Riddle — Defs

01 n. A sieve with coarse meshes, usually of wire, for separating coarser materials from finer, as chaff from grain, cinders from ashes, or grave…

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

02 v. t. To separate, as grain from the chaff, with a riddle; to pass through a riddle; as, riddle wheat; to riddle coal or gravel.

imp. & p. p. Riddled; p. pr. & vb. n. Riddling

1.
To separate, as grain from the chaff, with a riddle; to pass through a riddle; as, riddle wheat; to riddle coal or gravel.
2.
To perforate so as to make like a riddle; to make many holes in; as, a house riddled with shot.

03 n. Something proposed to be solved by guessing or conjecture; a puzzling question; an ambiguous proposition; an enigma; hence, anything ambigu…

1.
Something proposed to be solved by guessing or conjecture; a puzzling question; an ambiguous proposition; an enigma; hence, anything ambiguous or puzzling.
“To wring from me, and tell to them, my secret, That solved the riddle which I had proposed.” — Milton.

“'T was a strange riddle of a lady.” — Hudibras.

04 v. t. To explain; to solve; to unriddle.

1.
To explain; to solve; to unriddle.
“Riddle me this, and guess him if you can.” — Dryden.

05 v. i. To speak ambiguously or enigmatically.