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What am I? riddles
What do you throw out when you want to use it and take in when you are done?
A riddle about an object used backwards. Most things are taken out to use and put away afterward; this one is thrown away to work and brought back when the job ends.
What do you throw out when you want to use it and take in when you are done?
Hint: Think of boats.
Reveal the answer
An anchor
An anchor is thrown overboard to hold a boat and pulled back in afterward.
How to solve it (spoilers)
How to think about it
- “Throw out” here cannot mean putting in the trash, because you take the thing back later.
- Think of situations where throwing something away from you is how you use it.
- The hint mentions boats. What do sailors throw overboard on purpose and haul back up?
- An anchor goes out to hold the boat and comes in when it is time to leave.
Why “an anchor” is the answer
An anchor is thrown over the side to grip the seabed and keep the boat in place, then pulled back on board when the boat gets under way. The riddle uses “throw out” and “take in” in the sailor’s sense, not the household one. Fishing lines and nets follow a similar rhythm, but the anchor is the classic answer.
Common wrong answers
- A fishing line. A line is cast out and reeled in, so it is a reasonable alternative; the usual answer is an anchor.
- Garbage. You throw garbage out when you are done with it, not when you want to use it.
Related riddles
- What is black when you buy it, red when you use it and gray when you throw it away?
- What has to be broken before you can use it?
- What can you catch but not throw?
- What belongs to you, but other people use it more than you do?
- What gets sharper the more you use it?
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