gravel
[grav-uh l]
- small stones and pebbles, or a mixture of these with sand.
- Pathology.
- multiple small calculi formed in the kidneys.
- the disease characterized by such concretions.
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- to cover with gravel.
- to bring to a standstill from perplexity; puzzle.
- Informal. to be a cause of irritation to.
- Obsolete. to run (a ship) aground, as on a beach.
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- harsh and grating: a gravel voice.
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Origin of gravel
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for gravel
Contemporary Examples
They dress in clothing from the flophouse lost-and-found and are groomed with a hacksaw and gravel rake.
The truck pulls the guitar over railroad tracks, through rocks and gravel, whatever, and the guitar is still speaking.
There, in his cluttered office at the end of a gravel lane, I came face to face with one of my unsung literary heroes.
The guard is first seen marching up and down the gravel forecourt, before breaking into pirouettes.
It is simply a gravel yard walled off by sand bastions and concrete barriers.
Whatever You Do Someone Will Die. A Short Story About Impossible Choices in IraqNathan Bradley Bethea
August 31, 2014
Historical Examples
The plaint of the gravel travelled slowly all round the drive.
The Secret AgentJoseph Conrad
An' so the gravel laid there, an' we walked round it, watchers an' all.
Meadow GrassAlice Brown
What the gardener called the gravel path was black earth, moss-grown.
The Incomplete AmoristE. Nesbit
(on the gravel), but he was immediately recovered, none the worse.
The Uncommercial TravellerCharles Dickens
He drew his short sword from its sheath, and scratched a deep mark in the gravel.
Roden's CornerHenry Seton Merriman
gravel
- an unconsolidated mixture of rock fragments that is coarser than sand
- geology a mixture of rock fragments with diameters in the range 4–76 mm
- pathol small rough calculi in the kidneys or bladder
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- to cover with gravel
- to confound or confuse
- US informal to annoy or disturb
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French gravele, diminutive of grave gravel, perhaps of Celtic origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for gravel
n.
early 13c., from Old French gravele "sand, gravel," diminutive of grave "sand, seashore" (Modern French grève), possibly from Celtic *gravo- (cf. Welsh gro "coarse gravel," Breton grouan, Cornish grow "gravel"), perhaps ultimately from PIE *ghreu- "to rub, grind."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
gravel
(grăv′əl)- Sandlike concretions of uric acid, calcium oxalate, and mineral salts formed in the passages of the biliary and urinary tracts.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.