† muddyn.1
Obsolete.
A kind of low-slung horse-drawn coach.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > cart, carriage, or wagon > carriage for conveying persons > [noun] > types of carriage > covered > coach > other types of coach
hanging-waggon1585
glass-coach1667
carriage of respecta1680
shalloon1688
leading coach1704
curtain-coach1706
day coach1784
muddy1800
perch-coach1815
drag1820
1800 in Catal. Prints: Polit. & Personal Satires (Brit. Mus.) (1942) VII. 674 Stilish Muddy.
1801 in Spirit of Public Jrnls. (1802) 5 233 No more the stylish, well-enamell'd fair Lolls in her muddy with affected air.
1806 T. S. Surr Winter in London II. ix. 210 [She] bespoke..a coach hung so low that it obtained the name of a muddy.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2019).
muddyn.3
/ˈmʌdi/, U.S. /ˈmədi/, Australian English /ˈmʌdi/ Australian colloquial (chiefly Queensland).
The mud crab Scylla serrata, eaten as a delicacy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > seafood > [noun] > crab
crabc1000
partan1428
punger1586
red crab1825
fiddle-fish1867
partan-crab1893
muddy1953
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Brachyura (crab) > member of Portunidae (lady-crab)
velvet crab1681
green crab1763
lady crab1844
sand crab1844
shore-crab1850
devil crab1871
partan1880
velvet fiddler crab1882
shuttle-crab1889
sook1950
muddy1953
1953 S. J. Baker Austral. Speaks viii. 183 Muddy, a mudcrab.
1969 Telegraph (Brisbane) 5 June 2/5 We've been getting 40 to 50 muddies a week-end—some of them old enough to vote.
1986 Sunday Sun (Brisbane) 21 Dec. 37/3 (caption) Confronted with snapping claws of big muddie he'd emptied out of bucket into kitchen sink, he yelled to son to grab cricket bat from shed.
1996 Scotl. on Sunday (Nexis) 20 Oct. 15 The Tiwi are self-sufficient and hunt for most of their food. On the beach we tracked down some mud crabs—‘muddies’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
muddyadj.n.2
/ˈmʌdi/, U.S. /ˈmədi/ A. adj.
I. Of or relating to mud.
1. Containing much mud; consisting of mud; (of water) made turbid or cloudy by the presence of soil or mud. Also: covered or spattered with mud. Frequently in figurative context.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > mud > [adjective]
slag1440
muddyc1450
lutulentc1600
slutchy1627
luteous1656
sludgy1782
slubby1823
slaky?1841
slobby1843
muddyish1853
the world > the earth > land > landscape > marsh, bog, or swamp > [adjective] > mire > abounding in
slag1440
miryc1443
muddyc1450
filthy1566
mire1673
sloughy1704
sleechy1792
guttery1808
slubby1823
grooty1848
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > dirtiness or soiling with specific kinds of dirt > [adjective] > muddy
fennyc897
bymodereda1307
slutchedc1400
muddyc1450
miry?c1475
slabby1542
mired1558
mudded1598
muddied1642
mucksy1665
shabby1705
sludgy1782
slushy1791
c1450 ( J. Walton tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Linc. Cathedral 103) 161 (MED) Ye fooles plungen doun ȝoure hertes even Into þis muddy grounde.
1526 Pylgrimage of Perfection (de Worde) f. 114 Take muddy water out of a dyche.
1565 A. Golding tr. Ovid Fyrst Fower Bks. Metamorphosis i. f. 6 Whose streame as at that tyme Began too ronne within his bankes thowghe thicke with muddy slyme.
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie To Detraction sig. A3v My minde disdaines the dungie muddy scum Of abiect thoughts.
1616 G. Markham tr. C. Estienne et al. Maison Rustique (rev. ed.) 508 A sharpe instrument of yron made thinne with many sharpe teeth, and so striken into holes or muddie banks.
1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 143 All these Cocytus bounds with squalid Reeds, With Muddy Ditches, and with deadly Weeds. View more context for this quotation
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 461 It was extreamly muddy at its Entrance..though as clear as Rock Water at its going out.
1737 W. Whiston tr. Josephus Jewish War vii. viii, in tr. Josephus Genuine Wks. 964 Free from the mixture of all terrene and muddy particles of matter.
1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters i. 36 The stagnant waters of ponds..are always foul, heavy, muddy, and ill-tasted.
1842 ‘G. Eliot’ in J. W. Cross George Eliot's Life (1885) I. 116 I..have thought..my life the shallowest, muddiest, most unblessing stream.
1859 C. Kingsley Misc. (1860) I. 19 By spreading his cloak over a muddy place for Queen Elizabeth to step on.
1884 Western Morning News 9 Sept. 4/5 The station..was filled by a muddy throng.
1915 A. Conan Doyle Valley of Fear i. iii. 48 He held down the light, and the marks of muddy boots were very visible in the corner.
1952 J. Steinbeck East of Eden i. 1 It trapped cows and pigs and sheep and drowned them in its muddy brown water.
1988 Independent 24 Aug. 27/8 He..believed that a historian must ‘get his boots muddy’ in the subject he was studying.
2. Living or growing in mud. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > [adjective] > living in mud
muddy1598
the world > plants > by habitat or distribution > [adjective] > that likes particular type of soil
muddy1818
glareal1847
sabulose1866
psammophilous1869
calcicole1882
calcicolous1886
pelophilous1888
halophytic1895
salsuginous1897
psammophile1901
silicicolous1901
gypsophilous1902
nitrophilous1903
calciphobous1907
calcifuge1909
calciphilous1909
lime-loving1916
calciphile1934
lime-hating1935
psammophilic1939
silicicole1965
nitrophilic1971
1598 Queen Elizabeth I tr. Horace De Arte Poetica in Queen Elizabeth's Englishings (1899) 6 That face aboue of woman faire, The rest fowle Like the moudy fische.
1611 J. Florio Queen Anna's New World of Words at Melogna A kind of muddy fish.
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Clonisse [read clouisse], the little, sharpe, and muddie cockle, tearmed, a Palour.
1818 P. B. Shelley Marenghi xv And on the other, creeps eternally, Through muddy weeds, the shallow sullen sea.
1883 A. Thomas Mod. Housewife 99 There are plenty of grey mullet to be caught;..I will dress them in such a way as shall make you fail to recognise our muddy friend.
