Stones or Gravel in them, especially towards the Core; thus they say the great Musk is too gravelly. |
4. Financial slang. (Cf. gravel n. 7.)
| 1887 Atkins House Scraps 15 Stock Exchange Idioms:—Getting gravelly here. |
5. transf. Of a voice (cf. gravel voice).
| 1944 Harper's Mag. June 38/1 The tired, imperturbable man aboard the carrier flagship called his orders over the gravelly-voiced TBS (talk between ships). 1958 Listener 7 Aug. 203/1 Sunderland's gravelly voice insinuating that they were all a dead loss. 1959 ‘F. Newton’ Jazz Scene vii. 135 The gravelly and expressive voice of the great Louis Armstrong. 1971 Daily Tel. 13 Oct. 15/3 William Costello..provided the gravelly voice of Popeye the sailor in film cartoons. |
Hence ˈgravelliness, gravelly quality.
| 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 9 Another cause [of the earth's barrenness] is Rockiness, Stoniness, and Gravelliness. |