gravel

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. An unconsolidated mixture of rock fragments or pebbles.
2. n. Pathology The sandlike granular material of urinary calculi.
3. v. To apply a surface of rock fragments or pebbles to.
4. v. To confuse; perplex.
5. v. Informal To irritate.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. Coarse sand; a mass of pebbles or of pebbles and sand mixed; stone in a mass of small irregular fragments.
2. n. Specifically, in geology, the rolled and water-worn material formed from fragments of rock under the combined influence of atmospheric agencies and currents of water. Most gravel consists in large part of pebbles of quartz and crystalline rock, mixed with sand in which quartz greatly predominates, because quartz forms a large part of the most widely distributed rocks of the earth's crust, and is not subject to any chemical change, not decomposing like feldspar and mica, but being only broken up into smaller and smaller fragments; so that there may be in the same bed components of the gravel of every size, from that of the boulder several feet in diameter down to the grain of sand not so large as a pin's head.
3. n. In pathology, small concretions or calculi resembling sand or gravel which form in the kidneys, pass along the ureters to the bladder, and are expelled with the urine; the disease or morbid state characterized by such concretions.
4. n. In brewing, the appearance of yeast-cells swimming in clear beer in the form of fine gravel.
5. To cover with gravel; fill or choke with gravel: as, to gravel a walk; to gravel a fountain.
6. To bury.
7. To cause to stick in gravel or sand.
8. Hence To bring to a standstill through perplexity; embarrass; puzzle; nonplus.
9. To hurt the foot of, as a horse, by the lodging of gravel under the shoe.

Wiktionary

1. n. uncountable Small fragments of rock, used for laying on the beds of roads and railroads, and as ballast.
2. n. A type or grade of small rocks, differentiated by mineral type, size range, or other characteristics.
3. n. uncountable, geology A particle from 2 to 64 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale
4. n. uncountable, archaic Kidney stones; a deposit of small calculous concretions in the kidneys and the urinary or gall bladder; also, the disease of which they are a symptom.
5. v. transitive To apply a layer of gravel to the surface of a road, etc.
6. v. To puzzle or annoy
7. v. To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.
8. v. To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex.
9. v. To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Small stones, or fragments of stone; very small pebbles, often intermixed with particles of sand.
2. n. (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.
3. v. To cover with gravel.
4. v. To run (as a ship) upon the gravel or beach; to run aground; to cause to stick fast in gravel or sand.
5. v. colloq. To check or stop; to embarrass; to perplex.
6. v. To hurt or lame (a horse) by gravel lodged between the shoe and foot.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. cover with gravel
2. n. rock fragments and pebbles
3. v. be a mystery or bewildering to
4. v. cause annoyance in; disturb, especially by minor irritations