2013 A. Miller Soul Food v. 77 A continuing preference for muddy fish, among which catfish is the most well-known.
3. Of the nature of mud, resembling mud (esp. in colour or taste).
ΚΠ
1605 P. Erondell French Garden xi. sig. M4v Carye away then this Pyke, that Carpe, this Breame, this Tench, and the Eele also, for it is too muddy.
1712 Boston News-let. 22 Sept. 2/2 A great Coat dy'd a muddy colour.
1864 Chambers's Encycl. VI. 162/2 The flesh [of the Lake Loach] is soft and has a muddy flavour.
1880 C. R. Markham Peruvian Bark 173 On one morning the surging flood being black,..and on another a light muddy colour.
1894 K. Grahame Pagan Papers 108 Mud is muddier now than heretofore; and ruts are ruttier.
1915 Forerunner Jan. 13/1 The main encampment was on a spit of land running out into..what we thought was the main stream. It had the same muddy color we had been seeing for weeks past.
1997 J. Updike Toward End of Time 319 The bloated, feeble state of our sun—the muddy color of brick.
II. Extended uses.
4. † b. Partly intoxicated. Cf. muddled adj. 2. Obsolete.
a. Not clear in mind; confused, muddled. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > weakness of intellect > confusion, muddle-headedness > [adjective]
redelessOE
mopishc1300
tottedc1500
addle1534
muddy?1571
addle1576
foggya1591
foggy-brained1594
addled1599
addle-headed1600
bezzled1604
addle-pated1614
addle-brained1619
buzzle-headeda1644
puzzle-headed1729
puzzle-pated1736
muddle-headed1760
ramble-headeda1761
hulver-headed1785
ramfeezled1786
muddled1790
hoddy-doddya1798
muzzy-headed1798
bother-headed1820
muddle-pated1823
pixilated1848
woolly1864
bungle-headed1865
mixed1880
muddlesome1887
wifty1918
woozy1941
spastic1981
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > [adjective]
yblenta1225
amazed?c1225
wory?c1225
mingedc1275
willc1300
distracta1340
confounded1362
confuse1362
distraitc1374
whapedc1374
wilsomea1375
poseletc1390
distraught1393
perplexa1425
wildc1440
wiltc1440
dodemusydc1450
mistedc1450
unclearc1475
mazed1493
perplexeda1500
traversablea1500
mazyc1525
entangled1561
muddy?1571
distraughted1572
moidered1587
wondering1592
puzzled1598
plundered1601
distracted1604
uncollected1613
wildered1642
turbid1647
tosticated1650
fuddled1656
pixie-led1659
puzzling1692
bumbazed1720
maffled1820
obfuscated1822
confused1825
muddly1829
mystified1833
maze1842
obfusticatedc1844
head-scratching1849
clueless1862
flustery1862
befogged1868
deurmekaar1871
mosy1887
skewgee1890
buggered-up1893
confusticated1898
smock-ravelled1904
messed-up1913
screwed-up1943
hung up1945
lost1967
gravelled-
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > indiscriminateness > [adjective] > not discriminated
undistinct1534
promiscuous1570
muddy?1571
confounded1572
confuse1577
undistinguished1598
indistinct1604
indistinguished1608
confused1611
muddied1647
indiscriminate1649
indiscriminated1669
undiscriminated1768
unselect1826
unspecialized1874
?1571 tr. G. Buchanan Detectioun Marie Quene of Scottes sig. Iiij With rashe violent motioun of a muddy troublit minde.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) i. ii. 327 Do'st thinke I am so muddy, so vnsetled, To appoint my selfe in this vexation? View more context for this quotation
1670 J. Bunyan No Way to Heaven but by Christ in Wks. (1845) 122 If the understanding be muddy as to this, it is impossible that such should be sound in the faith.
1682 J. W. Let. from New-Eng. 7 As to their Drunkenness,..they..seldom go to bed without muddy brains.
1717 R. Wodrow Let. 28 Sept. (1843) II. 317 A muddy divine, and mystical philosopher.
1790 E. Burke Refl. Revol. in France 115 Cold hearts and muddy understandings. View more context for this quotation
1834 T. Hood Lament Toby x Day after day my lessons fade, My intellect gets muddy.
1876 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 25 Feb. (1956) VI. 223 I am rather muddy as to the relation of total sales.
1934 A. Huxley Let. 28 Apr. (1969) 380 Pareto..doesn't, like these ‘deep’ and muddy Germans, invent gratuitous metaphysical entities.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [adjective] > drunk > partially drunk
merrya1382
semi-bousyc1460
pipe merry1542
totty1570
tipsy1577
martin-drunk1592
pleasant1596
mellow1611
tip-merry1612
flustered1615
lusticka1616
well to live1619
jolly1652
happy1662
hazy1673
top-heavy1687
hearty1695
half-seas-over1699
oiled1701
mellowish1703
half channelled over1709
drunkish1710
half-and-half1718
touched1722
uppisha1726
tosie1727
bosky1730
funny1751
fairish1756
cherry-merry1769
in suds1770
muddy1776
glorious1790
groggified1796
well-corned1800
fresh1804
to be mops and brooms1814
foggy1816
how-come-ye-so1816
screwy1820
off the nail1821
on (also, esp. in early use, upon) the go1821
swipey1821
muggy1822
rosy1823
snuffy1823
spreeish1825
elevated1827
up a stump1829
half-cockedc1830
tightish1830
tipsified1830
half shaved1834
screwed1837
half-shot1838
squizzed1845
drinky1846
a sheet in the wind1862
tight1868
toppy1885
tiddly1905
oiled-up1918
bonkers1943
sloshed1946
tiddled1956
hickey-
1776 S. Johnson in J. Boswell Life Johnson (1831) III. 348 Not that he gets drunk, for he is a very pious man, but he is always muddy.
1843 J. Nicholson Hist. & Tradit. Tales 414 The fiddler waxed muddy and was often heard scraping behind the fiddle bridge.
