1663. Dryden, An Evening’s Love, Act ii. A difficult question in that art, which almost gravels me.
1857. A. Trollope, 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. Clemens, 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.
Gravel-crusher, subs. (military).—A soldier doing defaulter’s drill.
Gravel-grinder, subs. (popular).—A drunkard. For synonyms, see Lushington. [[198]]
Gravel-rash, subs. (colloquial).—The lacerations caused by a fall.
To have the gravel rash, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To be reeling drunk. For synonyms, see Drinks and Screwed.