▪ I. riddle, n.1
(ˈrɪd(ə)l)
Forms: α. 1 rǽd-, rédels, 4 redilis, 4–5 redel(e)s, 9 dial. ridless. β. 4, 6 redele, 4–5 redel, redil, 6 readle, redle, reedel, reedle. γ. 4–6 rydel, 6 ryddel(l, ryd(d)le, 4 ridil, 5 ridel, 6 riddel, ridelle, ridle, 6– riddle.
[OE. rǽdels masc. and rǽdelse fem., counsel, opinion, conjecture, etc., also a riddle, = Fris. riedsel, MDu. raetsel (Du. raadsel), OS. râdisli neut., râdislo masc. (MLG. râd-, rêdelse, rêdesal, LG. radsel), OHG. râdisle (MHG. ratsel, retsel, etc., G. rätsel), f. rǽdan to read or rede: see -els.]
1. a. A question or statement intentionally worded in a dark or puzzling manner, and propounded in order that it may be guessed or answered, esp. as a form of pastime; an enigma; a dark saying.
| α c 1000 ælfric Num. xii. 8 Ic sprece to him..openlice, næs þurh redelsas [L. ænigmata] ne þurh hiwinge. 1382 Wyclif Judges xiv. 16 Thou hatidist me,..and therfor the redels [L. problema]..thou wolt not to me expowne. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 181 Þe kyng putte forþ a rydels [L. paradigma] erliche amorwe. a 1425 Cursor M. 7120 (Trin.), At þe feest þere he was stad A redeles vnto him he bad. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Ridless, a riddle, a conundrum. |
| β a 1300 Cursor M. 7120 At þat fest..A redel þam vndo he badd. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 184 Ar ȝe coueitouse nouthe After ȝeresȝyues or ȝiftes or ȝernen to rede redeles? c 1440 Promp. Parv. 426/2 Redyn or expownyn redellys. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 46 b, To a certain persone that had propouned an harde reedle. Ibid. 92 The redle that Sphinx propouned. 1567 Fenton Trag. Disc. 45, I shall hardlye reade the misterye of your readle, for as yet I understande nothinge but highe duche. 1596 Foxe's A. & M. 1142/1 margin, The 8. chapter of Daniel..speaketh of the king of faces and reedels. |
| γ c 1375 Cursor M. 7122 (Fairf.), He..heȝt þa men to gif ham mede, if þai cowde þat ridil rede. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 433/1 Rydel, or probleme, enigma. 1483 Cath. Angl. 307/2 He þat spekis Rydels.., enigmatista. 1535 Coverdale Jer. xiii. 12 Therfore laye this ryddle before them. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. ii. 26 As by a ryddell or a darke figure. 1589 ? Lyly Pappe w. Hatchet B iij b, I forgate a riddle, ‘the more it is spied, the lesse it is seene’. Thats the Sunne. 1612 Woodall Surg. Mate Wks. (1653) 19 The Authour hath thought fit to unfold it by a medicinall riddle. 1671 Milton P.R. iv. 573 As that Theban Monster that propos'd Her riddle, and him, who solv'd it not, devour'd. c 1718 Prior Beauty, a Riddle 36 Your riddle is not hard to read: I guess it. 1780 Cowper Wks. (1876) 49, I have lately exercised my ingenuity in contriving an exercise for yours and have composed a riddle. 1810 Crabbe Borough iii. 105 And his fair friends..Oft he amused with riddles and charades. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 19, I am quite certain that he put forth his definition as a riddle. |
b. Without article.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xlix. 4 Riddle thou in riddle. 1589 Puttenham Art Eng. Poesie iii. xviii. (Arb.) 198 We dissemble againe vnder couert and darke speaches, when we speake by way of riddle. 1727 Swift Wonder of Wonders Postscript, It has been the Policy of all times, to deliver down Important Subjects by Emblem and Riddle. |
2. transf. Something which puzzles or perplexes; a difficult or insoluble problem; a mystery.