5. Not clear in appearance; impure.
a. Of any liquid: thick or opaque, usually with some suspended matter; not clear, cloudy.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > [adjective] > qualities of liquid > cloudy or opaque > specific muddy or turbid
druvya1300
drublya1340
oozya1398
feculent1471
troublous1495
mudlya1500
drumlya1522
troublish?1527
puddled1559
puddly1559
suddy1587
muddy1590
droumy1605
muddled1624
turbid1626
turbidous1628
puddlish1633
muddied1642
scuddy1797
roily1823
blundered1855
jumbly1864
mudded1898
1590 W. Clever Flower of Phisicke 102 The vrine muddie, bloody, blacke, and thicke.
1610 G. Markham Maister-peece 21 For his water, the more pure it is, the better, and the more muddy, thicke and pleasant, so much the more unhealthful.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Northampt. 291 Thus the most generous Wines are the most muddy, before they are fine.
1708 J. Philips Cyder ii. 313 Take care The muddy Bev'rage to serene.
1805 ‘Ignotus’ Culina (ed. 2) 140 Nothing is so disagreeable as a muddy gravy soup.
1836 J. W. Carlyle Lett. (1883) I. 61 We breakfasted..on muddy coffee and scorched toast.
1870 J. R. Lowell My Study Windows 47 Quartpots are for muddier liquor than nectar.
1916 E. H. Porter Just David i The coffee was lukewarm and muddy. Even the milk was sour.
1970 G. Dickson Hour of Horde i. 5 Miles Vander threw the number four brush..back into the pint fruit jar of muddy turpentine.
1995 Coffee Jrnl. Autumn 47/1 In Athens folks stream to tavernas for a muddy, sweet Greek coffee or iced cafe frappe.
b. Not clear or pure in colour or appearance; (spec. of light) clouded, opaque; (spec. of a colour) dull, dirty-looking. Cf. muddy-brown adj. and n. at Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > light > darkness or absence of light > dimness or absence of brightness > [adjective]
dima1000
darkOE
troublea1327
palec1385
dullc1430
unclearc1440
unbright1534
cloudy1556
unlight1570
muddy1600
wan1601
opacous1616
filmy1642
illuminous1656
crepuscular1668
dumb1720
rayless1754
opaque1794
veilya1802
turbid1811
unlucent1819
ineffulgent1824
blear1830
unrefulgent1856
subluminous1860
subaqueous1875
shineless1882
the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [adjective] > impure or unclear
suddy1587
muddy1600
muddish1658
muddled1828
muddyish1853
impure1860
1600 W. Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream iii. ii. 140 To what, my loue, shall I compare thine eyne! Christall is muddy . View more context for this quotation
1610 R. Tofte Honours academie i. 18 Sometimes he would be with her, in the thicke and muddie shade.
1658 J. Gadbury Γενεθλιαλογία 83 A muddy-duskish-brown-swarthy Complexion.
1662 Bp. E. Hopkins Funeral Serm. (1685) 91 The dim and muddy light of this world.
1710 London Gaz. No. 4737/3 One Timothy Hall, of middle Stature, muddy Complexion.
1743 M. Catesby Nat. Hist. Carolina II. 46 They are of a brown Colour, except their Bellies, which are of a muddy Red or Copper Colour.
a1806 J. Barry in R. N. Wornum Lect. on Painting (1848) 215 When a light colour, though opaque, is thinly spread over a dark one, it is by the colour underneath rendered dim and muddy.
1841 R. W. Emerson Ess. 1st Ser. (Boston ed.) iv. 128 When a man speaks the truth.., his eye is as clear as the heavens. When he..speaks falsely, the eye is muddy and sometimes asquint.
1898 P. Manson Trop. Dis. xxii. 350 His friends observed that his face had become muddy and haggard.
1915 Mrs. H. Ward Eltham House xiii. 241 A tall bald-headed man, possessed of..a muddy complexion.
1984 Artist Sept. 16/3 Colours, based on black, that any art teacher would at once stigmatise as ‘muddy’.
1993 Architect. Rev. Jan. 17/3 Unfortunately the book has two failings. Some of the diagrams are too small to be readable and a number of both illustrations and photographs are muddy.
c. Chiefly literary and poetic. Of air: impure; polluted.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > pollution or defilement > environmental pollution > [adjective] > bad air
lither1393
muddya1628
unrespirable1720
unbreathable1846
a1628 F. Greville Treat. Monarchy xii, in Remains (1670) 152 And so we see in muddy Northern air, Winds, Thunders, Storms, (Earths present misery).
1653 W. Ramesey Astrologie Restored iv. iv. 293 [It] cometh..a clowdy dark muddy ayr.
1726 G. Leoni tr. L. B. Alberti Architecture I. 5/1 The Air for want of Motion will grow thick and muddy.
1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth I. 357 Our own muddy atmosphere, that wraps us round in obscurity.
a1930 D. H. Lawrence Last Poems (1932) 32 In the bursten cities The dead tread heavily through the muddy air Through the mire of fumes.
