gravel Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun rock fragments and pebbles
    crushed rock.
  2. verb cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations
    annoy; rag; devil; bother; vex; irritate; nettle; rile; get to; nark; get at; chafe.
    • Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really bothers me
    • It irritates me that she never closes the door after she leaves
  3. verb cover with gravel
    • We gravelled the driveway
  4. verb be a mystery or bewildering to
    mystify; perplex; bewilder; get; beat; puzzle; pose; amaze; vex; baffle; flummox; stick; stupefy; nonplus; dumbfound.
    • This beats me!
    • Got me--I don't know the answer!
    • a vexing problem
    • This question really stuck me

WordNet

Grav"el noun
Etymology
OF. gravele, akin to F. gr?ve a sandy shore, strand; of Celtic origin; cf. Armor. grouan gravel, W. gro coarse gravel, pebbles, and Skr. gr&amac;van stone.
Definitions
  1. Small stones, or fragments of stone; very small pebbles, often intermixed with particles of sand.
  2. (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.
Grav"el transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Graveled or Gravelled; present participle & verbal noun Graveling or Gravelling
Definitions
  1. To cover with gravel; as, to gravel a walk.
  2. To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.
    When we were fallen into a place between two seas, they graveled the ship. Acts xxvii. 41 (Rhemish version).
    Willam the Conqueror . . . chanced as his arrival to be graveled; and one of his feet stuck so fast in the sand that he fell to the ground. Camden.
  3. To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex. Colloq.
    When you were graveled for lack of matter. Shak.
    The physician was so graveled and amazed withal, that he had not a word more to say. Sir T. North.
  4. To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.

Webster 1913