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 167 Þere nys neyther..Pope, ne patriarch, þat puyre reson ne schal make Þe meyster of alle þo men þoruȝ miȝt of þis redeles. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. I. 320 Mo redelis þan we can telle ben soþ of Crist bi his two kindis. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Matt. xi. 67 Shadowes and darke riddels of the olde lawe. 1650 Bulwer Anthropomet. 253 Yet how and when this tincture began, it was yet a riddle unto him. 1684 Bunyan Pilgr. ii. Introd. Lines 230 These Riddles that lie couch't within thy breast, Freely propound, expound. 1706–7 Farquhar Beaux' Strat. iv. ii. 48 Where there's a Priest and a Woman, there's always a Mystery and a Riddle. 1785 Reid Intell. Powers iii. iii. 344 Such paradoxes and riddles..men are involuntarily led into when they reason about time and space. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. iii. vii, It seems to me a riddle how we could ever have been thus connected. 1879 N. Smyth Old Faiths iii. (1882) 52 Judaism is said to have been a dark riddle which tormented Hegel all his life. |
b. Const. of. (Common in 19th cent.)
| 1648 Boyle Seraph. Love xxiv. (1700) 145 There we shall have clearly Expounded to us those Riddles of Providence, which [etc.]. 1648–9 Eikon Bas. xxii. (1662) 111, I must now resolve the riddle of their Loyalty. 1706 Addison Rosamond iii. iii, O quickly relate This riddle of fate! 1816 Coleridge Lay Serm. (Bohn) 320 The minds that feel the riddle of the world. 1859 Holland Gold Foil xii. 146 The riddle of life is unsolved. 1870 Max Müller Sci. Relig. (1873) 392, I do not say that..we have solved the whole riddle of mythology. |
3. concr. A person or being whose nature or conduct is enigmatical.
| 1663 Butler Hud. i. iii. 337 'Twas a strange Riddle of a Lady. 1711 Swift Lett. (1768) IV. 3, I am still a riddle they know not what to make of. 1732 Pope Ess. Man ii. 18 Sole judge of Truth, in endless Error hurl'd: The glory, jest, and riddle of the world! 1878 Browning La Saisiaz 46 No more Man as riddle to be read. |
4. Comb., as riddle-wise adv. (also with in); riddle-like adj.; riddle-maker, riddle-monger, riddle-writer; riddle-loving, riddle-rid adjs.
| a. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 33 Þey translated it in a redel wise. 1563 Mirr. Mag. ii. 142 b, I name no man outryght, But ryddle wise, I meane them as I myght. 1594 R. Wilson Coblers Proph. iv. iii, The bastards name he tolde me too, But it was riddle-wise. |
| b. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. v. 1 Forasmuch as I like not theis riddelike tytles. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. iii. 223 She..that..riddle like, liues sweetely where she dies. 1891 Winsor Columbus App. 633 The strange and riddle-like narrative. |
| c. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew ii. Wks. 1873 III. 383 In spite of Fortune and her Riddle-makers. 1751 Earl of Orrery Remarks Swift (1752) 83 The thought is closer pursued than in any other riddle-writer whatever. 1849 Halliwell Pop. Rhymes 148 The pen has been a fertile subject for the modern riddle-writer. 1850 Smedley F. Fairleigh iv, That riddle-loving female, the Sphinx. 1918 W. de la Mare Motley 44 Old and alone, sit we, caged, riddle-rid men. |
5. attrib., as riddle-ballad, riddle-book, riddle-craft, riddle-game, riddle-rhyme, riddle-song; riddle canon (see quot. 1889).
| 1816 Jane Austen Emma I. x. 176 There go you and your riddle-book one of these days. 1820 Keats Eve of St. Agnes xv, An aged crone Who keepeth clos'd a wond'rous riddle-book. 1849 Halliwell Pop. Rhymes 141 Nursery riddle-rhymes are extremely numerous. 1858 W. T. Matson Poems 459 Love..sagely musing o'er Fate's riddle-book. 1882 Child Ballads I. 13 Riddle⁓craft is practised by a variety of preternatural beings. 1889 Cent. Dict. s.v. Canon1, Enigmatical canon,..riddle canon, in old music, a canon in which one part was written out in full and the number of parts was given; the remaining parts were to be written out by the student in accordance with the requirements of an enigmatical inscription written upon the music. 1934 Webster, Riddle ballad. 1950 M. J. C. Hodgart Ballads i. 14 The ‘riddle’ ballads are at the beginning of Child's collection... The basic theme of these is that of a mortal outwitting a supernatural being by quickness of wit, and of the magic power of the Word expounded in riddles. 1954 J. R. R. Tolkien Fellowship of Ring 21 Gollum challenged Bilbo to the Riddle-game. 1965 M. Spark Mandelbaum Gate ii. 32 She heard the familiar lilt of the riddle song, ‘One Kid’, from the lips of her lolling cousins. |
▪ II. riddle, n.2
(ˈrɪd(ə)l)
Forms: 1 hriddel, 4 riddil, 4, 6 riddill, 7 riddell, 6– riddle, 7, 9 dial. ruddle; 4 ridelle, 5 ridil, 6 redell, 7 ridle; 4 rydil, 5 ryddyll, rydyl, rydelle, 6 ryd(d)le.