1998 G. Stern This Time 198 It was a rising that brought the worms. They came when the bodies came, the air was muddy.
6. Of a person, look, countenance, etc.: gloomy; sullen; glowering. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > suffering > dejection > [adjective]
ungladc888
wearyc888
drearyc1000
dreary-moodOE
heavyc1000
unmerryOE
droopy?c1225
mournc1275
sada1300
languishinga1325
amayedc1330
matec1330
unlightc1330
unblissful1340
lowa1382
mishappyc1390
dullc1393
elengely1393
droopinga1400
heavy-hearteda1400
joylessa1400
sytefula1400
mornifc1400
tristy?c1400
lightless?1406
heartlessa1413
tristc1420
amatec1425
languoring?c1425
mirthlessc1430
heavisome1435
darkc1440
gloomingc1440
comfortlessc1460
amateda1470
chermatc1475
tristfula1492
lustless?1507
dolorous1513
ruthful1513
downcast1521
deject1528
heartsicka1529
lumpisha1535
coolc1540
dowlyc1540
glum1547
discouraged1548
uncheerfulc1555
dumpish1560
out of heart1565
sadded1566
amoped1573
tristive1578
desolated1580
dejected1581
à la mort1586
delightless1589
afflicted1590
gladless1590
groanful1590
gloomya1593
muddy1592
sitheful1592
cloudy1594
leaden-hearted1596
disconsolated1598
clum1599
life-weary1599
spiritless1600
dusky1602
chop-fallen1604
flat1604
disanimated1605
jaw-fallen1605
moped1606
chap-fallen1608
decheerful1608
uncheerful1612
lacklustrea1616
pulled1616
dumpya1618
depressed1621
head-hung1632
grum1640
downa1644
dispirited1647
down-at-mouth1649
down in (rarely of) the mouth1649
unhearted1650
sunlessa1658
sadful1658
unlightened1659
chagrin1665
saddened1665
damp1667
moping1674
desponding1688
tristitious1694
unenjoying1697
unraised1697
unheartya1699
unked1698
despondent1699
dismal1705
unjoyful1709
unrejoiced1714
dreara1717
disheartened1720
mumpish1721
unrejoicing1726
downhearted1742
out of spirits1745
chagrineda1754
low-spirited1753
sombrea1767
black-blooded1771
glumpy1780
oorie1787
sombrous1789
morose1791
Novemberish1793
glumpish1800
mopeful1800
die-away1802
blue-devilish1804
blue-devilled1807
malagrugrous1818
down in the hip1826
yonderly1828
sunshineless1831
downfaced1832
broody1851
in a (or the) trough1856
blue-devilly1871
drooped1873
glummy1884
pippy1886
humpy1889
pipped1914
lousy1933
pissed1943
crappy1956
doomy1961
bummed1970
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > ill humour > [adjective]
moodyc1300
distemprec1374
melancholiana1393
solein1399
darkc1440
gloomingc1440
girning1447
melancholyc1450
tetrical1528
tetric1533
distemperate1548
morose1565
sullen1570
stunt1581
humorous1590
gloomya1593
muddy1592
clum1599
dortya1605
humoursome1607
distempereda1616
musty1620
grum1640
agelastic1666
fusty1668
purdy1668
ill-humoured1693
gurly1721
mumpish1721
sunking1724
tetricous1727
sumphish1728
stunkard1737
sulky1744
muggard1746
farouche1765
sombrea1767
glumpy1780
glumpish1800
tiffy1810
splenitive1815
stuffy1825
liverish1828
troglodytish1866
glummy1884
humpy1889
scowly1951
1592 Arden of Feversham sig. F Waigh all thy good turns, with this little fault, And I deserve not Mosbies muddy lookes.
1638 R. Baker tr. J. L. G. de Balzac New Epist. III. 33 Shee aspires to no glory by sullen humours; she hath nothing muddy, nor clownish in her.
1686 A. Horneck Crucified Jesus vii. 124 When a man begins to look with a chearful countenance, and the muddy complexion clears up.
1722 A. Ramsay Tale Three Bonnets ii. 18 Wheel'd round with glooming Brows and muddy, And left his Brither in a Study.
1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ A muddy or cloudy look, vultus tetricus.
1872 Appletons' Jrnl. 8 36 His failure was complete. He only produced a muddy expression, which meant every thing and any thing.
1935 J. T. Farrell Judgment Day xvii. 404 The very thought of it made her feel muddy.
7. Originally: sinful; morally impure or corrupt; carnal. Later: of questionable morality or legality.
ΘΚΠ
society > morality > moral evil > licentiousness > moral or spiritual impurity > [adjective] > specifically of things, actions, or thoughts
foullyeOE
uncleanOE
lairya1340
violate?c1500
unracked1581
muddy1600
impure1613
unrinsed1620
1600 Larum for London (1602) sig. C4b The muddie roagues that hoorded vp their coyne.
1603 H. Crosse Vertues Common-wealth sig. R2v She is a muddie queane, a filthy beast.
1653 H. More Conjectura Cabbalistica 54 The muddy and tumultuous suggestions of the Flesh.
a1679 W. Outram 20 Serm. (1682) 279 On one hand there are stable joys..on the other muddy and fleeting pleasures.
1793 Ld. Spencer in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 114 Renard's is a muddy business.
1882 R. L. Stevenson New Arabian Nights I. 215 Your business..is too muddy for such airs.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover xvii. 321 I have been to the depths of the muddy lives of the Bertha Couttses of this world.
1967 Punch 8 Feb. 190/2 This touched the muddiest depths of smear journalism.
1993 Guardian 25 Oct. ii. 36/1 John Goddard and Bernard Hall's film follows the officers into this muddy world of gangers, gangmasters and migrant labour.
8. Of writing, speech, thought, etc.: obscure, vague; confused, illogical; badly expressed.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > style of language or writing > obscurity > [adjective]
darkOE
murka1400
cloudyc1400
mistyc1400
unclearc1400
obturate?a1425
obscure?a1439
unplain?c1535
obumbilatec1540
abstruse?1549
darksome1574
mysteriousa1586
obstruse1604
muddy1611
unperspicuous1634
clouded1641
imperspicuous1654
cramp1674
unlucid1711
abstract1725
opaque1761
obumbratory1799
darkling1813
sludgy1901
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > weakness of intellect > confusion, muddle-headedness > [adjective] > of thoughts, etc.
scattered1638
unravelled1649
nebulochaotic1881
dis1925
muddy1995
1611 M. Smith in Bible (King James) Transl. Pref. sig. ⁋7 Therefore the Greeke being not altogether cleare, the Latine deriued from it must needes be muddie.
1643 D. Featley in S. Newman Concord. Bible (advt.) 4 In this thickest and muddiest passage in which no Lincius [1650 Lynceus] can see any bottome, the Originall is very cleare.
1716 M. Davies Crit. Hist. 31 in Athenæ Britannicæ III His own Imitation of Quintilian's muddy Expression.
1741 Ld. Chesterfield Let. Aug. (1932) (modernized text) II. 472 Every man..may be clear and perspicuous in his recitals, instead of dark and muddy.
1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman ii. 42 Soldiers acquire..superficial knowledge, snatched from the muddy current of conversation.
1840 W. M. Thackeray Paris Sketch Bk. II. 105 The present muddy French transcendentalism.
a1872 W. J. M. Rankine Songs & Fables (1874) 40 His style is never muddy.
1962 Daily Tel. 1 June 14/8 Another muddy gem for your collection. ‘Accentuating his interestingness of person is his manner of speech’—from America's premier theological journal.
1995 L. Garrett Coming Plague (new ed.) ix. 236 Though their understanding of the relationship between these insects and specific diseases was muddy, writers in ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, and China, all drew attention to the insect problem.
