(Hebrews hodah). The oldest and, strictly speaking, the only example of a riddle was that propounded by Samson (Judges 14:12-18). The parabolic prophecy in Ezek. 17:2-18 is there called a "riddle." It was rather, however, an allegory. The word "darkly" in 1 Corinthians 13:12 is the rendering of the Greek enigma; marg., "in a riddle."

Noah Webster's New International Dictionary of the English Language

1. (n.) A sieve with coarse meshes, usually of wire, for separating coarser materials from finer, as chaff from grain, cinders from ashes, or gravel from sand.

2. (n.) A board having a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is drawn to straighten it.

3. (v. t.) To separate, as grain from the chaff, with a riddle; to pass through a riddle; as, riddle wheat; to riddle coal or gravel.

4. (v. t.) To perforate so as to make like a riddle; to make many holes in; as, a house riddled with shot.

5. (n.) Something proposed to be solved by guessing or conjecture; a puzzling question; an ambiguous proposition; an enigma; hence, anything ambiguous or puzzling.

6. (v. t.) To explain; to solve; to unriddle.

7. (v. i.) To speak ambiguously or enigmatically.