[Late OE. hriddel: the earlier form is hridder ridder n.1]
1. a. A coarse-meshed sieve, used for separating chaff from corn, sand from gravel, ashes from cinders, etc.; the most usual form has a circular wooden rim with a bottom formed of strong wires crossing each other at right-angles.
Also applied to those parts of some machines which serve for similar purposes.
| a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia IX. 264 Sædleap, hriddel, her⁓syfe. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 531 Sak, cryuere, et sace, sak, ridelle, and heresyue. 1382 Wyclif Amos ix. 9 As whete is smyten in a rydil. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 433/1 Rydyl, of corn clensynge,..cribrum. 1495 Trevisa's Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxxv. 691 Hulkes falleth of whan corne is clensyd wyth a syfue or wyth a Ryddyll. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems vi. 55 We weir als sib as seue & riddill. 1566 Ludlow Church-w. Acc. (Camden) 123 For dyginge and siftinge of ytt [sc. sand], and for a new rydle. 1601 Holland Pliny xvi. xi. I. 464 The same are shred and minced so small, as they may passe through a sieve or a riddle. 1675 Evelyn Terra (1776) 63 Casting the coarse remaining Stuff which would not pass the Riddle, into the cistern again. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) I. 140 Horse-beans and Tares together..are easily parted with a Riddle. 1798 Naval Chron. (1799) I. 171 My hull is like a riddle. 1830 Kyle Farm Rep. 40 in L.U.K., Husb. III, The stones..are freed from sand by being thrown into a riddle. 1856 J. Brown in T. Hughes Struggles for Kansas (1862) 366 If all the bullets..had hit me, I should have been as full of holes as a riddle. 1881 Work & Design 24 Dec. 450/2 The wool..is carried..by a conveyer, run by a small engine to a riddle... The riddle is a simple contrivance, consisting of a box [etc.]. |
| transf. 1848 Thoreau Maine Woods i, Through this steel riddle, more or less coarse, is the arrowy Maine forest..relentlessly sifted,..till it comes out boards, clapboards [etc.]. |
b. to turn (or cast) the riddle (and shears), to practise a mode of divination mainly employed for the discovery of theft. Sc. and north. dial.
For a description of the process, see Jamieson.
| 1570 Durham Depos. (Surtees) 117, I, Allice Swan,..used by the space of certen yeres to cast or tourne the riddle and sheares. 1573 Ibid. 251 Ther was a wyff in Newcastell..that culd torne the ryddle [etc.]. 1589 in Lawson Bk. Perth (1847) 191 Whilk day Violet Brown..was accused for turning of the riddle with sheers. 1709 [see 4]. |
c. a riddle of claret: (see quot. 1889).
| 1831 Wilson in Blackw. Mag. XXX. 413, I bet you a riddle of claret. 1889 N. & Q. 7th Ser. VIII. 13 A riddle of claret is thirteen bottles, a magnum and twelve quarts. The name comes from the fact that the wine is brought in on a literal riddle. |
2. to make a riddle of, to pierce with holes.
| 1817 J. Bradbury Trav. Amer. 19 He was instantly pierced with arrows so numerous, that, to use the language of Colter, ‘he was made a riddle of’. 1842 Lever J. Hinton li, I was to be made a riddle of if I attempted to escape. |
3. A board or metal plate set with pins, used in straightening wire.
| 1843 Holtzapffel Turning I. 425 The riddle is a piece of wood or metal with sloping pins, which lean alternately opposite ways, so as to keep the wire close down on the board. 1866 Tomlinson's Cycl. Usef. Arts II. 912/2 Hard-drawn and unannealed wires..are straightened..by drawing them through a riddle. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as riddle-frame, riddle-maker, riddle manufactory, riddle sieve; riddle-turning (see 1 b); riddle-board, -land (see quots.).