9. † a. Of the voice: thick, indistinct, esp. as a result of drinking alcohol. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > hearing and noise > voice or vocal sound > quality of voice > [adjective] > indistinct
thicka1398
undistinguished1595
obscure1656
muddy1841
thick-voiced1859
slushy1861
thick-speaking1861
woolly1872
stuffy1889
far-away1897
1841 J. T. J. Hewlett Parish Clerk I. 69 The squire..said, with a muddy voice [etc.].
b. Of sound (chiefly in musical performance, recording, or reproduction): blurred, not clearly defined.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical sound > [adjective] > timbre or quality > not clear
tubby1807
mushy1924
muddy1950
smoky1958
1950 Audio Engin. Sept. 14/3 A fairly large excess [in the response to sounds in the lower middle range] may cause a system to be condemned as dead, dull, or thick, while an inordinate excess is muddy or drummy.
1973 Gramophone Sept. 556/2 The much-praised recording strikes me as being rather muddy and bottom-heavy.
1999 Cathedral Music 1 38/3 Does the nature of the acoustics suggest that visiting organists..can never play..at a quicker tempo without the music becoming muddy?
B. n.2
With the. Usually more fully the Big Muddy. The Missouri River; (also) its affluent, the Mississippi River. U.S. colloquial.Cf. big drink n. at drink n. 6.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > water > rivers and streams > specific rivers > [noun]
Thamesc893
Father of waters (also rivers, floods)1567
muddy1825
Old Man River1902
1765 R. Rogers Conc. Acct. N. Amer. 190 The Muddy River rises from the south of the central mountains..and runs south..till it meets the Mississippi.]
1825 in S. F. Cooper Rural Hours (1850) 481 Ye plains where sweet Big-Muddy rolls along, And Teapot, one day to be found in song.
?1845 Crockett's Almanac, 1846 Down the Mississippi... Ben and me went to take passage down the Big Muddy.
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn xvi. 129 When it was daylight, here was the clear Ohio water in shore,..and outside was the old regular Muddy.
1923 National Geographic Mag. Apr. 438/2 From St. Louis west and north, up the valley of the Big Muddy, all the way to Kansas City.
1948 Newsweek 30 Aug. 21/3 We're going clear to the Missouri River and smash this stuff back across the Big Muddy.
1977 H. O'Hagan Woman who got on at Jasper Station 25 Jake..kept his money..cached beyond the clearing of his cabin on the Muddy in a hole in a rock wall.
1999 Esquire Mar. 46/1 What you'd hear if you picked up every hitchhiking musician along the Big Muddy from Minnesota to Louisiana.
Compounds
Chiefly parasynthetic. C1. † muddy mettled adj. Obsolete rare
muddy-bottomed adj.
ΚΠ
1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting xiv. 185 They are very partial to small, muddy-bottomed streams.
1988 J. Purseglove Taming Flood i. 4 The ‘Banded Damsel’..is abundant on muddy-bottomed, less acid waters.
muddy-brained adj.
ΚΠ
1634 J. Ford Chron. Hist. Perkin Warbeck ii. sig. E2v Muddie-braynd peasants?
1698 E. Ward Trip to Jamaica (1700) 6 A Muddy-Brain'd Society, who could talk of nothing but Prime Cost and profit.
1810 C. Wilkins Richardson's Dict. Eng., Persian, & Arabic (new ed.) II. 484/2 Muddy brained.
1862 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 4 Jan. 82 The people see it clearly—none but a muddy-brained senator ‘can't see it’.
1999 Sunday Gaz.-Mail (Charleston, W. Va.) (Nexis) 1 Aug. 10 Those Americans who are not Christians or Jews..will be forced to imbibe a religious belief not their own because of this muddy-brained legislation.
muddy-headed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupidity, dullness of intellect > [adjective]
sloweOE
stuntc960
dullOE
hardOE
stuntlyc1000
sotc1050
dillc1175
dulta1225
simplea1325
heavy1340
astonedc1374
sheepishc1380
dull-witteda1387
lourd1390
steerishc1411
ass-likea1425
brainless?a1439
deafc1440
sluggishc1450
short-witted1477
obtuse1509
peakish1519
wearish1519
deaf, or dumb as a beetle1520
doileda1522
gross1526
headlessa1530
stulty1532
ass-headed1533
pot-headed1533
stupid?1541
sheep's head1542
doltish1543
dumpish1545
assish1548
blockish1548
slow-witted1548
blockheaded1549
surd1551
dull-headed1552
hammer-headed1552
skit-brained?1553
buzzardly1561
witless1562
log-headeda1566
assy1566
sottish1566
dastardly1567
stupidious1567
beetle-headed1570
calvish1570
bluntish1578
cod's-headed1578
grout-headed1578
bedaft1579
dull-pated1580
blate1581
buzzard-like1581
long-eared1582
dullard1583
woodena1586
duncical1588
leaden-headed1589
buzzard1592
dorbellical1592
dunstical1592
heavy-headeda1593
shallow-brained1592
blunt-witted1594
mossy1597
Bœotian1598
clay-brained1598
fat1598
fat-witted1598
knotty-pated1598
stupidous1598
wit-lost1599
barren1600
duncifiedc1600
lourdish1600
stockish1600
thick1600
booby1603
leaden-pated1603
partless1603
thin-headed1603
leaden-skulledc1604
blockhead1606
frost-brained1606
ram-headed1608
beef-witted1609
insulse1609
leaden-spirited1609
asininec1610
clumse1611
blockheadly1612
wattle-headed1613
flata1616
logger-headeda1616
puppy-headeda1616
shallow-patedc1616
thick-brained1619
half-headed1621
buzzard-blinda1625
beef-brained1628
toom-headed1629
thick-witted1634
woollen-witted1635
squirrel-headed1637
clod-pated1639
lean-souled1639
muddy-headed1642
leaden-witteda1645
as sad as any mallet1645
under-headed1646
fat-headed1647
half-witted1647
insipid1651
insulsate1652
soft-headed1653
thick-skulleda1657
muddish1658
non-intelligent1659
whey-brained1660
sap-headed1665
timber-headed1666
leather-headeda1668
out of (one's) tree1669
boobily1673
thoughtless1673
lourdly1674
logger1675
unintelligenta1676
Bœotic1678
chicken-brained1678
under-witted1683
loggerhead1684
dunderheaded1692
unintelligible1694
buffle-headed1697
crassicc1700
numbskulled1707
