verb. (old).—1. To confound; to puzzle; to FLOOR (q.v.).
1593. G. HARVEY, Pierce’s Supererogation, in wks. II., 296. The finest intelligencer, or sagest Politician in a state, would vndoubtedly haue been GRAUELLED in the execution of that rash attempt.
1597. JOSEPH HALL, Satires, III., vi., 14.
| So long he drinks, till the black caravell, | |
| Stands still fast GRAVELL’D on the mud of hell. |
1600. SHAKESPEARE, As You Like It, iv. 1. When you were GRAVELLED for lack of matter.
1604. MARLOWE, Doctor Faustus, Act i., Sc. 1.
| And I, that have with concise syllogisms | |
| GRAVELL’D the pastors of the German Church. |
1659. TORRIANO, Vocabolario, s.v.
1667. DRYDEN, Sir Martin Mar-all, Act iii. Warn. He’s GRAVELLED, and I must help him out. Ibid. (1668), An Evening’s Love, Act ii. A difficult question in that Art, which almost GRAVELS me.
1857. A. TROLLOPE, The Three Clerks, ch. xxxiv. He was somewhat GRAVELLED for an answer to Alaric’s earnest supplication, and therefore made none till the request was repeated.
1886. R. L. STEVENSON, Kidnapped, p. 206. I thought Alan would be GRAVELLED at that, for we lacked the means of writing in that desert.
1893. National Observer, 11 Feb., p. 321. In truth to talk of Burns as the apotheosis of Knox is really to GRAVEL and confound your readers; and but for the context one might be suspected that the innuendo hid a touch of sarcasm.
2. (American).—To go against the grain.
1887. S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), Life on the Mississippi, ch. xiv., p. 138. By long habit, pilots came to put all their wishes in the form of commands. It GRAVELS me to this day, to put my will in the weak shape of a request, instead of launching it in the crisp language of an order.
