From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
gravel
n 1: rock fragments and pebbles [syn: gravel, 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, gravel, 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, gravel, 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.
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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.
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Gravel powder, a coarse gunpowder; pebble powder.
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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.]
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1. To cover with gravel; as, to gravel a walk.
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2. To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run
aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.
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When we were fallen into a place between two seas,
they graveled the ship. --Acts xxvii.
41 (Rhemish
version).
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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.
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3. To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex. [Colloq.]
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When you were graveled for lack of matter. --Shak.
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The physician was so graveled and amazed withal,
that he had not a word more to say. --Sir T.
North.
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4. To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the
shoe and foot.
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