crassous1708
doddy-polled1708
haggis-headed1715
niddy-noddy1722
muzzy1723
pudding-headed1726
sumphish1728
pitcher-souleda1739
duncey1743
hebete1743
chuckheaded1756
dumb1756
duncely1757
imbecile1766
mutton-headed1768
chuckle-headed1770
jobbernowl1770
dowfarta1774
boobyish1778
wittol1780
staumrel1787
opaquec1789
stoopid1791
mud-headed1793
borné1795
muzzy-headed1798
nog-headed1800
thick-headed1801
gypit1804
duncish1805
lightweight1809
numbskull1814
tup-headed1816
chuckle-pate1820
unintellectuala1821
dense1822
ninnyish1822
dunch1825
fozy1825
potato-headed1826
beef-headed1828
donkeyish1831
blockheadish1833
pinheaded1837
squirrel-minded1837
pumpkin-headed1838
tomfoolish1838
dundering1840
chicken-headed1842
like a bump on a log1842
ninny-minded1849
numbheadeda1852
nincompoopish1852
suet-brained1852
dolly1853
mullet-headed1853
sodden1853
fiddle-headed1854
numb1854
bovine1855
logy1859
crass1861
unsmart1861
off his chump1864
wooden-headed1865
stupe1866
lean-minded1867
duffing1869
cretinous1871
doddering1871
thick-head1873
doddling1874
stupido1879
boneheaded1883
woolly-headed1883
leaden-natured1889
suet-headed1890
sam-sodden1891
dopey1896
turnip-headed1898
bonehead1903
wool-witted1905
peanut-headed1906
peanut-brained1907
dilly1909
torpid-minded1909
retardate1912
nitwitted1917
meat-headed1918
mug1922
cloth-headed1925
loopy1925
nitwit1928
lame-brained1929
dead from the neck up1930
simpy1932
nail-headed1936
square-headed1936
dingbats1937
pinhead1939
dim-witted1940
pea-brained1942
clueless1943
lobotomized1943
retarded1949
pointy-headed1950
clottish1952
like a stunned mullet1953
silly (or crazy) as a two-bob watch1954
out to lunch1955
pin-brained1958
dozy1959
eejity1964
out of one's tiny mind1965
doofus1967
twitty1967
twittish1969
twatty1975
twattish1976
blur1977
dof1979
goofus1981
dickheaded1991
dickish1991
numpty1992
cockish1996
1642 T. Fuller Holy State ii. xvi. 110 Many boys are muddy-headed till they be clarified with age.
1815 R. Thorpe Let. to W. Wilberforce (ed. 3) 78 (note) The ignorant and muddy-headed confusion, in which the Institution mixed the two Treaties.
1956 W. H. Whyte Organization Man (1957) 137 The muddy-headed way so many of us [talk].
1992 Toronto Star (Nexis) 22 Dec. a19 The muddy-headed ideology of the ‘politically correct’.
muddy-kneed adj.
ΚΠ
1985 Arkansas Gaz. 15 Mar. e1/1 Golden agers in muddy-kneed pedal pushers.
1990 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Dec. 173/1 The muddy-kneed pleasure of one who cultivates an internal garden.
muddy-looking adj.
ΚΠ
1844 J. H. Ingraham Diary Hackney Coachman 38 Muddy-looking and broken-nosed cruits containing articles that evidently were meant to represent pepper, vinegar and mustard.
1856 A. M. Murray Lett. from U.S. 192 The small stream it crosses is called Cedar Creek, which, like all the rivers of this district, is as turbid and as muddy-looking as the Ouse, in Bedfordshire.
1962 W. Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 68/2 The origin of the word is dialectal, from the adjective kyish, muddy-looking, brown.
2000 Science (Electronic ed.) 30 June High-resolution pictures of muddy-looking gullies on the sides of martian craters, suggesting the prospect of liquid water on..the surface of the planet.
ΚΠ
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet ii. ii. 569 A dull and muddy metteld raskall.
muddy-minded adj.
ΚΠ
1595 R. Southwell St. Peter's Complaint 62 Giue not assent to muddy minded skill.
1601 J. Marston et al. Iacke Drums Entertainm. ii. sig. C4v Let the vnsanctified spirit of ambition Entice the choyse of muddy minded Dames To yoke themselues to swine.
1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset II. lxi. 185 Though he knew himself to be muddy-minded and addle-pated, he could see that.
2000 Daily News (Los Angeles) (Nexis) 24 Jan. l11 A muddy-minded standoff finding our buttock-baring buddy locked..in the principal's office.
muddy-pated adj.
ΚΠ
1588 A. Fraunce Lawiers Logike i. vii. f. 40 Hee is but a muddy-pated asse.
1772 T. Bridges & F. Grose Burlesque Tr. Homer i. 31 Your muddy-pated chief, d'ye see, (Whose brains are where his guts should be).
1895 M'lle N.Y. 1 No. 6 He is often dull, muddy-pated, obscure, and maddeningly slow.
1897 W. Beatty Secretar 136 Maister Gregory had forgat what every jolly ruffler, even when muddy pated, is a stickler for.
muddy-rivered adj. of a muddy river; having a muddy river or rivers.
ΚΠ
1655 T. Moffett & C. Bennet Healths Improvem. ix. 185 If fenney or muddy-rivered fishes be unwholesome, the Pike is not so good as Authors make him.
1868 Labourers' Friend 1 Jan. 23 The assailants who are besieging our smoke-begrimed and murky, muddy-rivered city.
1998 G. Jacobik Double Task 72 The muddy-rivered south.
muddy-souled adj.
ΚΠ
1663 W. Lucy Observ. Errours Hobbes Leviathan xiv. 120 If thou meetest with any of these muddy-souled Writers, which..will beleeve nothing but what they see, doe then consider our Saviours answer,..Blessed are they that do not see, and yet beleeve.
1780 W. Beckford Let. 29 June in Life & Lett. (1910) v. 90 What a horror is this Hague! what lazy Canals! what muddy-souled inhabitants!
1839 Times 25 Mar. 4/3 That muddy-souled economist Joseph Hume.
1928 Harvard Advocate Oct. 18 The sneering jokes of the muddy-souled vauriens about him ceased.
1933 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ in Free Man 24 June 7/2 Not even the aberrant Nahua were cool and philosophic in their butcheries; they were mixed and muzzy and muddy-souled, that was all.
muddy-witted adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1846 D. F. M'Carthy Bk. Irish Ball. Pref. p. vii. Men who would have died in defence of Ireland's honour, have lent their aid to every muddy-witted adventurer who turned her into ridicule and scorn.
