Gravel Meaning
/ˈɡɹævəl/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounSmall fragments of rock, used for laying on the beds of roads and railways, and as ballast.
nounA type or grade of small rocks, differentiated by mineral type, size range, or other characteristics.
Sentence Examples
We need to bind gravel with cement.
They are binding the gravel with cement to repair the road.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The driveway was covered with loose ____ that crunched under our feet.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The long driveway was covered in small grey ____ that crunched loudly whenever a car drove over it.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English gravel, grauel, from Old French gravele, diminutive of grave (“gravel, seashore”), from Medieval Latin grava, ultimately from Proto-Celtic *grāwā (“gravel, pebbles”) (compare Breton groa, Cornish grow, Welsh gro), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰroh₁weh₂, from *gʰreh₁w- (“to grind”). Compare also Old English græfa (“coal”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The great use of coffee in France is supposed to have abated the prevalency of the gravel, for where coffee is used as a constant beverage, the gravel and the gout are scarcely known."
— 1848, J. S. Skinner & Son, editor, The Plough, The Loom and the Anvil, volume I, Philadelphia: J. S. Skinner & Son, page 137:
"The defendant below hired the horse to go from Cocksackie to Schodack, and the next day after his arrival at the latter place, the horse was found to be lame in one foot; and the lameness increasing, the defendant below was obliged to leave the horse there, and hire another with which to return. About four weeks after, the horse was brought home, and showed signs of gravel working out above the hoof."
— 1817, William Johnson, editor, Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Judicature, E. F. Backus, page 211:
"'Looks like pus in the foot to me.'
'I'll bet you're right,' Farnon said. 'They call it gravel around here, by the way. What do you suggest we do about it?'"
— 1972, James Herriot, All Creatures Great and Small, St. Martin's Press, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 22:
"A malady that was rare, but which because of its peculiarity elicited much comment, was "night blindness" or "gravel.""
— 1943, Bell Irvin Wiley, The Life of Johnny Reb: The Common Soldier of the Confederacy, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 255:
"We kept quietly on our way until we reached a place in the road that had been freshly graveled, and where the surface was covered with stones just suited to our use."
— 1905, John F. Hume, The Abolitionists:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The driveway was covered with loose ____ that crunched under our feet.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The long driveway was covered in small grey ____ that crunched loudly whenever a car drove over it.