See Also: pebble(medicine)
pebble(dictionary)
pebble(dictionary)
Pebble Beach(tourism)

fumage (iou) and pebble (iou)


fumage (iou)



fumage noun. M18.
[medieval Latin fumagium, from Latin fumus smoke: see -AGE. Cf. FEUAGE.]
Hist. A tax on hearths or chimneys.

pebble (iou)



pebble noun & verb. Also pibble, pepple. LOE.
[Origin unkn.]
A. noun.
A small smooth rounded stone, worn by the action of water, ice, sand, etc. Also more fully pebble stone. LOE.
the only pebble on the beach a unique or irreplaceable person or thing (chiefly in neg. contexts, esp. with ref. to a (former) lover).
attrib.: W. Boyd On one side of the pool was a..pebble beach.
a. An agate or Other gem, esp. when found as a pebble in a stream. L16.
Scotch pebble: see SCOTCH adjective.
b. A type of colourless transparent rock-crystal, formerly used in spectacle lenses; a lens made of this. Now rare. L17.
ellipt. = pebble-ware below. M18.
fig. A high-spirited person or animal, esp. one hard to control. Occas. used as a term of endearment. slang (chiefly Austral.). E19.
Any of several moths having wavy markings resembling those of agate; esp. (a) (in full pebble prominent) Notodonta ziczac; (b) (in full pebble hook-tip) Drepana falcataria. M19.
Comb.: pebble-beached adjective (slang) (a) penniless, destitute; (b) dazed, absent-minded; pebble-bed (a) Geology a conglomerate that contains pebbles, esp. one from which they readily work loose with weathering; (b) Nuclear Physics a nuclear reactor in which the fuel elements are in the form of pellets, freq. with a coating of moderator (usu. attrib.); pebble chopper Archaeology a simple tool with a cutting edge made by striking a few flakes from a pebble (cf. pebble tool below); pebble culture Archaeology: characterized by the use of pebble tools; pebble-dash mortar with pebbles in it, used as a coating for external walls; pebble-dashed adjective coated with pebble-dash; pebble-dashing = pebble-dash above; pebble glasses, pebble spectacles, etc.: having very thick convex lenses (cf. sense 2b above); pebble grain a patterned grain produced by pebbling leather (see sense B.2 below); pebble-grained adjective having a pebble grain; pebble hook-tip: see sense 5 above; pebble lens a very thick convex spectacle lens (cf. sense 2b above); pebble-lensed adjective having a pebble lens; pebble prominent: see sense 5 above; pebble spectacles: see pebble glasses above; pebble stone: see sense 1 above; pebble tool Archaeology a simple tool made by chipping and shaping a pebble; pebble-ware a speckled or mottled variety of Wedgwood pottery made by incorporating clays of different colours in the paste; pebble weave: producing a rough surface.
b. verb trans.
Pelt (as) with pebbles. E17.
Treat (leather) with a patterned roller to produce a rough or indented surface, as if pelted by pebbles. Chiefly as pebbling verbal noun. L19.
? Earliest in comb. Not recorded as noun in isolation until ME.
pebbled adjective (a) (chiefly poet.) covered with pebbles, pebbly; (b) (of spectacles etc.) having or resembling pebble lenses: L16.
pebbly adjective (a) having many pebbles; covered with pebbles; (b) fig. resembling pebbles; uneven: E17.