From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
gravel
adj : unpleasantly harsh or grating in sound; "a gravelly voice"
[syn: grating, gravelly, rasping, raspy,
rough]
n : rock fragments and pebbles [syn: crushed rock]
v 1: cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor
irritations; "Mosquitoes buzzing in my ear really
bothers me"; "It irritates me that she never closes the
door after she leaves" [syn: annoy, rag, get to,
bother, get at, irritate, rile, nark,
nettle, vex, chafe, devil]
2: cover with gravel; "We gravelled the driveway"
3: be a mystery or bewildering to; "This beats me!"; "Got me--I
don't know the answer!"; "a vexing problem"; "This
question really stuck me" [syn: perplex, vex, stick,
get, puzzle, mystify, baffle, beat, pose,
bewilder, flummox, stupefy, nonplus, amaze,
dumbfound]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Gravel \Grav"el\, n. [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[=a]van stone.]
1. Small stones, or fragments of stone; very small pebbles,
often intermixed with particles of sand.
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
Gravel powder, a coarse gunpowder; pebble powder.
[1913 Webster]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Gravel \Grav"el\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Graveledor Gravelled;
p. pr. & vb. n. Graveling or Gravelling.]
[1913 Webster]
1. To cover with gravel; as, to gravel a walk.
[1913 Webster]
2. To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run
aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.
[1913 Webster]
When we were fallen into a place between two seas,
they graveled the ship. --Acts xxvii.
41 (Rhemish
version).
[1913 Webster]
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.
[1913 Webster]
3. To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex. [Colloq.]
[1913 Webster]
When you were graveled for lack of matter. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The physician was so graveled and amazed withal,
that he had not a word more to say. --Sir T.
North.
[1913 Webster]
4. To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the
shoe and foot.
[1913 Webster]