1911 20th Cent. Mag. May 123/2 That is surely a base incentive enough to satisfy even the most muddy-witted pessimist—the fear of pain!
1959 D. Hawkes tr. Chiu Chang in Songs of S. 72 For the world is muddy-witted; none can know me; the heart of man cannot be told.
1990 W. J. O'Malley Daily Prayers for Busy People 71 I have smeared your designs with my muddy-witted words, monologuing on matters beyond the understanding of my mind.
C2.
muddy-brown adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1799 J. Robertson Gen. View Agric. Perth 34 Slates..of a muddy brown complexion.
1889 Harper's Mag. Aug. 414/1 The ware emerged from the kiln at this stage dull and clouded, of a thick muddy brown or greenish color.
1985 A. S. Byatt Still Life (1988) (BNC) 67 Van Gogh had divided his painting of the Yellow House with a soft, muddy-brown line.
muddy-grey adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1769 Pennsylvania Gaz. 16 Mar. 4/2 (advt.) A light iron-grey Horse (or rather may be called muddy grey) 6 or 7 year old this spring.
1873 T. Hardy Pair of Blue Eyes II. viii. 161 He pointed to a short fragment of level muddy-gray colour, cutting across the sky.
1939 ‘N. Blake’ Smiler with Knife vi. 96 Her face looked muddy-grey.
1998 M. Bail Eucalyptus (1999) xxx. 212 Her hair had gone from bottle-blonde to muddy-grey.
muddy-yellow adj. and n.
ΚΠ
1758 Philos. Trans. 1757 (Royal Soc.) 50 133 The mixture would have become of a muddy yellow colour, by the separation of the ochre.
1850 Sci. Amer. 13 Apr. 234/2 The atmosphere was of a muddy yellow color, and the rain had the appearance of liquid sulphur.
1906 J. London White Fang iv. ii. 204 His eyes were yellow and muddy,... It was the same with his hair,..muddy-yellow and dirty-yellow, rising on his head..in unexpected tufts and bunches.
2001 Asbury Park Press (Neptune, New Jersey) (Nexis) 19 Jan. g19 The body of the fish is about eight times as long as it is deep and appears reddish brown, tan or olive-red or muddy yellow on top and occasionally on the belly.
C3.
muddy oaf n. (cf. muddied oaf n. at muddied adj. 1.)
ΚΠ
1902–3 Proc. Royal Soc. 71 114 It is hard to discover any statistical evidence in school life for such expressions as ‘the flannelled fool at the wicket’, or ‘the muddy oaf at the goal’.
1934 R. Campbell Broken Rec. ii. 51 Modern international rugby has been going more and more in the muddy-oaf direction.
1997 Sunday Times (Nexis) 30 Mar. (Culture section) 31/4 This all depends on how besotted you are with muddy oafs, and I'm not at all. I hated football at school and..ever since.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
muddyv.
/ˈmʌdi/, U.S. /ˈmədi/ 1.
a. transitive. To confuse or muddle (a person, the mind); to render (a thing) more complex, to make obscure; to sully or tarnish (a person, reputation, relationship, etc.). Also with up.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > indiscriminateness > fail to distinguish or confuse [verb (transitive)]
confound1581
muddy1604
blunder1676
blend1780
to mix upa1806
muddle1836
confuse1862
1604 W. Shakespeare Hamlet iv. v. 79 When sorrowes come, they come..in battalians:..her Father slaine,..your sonne gone,..the people muddied Thick and vnwholsome in thoughts. View more context for this quotation
a1652 J. Smith Select Disc. (1660) ix. vii. 428 The Holy Spirit is too pure and gentle a thing to dwell in a Mind muddied and disturb'd by those impure dreggs.
1817 W. Scott Rob Roy I. xii. 278 Habitual topers..acquire the power of soaking themselves with a quantity of liquor which does little more than muddy those intellects, that, in their sober state, are none of the clearest.
1827 R. Southey Let. 12 Apr. in C. C. Southey Life & Corr. R. Southey (1850) V. 290 The metapoliticians have dealt with their branch of policy as the metaphysicians have with their branch of philosophy,—they have muddied and mystified it.
1875 J. R. Lowell Spenser in Wks. (1890) IV. 317 A poet is innocently sensuous when his mind permeates and illumines his senses; when they muddy the mind, he becomes sensual.
1917 E. Pound Let. 10 Nov. (1971) 124 You thank your bloomin gawd you've got enough Spanish blood to muddy up your mind, and prevent the current American ideation from going through it like a blighted collander.
1931 E. Bliss Saraband iv. 212 There was a clarity, a roundness, a luminosity about early emotions, that later on, tinctured and muddied by a growing experience, one did not get.
1981 P. Carey Bliss i. 21 A work of art so highly valued that a departing clergyman had forever muddied his reputation by taking it with him when he left the town.
1992 Times 12 Sept. (Sat. Review) 33/1 Here is a poet..who has found a way of expressing complicated feelings without muddying his verse.
b. transitive. to muddy the trail and variants: to obscure a person's movements; to cover a person's tracks.
ΚΠ
1915 J. Buchan Thirty-nine Steps i. 24 I reached this city by a mighty queer circuit... Till yesterday I thought I had muddied my trail some.
1943 G. Greene Ministry of Fear iii. i. 176 It doesn't help us to have the public and the press muddying up the trail.
1990 C. Forbes Shockwave (BNC) Tweed muddied the trail leading to him.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > dirtiness or soiling with specific kinds of dirt > dirty or soil with specific kinds of dirt [verb (transitive)] > dirty with mud
mire?c1475
glar?a1500
bemirec1532
bemud1580
bemoila1610
immire1611
muddya1616
mud1632
muddify1739
slutch1745
belute1760
slush1807
slub1886
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) v. ii. 4 I am now sir muddied in fortunes mood, and smell somewhat strong of her strong displeasure. View more context for this quotation
3.
a. transitive. To cloud (water) by stirring up mud or sediment.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > [verb (transitive)] > stir up or render turbid
stirc1000
blend1384
trouble1579
puddle1593
mud1594
muddy1617
drummle1635
blunder1655
muddy1669
muddle1676
inturbidate1684
to shake up1753
1617 tr. Esops Fables 2 Hee marred the spring [Note] troubled the fountaine. viz. muddied the water.
