Emily Dickinson Lexicon
Definition for Riddle
riddle, n1. [OE rædels, counsel, opinion, conjecture; see read, v.]
- Question; wondering; final words (of Philip van Artevelde in Sir Henry Taylor's play): “What have I done? Why such a death? Why thus?”
- Mystery; unknown; hidden dimensions of spiritual reality; [fig.] afterlife; spirit world; life after death.
- Enigma; paradox; conundrum; test of veracity; trial of faith; [word play] sieve; screen; mesh; filter; instrument for straining out impurities.
- Verse; rhyming text that poses a question; type of poem in the genre of lyric poetry.
- Puzzle; ambiguous statement; something to be solved by conjecture.
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