Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An unconsolidated mixture of rock fragments or pebbles.
- noun Medicine The sandlike granular material of urinary calculi.
- transitive verb To apply a surface of rock fragments or pebbles to.
- transitive verb To confuse; perplex.
- transitive verb Informal To irritate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cover with gravel; fill or choke with gravel: as, to
gravel a walk; to gravel a fountain. - To bury.
- To cause to stick in gravel or sand.
- Hence To bring to a standstill through perplexity; embarrass; puzzle; nonplus.
- To hurt the foot of, as a horse, by the lodging of gravel under the shoe.
- noun Coarse sand; a mass of pebbles or of pebbles and sand mixed; stone in a mass of small irregular fragments.
- noun Specifically, in geology, the rolled and water-worn material formed from fragments of rock under the combined influence of atmospheric agencies and currents of water.
- noun In pathology, small concretions or calculi resembling sand or gravel which form in the kidneys, pass along the ureters to the bladder, and are expelled with the urine; the disease or morbid state characterized by such concretions.
- noun In brewing, the appearance of yeast-cells swimming in clear beer in the form of fine gravel.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Small stones, or fragments of stone; very small pebbles, often intermixed with particles of sand.
- noun (Med.) A deposit of small calculous concretions in the kidneys and the urinary or gall bladder; also, the disease of which they are a symptom.
- noun a coarse gunpowder; pebble powder.
- transitive verb To cover with gravel.
- transitive verb To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.
- transitive verb colloq. To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex.
- transitive verb To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable
Small fragments ofrock , used for laying on thebeds ofroads andrailroads , and asballast . - noun A type or grade of small rocks, differentiated by mineral type, size range, or other characteristics.
- noun uncountable, geology A
particle from 2 to 64mm indiameter , following theWentworth scale - noun uncountable, archaic
Kidney stones ; a deposit of smallcalculous concretions in the kidneys and the urinary or gall bladder; also, the disease of which they are a symptom. - verb transitive To
apply alayer of gravel to thesurface of a road, etc. - verb To
puzzle orannoy - verb To
run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to runaground ; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand. - verb To
check orstop ; toembarrass ; toperplex . - verb To
hurt orlame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cover with gravel
- noun rock fragments and pebbles
- verb be a mystery or bewildering to
- verb cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
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Examples
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Idle speculation makes me think that excluding gravel from the mixture may make the surface more uniform and free from discontinuities (slight depressions where gravel is on the surface, voids where gravel comes out of the mixture during curing, etc.) which could be the starting point for blistering (air would expand at a much higher rate than concrete when heated, and the membrane coating might not adhere as well to the gravel).
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They saw him draw a bucket of gravel from the hole and tilt it on the edge of the dump.
TOO MUCH GOLD 2010
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They saw him draw a bucket of gravel from the hole and tilt it on the edge of the dump.
Too Much Gold 2010
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Most of our gravel is dark and covered with dark green moss.
All About Jigs 2009
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Here we had carried many loads of gravel from the creek-bed, so that it was dry and warm, a pleasant basking place; and here, one afternoon, I was drowsing, half asleep, over a volume of Mendenhall. 4 I was so comfortable and secure that even his flaming lyrics failed to stir me.
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It's a gorgeous tune, and he was, what, seventeen? but the idea of "trough" as the basic unit of hearts, like a cubic yard of gravel, is ... upsetting.
The Hills of Tomorrow Matthew Guerrieri 2008
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George find a place to stake a claim and takes a pan of gravel from the creek bed and finds gold streaks the black sand at the bottom of the pan.
“Why this longing for life? It is a game which no man wins.” 2008
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Lately he has been digging up small orchids growing in gravel around the community he lives.
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I dig the real plants, and the gravel is conveniently bite-sized, so I can pick it up and toss it around with my mouth.
Even so, Spring -- quickly come the_mercury 2007
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We had ridden about 11 miles at this point -- all of it uphill and in gravel ... well I guess I should also mention the loose rocks and sand.
Albloggerque johnny_mango 2005
sumit commented on the word gravel
Is defined by the Udden-Wentworth scale as having a particle size of 2 to 64 millimetres.
February 26, 2007
yarb commented on the word gravel
...he would drive determinedly by one of the stores to tease me ... only to turn toward another one suddenly, in a gravel of surprise.
- William Gass, The Tunnel
May 18, 2009