REBUS

rebus

(noun) a puzzle where you decode a message consisting of pictures representing syllables and words

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

rebus (plural rebuses)

A kind of word puzzle which uses pictures to represent words or parts of words.

(heraldry) A pictorial suggestion on a coat of arms of the name of the person to whom it belongs.

Synonyms

• (word puzzle): dingbat

Verb

rebus (third-person singular simple present rebuses, present participle rebusing, simple past and past participle rebused)

(transitive) To mark or indicate by a rebus.

Anagrams

• Burse, Suber, Ubers, buers, bures, burse, erubs, resub, rubes, suber, urbes

Source: Wiktionary

Re"bus, n.; pl. Rebuses. Etym: [L. rebus by things, abl. pl. of res a thing: cf. F. rébus. Cf. 3d things, abl. pl. of res a thing: cf. F. rébus. Cf. 3d Real.]

1. A mode of expressing words and phrases by pictures of objects whose names resemble those words, or the syllables of which they are composed; enigmatical representation of words by figures; hence, a peculiar form of riddle made up of such representations.

Note: A gallant, in love with a woman named Rose Hill, had, embroidered on his gown, a rose, a hill, an eye, a loaf, and a well, signifying, Rose Hill I love well.

2. (Her.)

Definition: A pictorial suggestion on a coat of arms of the name of the person to whom it belongs. See Canting arms, under Canting.

Re"bus, v. t.

Definition: To mark or indicate by a rebus. He [John Morton] had a fair library rebused with More in text and Tun under it. Fuller.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition