Riddles - English meaning

noun

A bar that slides into a socket to fasten a door or window.

Usage examples:

He reached through the hole in the door and slid the bolt on the inside.

verb

Fasten (a door or window) with a bar that slides into a socket.

Usage examples:

All the doors were locked and bolted

verb

(of a horse or other animal) run away suddenly, typically from fear.

Usage examples:

The horses shied and bolted

noun

A porous device for removing impurities or solid particles from a liquid or gas passed through it.

Usage examples:

An oil filter

verb

Pass (a liquid, gas, light, or sound) through a device to remove unwanted material.

Usage examples:

The eye filters out ultraviolet radiation

noun

A piece of equipment or a device for removing solids from liquids or gases, or for limiting the particular type of light, sound, or electricity going through it

Usage examples:

An oil filter, a coffee filter, [ i always + adv/prep ] reports of the accident began to filter in.…

noun

Blood that has been shed, especially as a result of violence.

Usage examples:

The film omitted the blood and gore in order to avoid controversy

verb

(of an animal such as a bull) pierce or stab (a person or other animal) with a horn or tusk.

Usage examples:

He was gored to death by a charging bull

verb

Shape with a gore or gores.

Usage examples:

For a larger figure it would be necessary to slightly gore the skirt

noun

A heavy, flat iron plate that is heated and used for cooking food.

Usage examples:

Griddle cakes

verb

Cook on a griddle.

Usage examples:

The vegetables can be griddled the day before and kept covered in the fridge

noun

A flat heated surface on which food is cooked

noun

A hollow place in a solid body or surface.

Usage examples:

The dog had dug a hole in the ground

verb

Make a hole or holes in.

Usage examples:

A fuel tank was holed by the attack and a fire started

noun

A structure of hexagonal cells of wax, made by bees to store honey and eggs.

Usage examples:

The surplus is stored away in the honeycomb to sustain the bees throughout the flowerless months of…

verb

Fill with cavities or tunnels.

Usage examples:

Whole hillsides were honeycombed with mines

noun

A structure bees make in which to store honey, having many small separate areas, or fig. any space divided into many small, separate areas or paths

Usage examples:

The building was a honeycomb of private offices.

verb

Go into or through (something), especially with force or effort.

Usage examples:

The shrapnel had penetrated his head

verb

Pass into or through, often by overcoming resistance

verb

To move into or through something

Usage examples:

[ i ] the drill isn’t sharp enough to penetrate into the rock., [ t ] women have begun to penetrate…

noun

A pungent hot-tasting powder prepared from dried and ground peppercorns, used as a spice or condiment to flavour food.

Usage examples:

Season to taste with salt and pepper

verb

Sprinkle or season (food) with pepper.

Usage examples:

I salted and peppered the beef before i browned it

noun

A black or cream-colored spice, often used in powdered form, that gives a spicy hot taste to food

Usage examples:

The mayor was peppered with questions from reporters about the municipal corruption scandal., he pe…

verb

Pierce and make a hole or holes in.

Usage examples:

There is a very small risk of the scope perforating the colon

adjective

Perforated.

Usage examples:

A perforate shell

verb

(of a sharp pointed object) go into or through (something).

Usage examples:

A splinter had pierced the skin

verb

To go in or through something, esp. with a pointed object, making a hole

Usage examples:

Pierce the potatoes with a fork to see if they’re done., she got her ears pierced.

verb

Make a small hole in (something) with a sharp point; pierce slightly.

Usage examples:

Prick the potatoes with a fork

noun

An act of piercing something with a sharp point.

Usage examples:

The pin prick had produced a drop of blood

verb

To make a small hole or holes in the surface of something

Usage examples:

The nurse pricked his finger to draw blood.

noun

A small hole in a tyre resulting in an escape of air.

Usage examples:

She was on her way home when she had a puncture

verb

Make a puncture in (something).

Usage examples:

One of the knife blows had punctured a lung

noun

A small hole made by a sharp object

verb

Remove contaminants from.

Usage examples:

The filtration plant is able to purify 70 tons of water a day

verb

To rid something of dirty or harmful substances

Usage examples:

Flower growers here are required to purify all their runoff water.

verb

Remove impurities or unwanted elements from (a substance), typically as part of an industrial process.

Usage examples:

Sugar was refined by boiling it in huge iron vats

verb

To make a substance pure by removing unwanted material

Usage examples:

Sugar and oil are refined before use., we haven’t finished refining the plan yet.

verb

To improve something or to make it pure, especially by removing material that is not wanted

Usage examples:

Crude oil is industrially refined to purify it., engineers spent many months refining the software.

noun

A fixed or movable upright partition used to divide a room, give shelter from draughts, heat, or light, or to provide concealment or privacy.

Usage examples:

The special branch man remained hidden behind the screen for prosecution witnesses

verb

Conceal, protect, or shelter (someone or something) with a screen or something forming a screen.

Usage examples:

Her hair swung across to screen her face

noun

A flat surface in a theater, on a television, or on a computer system on which pictures or words are shown

Usage examples:

I spend most of the day working in front of a computer screen., her ambition is to write for the sc…

noun

A utensil consisting of a wire or plastic mesh held in a frame, used for straining solids from liquids, for separating coarser from finer particles, or for reducing soft solids to a pulp.

Usage examples:

Puree the potatoes through a sieve

verb

Put (a food substance or other material) through a sieve.

Usage examples:

Sieve the flour and sugar together in a bowl

noun

A strainer for separating lumps from powdered material

verb

Put (a fine or loose substance) through a sieve so as to remove lumps or large particles.

Usage examples:

Sift the flour into a large bowl

noun

An act of sifting something, especially so as to isolate that which is most important.

Usage examples:

A careful archaeological sift must be made through the debris

noun

Move as if through a sieve

verb

Force (a part of one's body or oneself) to make an unusually great effort.

Usage examples:

I stopped and listened, straining my ears for any sound

noun

A force tending to pull or stretch something to an extreme or damaging degree.

Usage examples:

The usual type of chair puts an enormous strain on the spine

noun

A particular breed, stock, or variety of an animal or plant.

Usage examples:

Australia has been trying to breed better strains of plants and animals for ever.

verb

Cause (someone) to become motionless with horror, wonder, or astonishment.

Usage examples:

He was transfixed by the pain in her face

verb

To make a person or animal unable to move or stop looking at something because they are so interested, surprised, or frightened

Usage examples:

The conference delegates were transfixed by her speech., a body lay in the corner, transfixed by a …

verb

Blow a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff.

Usage examples:

A combine cuts, threshes, and winnows the grain in one operation

verb

To reduce a large number of people or things to a much smaller number by judging their quality

Usage examples:

The six architects chosen to compete for the commission were winnowed from an original list of 27.