| 1709 in W. Andrews Bygone Ch. Life Scot. (1899) 124 The horrid sin of the hellish art of riddle-turning. 1747 Gentl. Mag. XVII. 311 The greatest part of the corn, which falls thro' this riddle sive, is at once clear from chaff and huzzes. 1818 J. Palmer Jrnl. Trav. 48 One wire weaving and riddle manufactory. 1818 Massachusetts Spy 14 Oct. 4/3 ‘And what..is riddle land?’ That which is of so open and loose a texture as to let the rain falling on it pass through it. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 332 That part of the sides that form[s] the riddle-frame lies horizontally. 1858 Simmonds Dict. Trade, Riddle-maker, a manufacturer of large coarse wire sieves. 1969 E. H. Pinto Treen 141 Riddleboards were formerly used in the North of England and Scotland for making oatcake or oatbread. |
▪ III. ˈriddle, n.3 nonce-wd.
[f. riddle v.2]
A hole made by a bullet.
| 1880 E. Marshall Troublous Times I. 82 My mother..had dropped a tear over the riddle of a bullet in the flap. |
▪ IV. riddle, n.4
variant of reddle or ruddle.
| 1681 J. Chetham Angler's Vade-m. iv. §7 (1689) 34 Riddle or red Oker (with which People in Lancashire use to mark their sheep). 1886 Gloss. Rochdale. |
▪ V. † riddle, n.5
obs. variant of raddle n.1
| 1695 Kennett Par. Antiq., Gloss. s.v. Cladus, A hurdle..in Kent is sometime call'd a Riddle, Raddle, or Ruddle:..as riddle-wall, a riddle-basket. |
▪ VI. ˈriddle, v.1
Also 7 ridle.
[f. riddle n.1]
1. intr. To speak in riddles, or enigmatically; also, to propound riddles.
| 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xlix. 4 That is to say, Riddle thou in riddle. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. iii. 53 Lysander riddles very prettily. 1629 Carlell Deserving Favorite ii. ii, What, do you riddle me? Is she contracted, And can I by your counsell attaine my wishes? 1660 Shirley Merchant's Wife iii. iii, Madam, you riddle strangely. 1748 W. Melmoth Fitzosborne Lett. (1749) I. 8 That he who knows not how to riddle, knows not how to live. 1888 Gilbert Yeomen i, I can riddle you from dawn of day to set of sun. |
2. trans. To interpret or solve (a riddle or question). a. In imp. phr. riddle me a (or my) riddle; or riddle me this, that, why, etc.
| 1588 Marprel. Epist. (Arb.) 11 Riddle me a riddle, what is that his grace threatened to send Mistris Lawson to Bridewell? 1621 Bp. R. Montagu Diatribæ 526 Riddle me a riddle, what is this? 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal (1673) 38 Riddle me this: what's he, that to Rome came [etc.]? 1668 Davenant Man's the Master iii. i, Riddle my riddle, what's this? 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. v. ii, Riddle me this then. What's that goes round the house, and round the house, and never touches the house? |
b. Redupl. riddle me, riddle me.
| 1590 Nashe Pasquil's Apol. B b, Riddle me, riddle me, what was he? 1631 P. Fletcher Piscatory Eclog. L iv b, I have another play within to doe, Riddle me, Riddle me, what's that? 1673 Hickeringill Father Greybeard 199 Riddle me, riddle me what it is. [1841 Chambers Pop. Rhymes Scotl. (1870) 109 Riddle me, riddle me, rot-tot-tot, A little wee man in a red red coat.] |
c. In general use. Also absol.
| 1627 Drayton Agincourt, Moon-Calf 176 The tale our Gossip Red-cap told before, You so well ridled, that there can no more Be said of it. 1664 Trevor in Carte Collect. (1735) 266 The affaire..is now understood and that mystery riddled to be a bragge. 1820 Scott Abbot xxiii, Were I as wise a warlock as Michael Scott, I could scarce riddle the dream you read me. 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inher. xxvii, Promise that you will riddle me right, and tell me why poverty is the greatest misfortune in the world. 1941 T. S. Eliot Dry Salvages v. 14 Release omens By sortilege, or tea leaves, riddle the inevitable With playing cards. |
d. With adverbs, as to riddle forth, riddle out.
| 1624 Quarles Job Militant xiv. 84 You understand To riddle forth man's Fortunes by his Hand. 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. lxv, So might we riddle out some mystery. 1685 ― Par. Prophet. xii. 91 The Time-eaten names of the Consuls in that Monumentum Ancyranum above-mentioned, as riddled out by T. L. |
3. To be a riddle to (a person); to puzzle. rare.
| 1818 Scott Rob Roy xviii, I think it will riddle him or he gets his horse ower the Border again. |
▪ VII. riddle, v.2
(ˈrɪd(ə)l)
Forms: 3 ridlen, 4 rydelyn; 4–5 ridile, 4–6 ridele (6 redyle), 4–8 ridle, 4– riddle.
