Pebble

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: peb=ble

CIDE DICTIONARY

Pebble, n. [AS. papolstān; cf. L. papula pimple, mote. See Stone.].

•  A small roundish piece of stone; especially, a stone worn and rounded by the action of water; a pebblestone.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

  "As children gathering pebbles on the shore."  [1913 Webster]
•  Transparent and colorless rock crystal; as, Brazilian pebble; -- so called by opticians.  [1913 Webster]

Pebble powder, slow-burning gunpowder, in large cubical grains. -- Scotch pebble, varieties of quartz, as agate, chalcedony, etc., obtained from cavities in amygdaloid.

Pebble, v. t. 

 To grain (leather) so as to produce a surface covered with small rounded prominences.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Pebble, n.
1 a small smooth stone worn by the action of water.
2 a a type of colourless transparent rock-crystal used for spectacles. b a lens of this. c (attrib.) colloq. (of a spectacle-lens) very thick and convex.
3 an agate or other gem, esp. when found as a pebble in a stream etc.

Idiom

not the only pebble on the beach (esp. of a person) easily replaced. pebble-dash mortar with pebbles in it used as a coating for external walls.

Derivative

pebbly adj.

Etymology

OE papel-stan pebble-stone, pyppelripig pebble-stream, of unkn. orig.

THESAURUS

Pebble

ace, asphalt, atom, bit, blacktop, carpet, causeway, cement, checkstone, cobblestone, concrete, dab, dole, dot, drakestone, dram, dribble, driblet, dwarf, farthing, fingerstone, flag, fleck, floor, flyspeck, fragment, gobbet, grain, granule, gravelstone, groat, hair, handful, iota, jackstone, jot, little, little bit, metal, minim, minimum, minutiae, mite, modicum, molecule, mote, nutshell, ounce, particle, pave, pebblestone, pinch, pittance, point, scruple, slingstone, smidgen, smitch, speck, spoonful, spot, tar, thimbleful, tiny bit, tittle, trifling amount, trivia, whit

ROGET THESAURUS

Pebble

Littleness

N littleness, smallness, exiguity, inextension, parvitude, parvity, duodecimo, Elzevir edition, epitome, microcosm, rudiment, vanishing point, thinness, dwarf, pygmy, pigmy, Liliputian, chit, pigwidgeon, urchin, elf, atomy, dandiprat, doll, puppet, Tom Thumb, Hop-o'-my-thumb, manikin, mannikin, homunculus, dapperling, cock-sparrow, animalcule, monad, mite, insect, emmet, fly, midge, gnat, shrimp, minnow, worm, maggot, entozoon, bacteria, infusoria, microzoa, phytozoaria, microbe, grub, tit, tomtit, runt, mouse, small fry, millet seed, mustard seed, barleycorn, pebble, grain of sand, molehill, button, bubble, point, atom, fragment, powder, point of a pin, mathematical point, minutiae, micrometer, vernier, scale, microphotography, photomicrography, micrography, photomicrograph, microphotograph, microscopy, microscope (optical instruments), little, small, minute, diminutive, microscopic, microzoal, inconsiderable, exiguous, puny, tiny, wee, petty, minikin, miniature, pygmy, pigmy, elfin, undersized, dwarf, dwarfed, dwarfish, spare, stunted, limited, cramp, cramped, pollard, Liliputian, dapper, pocket, portative, portable, duodecimo, dumpy, squat, short, impalpable, intangible, evanescent, imperceptible, invisible, inappreciable, insignificant, inconsiderable, trivial, infinitesimal, homoeopathic, atomic, subatomic, corpuscular, molecular, rudimentary, rudimental, embryonic, vestigial, weazen, scant, scraggy, scrubby, thin, granular, shrunk, brevipennate, in a small compass, in a nutshell, on a small scale, minutely, microscopically.

Hardness

N hardness, rigidity, renitence, renitency, inflexibility, temper, callosity, durity, induration, petrifaction, lapidification, lapidescence, vitrification, ossification, crystallization, stone, pebble, flint, marble, rock, fossil, crag, crystal, quartz, granite, adamant, bone, cartilage, hardware, heart of oak, block, board, deal board, iron, steel, cast iron, decarbonized iron, wrought iron, nail, brick, concrete, cement, hard, rigid, stubborn, stiff, firm, starch, starched, stark, unbending, unlimber, unyielding, inflexible, tense, indurate, indurated, gritty, proof, adamant, adamantine, adamantean, concrete, stony, granitic, calculous, lithic, vitreous, horny, corneous, bony, osseous, ossific, cartilaginous, hard as a rock, stiff as buckram, stiff as a poker, stiff as starch, stiff as as board.