1760 S. Derrick Lett. (1767) I. 82 The springs and streams being all muddied with the continual rains.
1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman xi. 353 The instinct of self-defence,..resembling that instinct, which makes a fish muddy the water it swims in to elude its enemy, instead of..facing it in the clear stream.
1837 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 41 603/1 He threw himself upon the ground, and with the stick which all divers carry, began to muddy the water.
1997 P. Melville Ventriloquist's Tale (1998) iii. 318 He went a little way upstream and muddied the water so that, as the sediment moved down, it clouded over the fish.
b. transitive. In figurative context, esp. in to muddy the water(s): to render an issue or situation confusing or hard to understand by introducing complications or distractions.
ΚΠ
1653 B. Nicholson Blast from Lord 18 Their fair glosses and false interpretations of Iesus Christ... Thus they muddy the clear waters, and drink up the sweet waters, and trouble the rest with their feet.
1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman ix. 333 The vices and follies which..proceed from a feculent stream of wealth that has muddied the pure rills of natural affection.
1855 A. Trollope Warden v. 82 It was so hard that the pleasant waters of his little stream should be disturbed and muddied by rough hands.
1857 Deb. Constit. Convent. Iowa 19 Jan. 686 This question of slavery..will be found, as we glide down the stream of time, raising its horrid front, and ever muddying the waters of politics until it is finally disposed of. Slavery is wrong.
1905 E. Chandler Unveiling of Lhasa xi. 206 The..product of restless Western energies, stirring and muddying the shallows of the Eastern mind.
1930 Amer. Hist. Rev. 36 206 If he has little to say here that is new, he has at least refrained from the sort of speculation which long muddied these waters.
1956 S. Selvon Lonely Londoners (1995) 51 Is fellars like that who muddy the water for a lot of us.
1975 ‘E. Lathen’ By Hook or by Crook iii. 25 Mrs. Aratounian's death is going to muddy the waters further. Somebody should inherit her stock, but with half the family claiming she was an imposter.
2000 Times 8 June ii. 11/1 Online health services are uncharted waters, muddied by the Government's enthusiasm for promoting the use of new technology in health services.
4. transitive. To make (a liquid) turbid; to render (a colour) dull and dirty-looking. Also (in extended use): to make impure. Occasionally intransitive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > [verb (transitive)] > stir up or render turbid
stirc1000
blend1384
trouble1579
puddle1593
mud1594
muddy1617
drummle1635
blunder1655
muddy1669
muddle1676
inturbidate1684
to shake up1753
the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [verb (transitive)] > make impure or unclear
muddle1596
muddy1811
the world > food and drink > drink > manufacture of alcoholic drink > brewing > [verb (intransitive)] > become muddy or turbid
muddy1834
1669 W. Simpson Hydrologia Chymica 136 Upon which if oyl of vitriol be dropt, it becomes clear again, and by oyl of tartar muddied.
1811 J. Parkins Young Man's Best Compan. 524 The former would be the means of muddying your colours.
1834 W. S. Landor Citation & Exam. Shakespere in Wks. (1846) II. 276 Malt before hops, the world over, or the beer muddies.
1859 W. B. Bernard Tide of Time ii. 18 Then..it [sc. society] felt the claims of pure blood..: now all is changing—all is mixing and muddying.
1942 National Geographic Mag. June 760/1 Bloods were mixed. And out of the pot came a man, still brown, but inclined to a Mongoloid yellow, muddied by tinges of Melanesian black.
1991 J. Tanner Folly's Child (BNC) 27 Where Paula's eyes were the clearest, sharpest green hers were muddied to a very ordinary shade of hazel.
5.
a. transitive. To cover or splash with mud; to dirty.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirty [verb (transitive)]
uncleanseOE
horyc1200
befoulc1320
behorewe1340
file1340
flobber1377
smatterc1386
foulc1400
slurryc1440
filtha1450
sowla1450
sollc1480
bawdy1495
squagea1500
arrayc1525
ray1526
bawdc1529
beray1530
filthify1545
belime1555
soss1557
embroyn1566
dirt1570
filthy1581
turpifya1586
dirty1591
muck1618
bedirt1622
bedirty1623
smooch1631
dight1632
fewma1637
snuddle1661
bepaw1684
puddle1698
nasty1707
muddify1739
scavenger1806
mucky1828
squalidize1837
mullock1861
muddy1893
1893 C. G. Leland Memoirs II. 122 I only muddied the palms of my gloves, on which I fell.
1908 E. M. Forster Room with View xii. 200 He..splashed them, ducked them, kicked them, muddied them, and drove them out of the pool.
1930 J. Rolyat Fort Garry 233 Early in the Autumn Don had ‘muddied’ well the walls outside.
a1994 C. Bukowski What matters Most (1999) 276 The roads are muddied Banked with dirty snow.
b. intransitive. To become covered in mud; to get dirty. Also figurative and with up.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > dirtiness or soiling with specific kinds of dirt > be or become dirty or soiled with specific kinds of dirt [verb (intransitive)] > be dirty by being trailed in mud
drabblea1400
lag1682
spoil1697
to look (feel) like something the cat has brought in1928
muddy1953
1953 E. Merriam Twins in Tomorrow Morning 21 I carefully hold the umbrella And she muddies all over again.
1988 ‘J. Norst’ Colors x. 132 Reeling drunkenly and then collapsing to the pavement, causing a bicyclist to spill in a clatter, the man looked up from the walkway for his wife, his son—but everything had muddied to a gray blur.
1988 Land Rover Owner Dec. 10/1 Auxiliary lights often fill with water and could be temporarily sealed or removed, and the trailer sockets are prone to muddy-up and corrode.
1992 A. Thorpe Ulverton iv. 81 We might spread to the very wall of the Manor and then you might run to me without muddying.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.11800
n.31953
adj.n.2c1450
v.1604- under-bough
- under-bowser
- under-box
- under-boy
- under-breathing
- under-breeding
- under-bridge
- under-bright
- under-bud
- under-builder
- under-buoy
- under-butler
- under-call
- under-capitalled
- under-captain
- under-carve
- under-carved
- under-case
- under-cause
- under-celestial
- under-chamber
- under-chamberlain
- under-chambress
- under-chancellor
- under-chap