[f. riddle n.2]
1. a. trans. To pass (corn, gravel, etc.) through a riddle; to separate with a riddle; to sift. Also const. out, in.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 234 Satan is ȝeorne abuten uorto ridlen þe ut of mine corne! 1382 Wyclif Dan. xiv. 13 Thei brouȝten to ashe, and by al the temple he ridlide [it] byfore the kyng. ― Luke xxii. 31 Sathanas hath axid ȝou, that he schulde ridele [you] as whete. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 433/2 Rydelyn, cribro, capisterio. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §146 The bolles of flaxe, whan they be ripeled of, must be rideled from the wedes. 1570 Levins Manip. 116 To Riddle, cribrare. 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire xi. (1892) 90 Two ridlers, who ridle the coales when it is aland. 1688 [see riddling vbl. n.2 1]. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 244 The finest sifted Mould that can be got, which must be..rather ridled in than pressed down. 1729 P. Walkden Diary 12 Sept. (1866) 41, I owed..3d. to his son, due for riddling and blending lime. 1784 New Spectator No. 10. 5 As ridiculous as Hercules with the distaff, or a Duchess ridling cinders! 1833 J. Holland Manuf. Metal II. 203 The ashes, on falling, are riddled or sifted through the grating. 1844 Stephens Bk. Farm II. 281 The shrivelled beans and other refuse being riddled out. 1890 W. J. Gordon Foundry 16 One is sifting or ‘riddling’ the old sand to make it ready for another casting. |
| absol. 1616 B. Jonson Love Restored Wks. (Rtldg.) 588/2 Robin Goodfellow, he that sweeps the hearth.., riddles for the country maides, and does all their other drudgery. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 282 Very few people who profess to work in the barn can riddle well. |
b. transf. and fig.
| 1613 Jackson Creed ii. 468 Appointed to riddle out some good meaning. 1630 Davenant Cruel Brother iii. i, Thus thy years do riddle grief away. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. (1653) 23 The Goodness of the Water is as it were Ridled, Screened, and Strained out into the Land. 1831 Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) II. 146 That mind which must all be riddled monthly to see if there are any grains in it. 1863 Torrens Life Sir J. Graham I. 235 His power of sifting evidence, and riddling the truth out of reluctant or evasive witnesses. |
2. a. To pierce with holes like those of a riddle; to render sieve-like by perforation (with bullets or the like); to shatter by missiles.
| 1849–50 Alison Hist. Europe IV. xxi. §62. 195 Above 100,000 cannon-balls, and 25,000 bombs,..had riddled all its defences. 1874 Green Short Hist. iv. §3. 186 Edward riddled the Scottish ranks with arrows. 1886 Law Times LXXX. 213/2 Worms will riddle the wood-work of a ship. 1916 ‘Boyd Cable’ Action Front 209 You machine-gunners riddling holes in a target or a row of posts. |
| fig. 1872 ‘Mark Twain’ Curious Dream 87, I dosed him with bad jokes, and riddled him with good ones. 1888 Bryce Amer. Commw. III. lxxxvii. 165 Proposals..which the criticism of opinion riddled with its unceasing fire. |
b. esp. in pa. pple. riddled (with holes, etc.).
| 1817 J. Scott Paris Revisit. (ed. 4) 211 The door was riddled through and through with all sorts of shot. 1865 Gosse Land & Sea (1874) 31 An interior riddled with holes like a honeycomb. 1884 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Mar. 220/1 Steep banks of sandstone, riddled with the holes of the sand-martin. |
| fig. 1897 ‘Ouida’ Massarenes viii, They are as poor as Job and riddled with debts. 1928 Daily Mail 3 Aug. 16/7 London is riddled through and through with receivers of textile goods. |
c. intr. To penetrate. rare—1.
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. II. x. 99 Blanket-bags are nearly useless below -30°, in a gale of wind; it riddles through them. |
d. With cogn. obj.: To make (one's way) by penetration. rare—1.
| 1892 G. Hake Mem. 80 Yrs. lxiii. 259 An enemy could cross a moat; could he riddle his way through the countless canals of Venezia? |