muckraken.
/ˈmʌkreɪk/, U.S. /ˈməkˌreɪk/ 1. A rake for collecting muck; spec. a dungfork; (also) a rake for clearing debris from ponds, etc. Also in extended use.
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society > occupation and work > equipment > other specific types of equipment > [noun] > other tools and equipment
pollhache1324
poleaxe1356
muckrake1366
pestlea1382
botea1450
staff1459
press-board1558
reel1593
water crane1658
lathekin1659
tower1662
dressing hook1683
liner1683
hovel1686
flax-brake1688
nipper1688
horse1728
tap1797
feather-stick1824
bow1839
safety belt1840
economizer1841
throttle damper1849
cleat1854
leg brace1857
bark-peeler1862
pugging screw1862
nail driver1863
spool1864
turntable1865
ovate1872
tension bar1879
icebreaker1881
spreader1881
toucher1881
window pole1888
mushroom head1890
rat1894
slackline1896
auger1897
latch hook1900
thimble1901
horse1904
pipe jack1909
mulcher1910
hand plate1911
splashguard1917
cheese-cutter1927
airbrasive1945
impactor1945
fogger1946
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > rake > other types of rake
muckrake1366
wording hook1605
swath-rake1652
dew-rake1659
pick1777
twitch rake1798
tooth-rakec1830
pea-rake1867
buck-rake1893
sea-rake1902
1366 Manorial Documents in Mod. Philol. (1936) 34 54 (MED) Vno muckrake cum ij Tyndes ferre.
1403 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1865) III. 25 (MED) j mukrake de ferro, ij d.
1684 J. Bunyan Pilgrim's Progress 2nd Pt. 39 The Interpreter..has them first into a Room, where was a man..with a Muckrake in his hand. View more context for this quotation
1839 R. Dawes Nix's Mate II. xxi. 240 Wo unto them, when Bunker-Hill Shall be levelled into house-lots; when the muck-rake Disinters their bones who fell at her Marathon!
1895 P. H. Emerson Marsh-Leaves from Norfolk Broad Land xxiii. 66 Every day he asked Farmer Mason if he didn't want a muck-rake.
1950 Philos. Q. 1 26 We ply the muckrake and never look up.
1993 Hand Tools (Brit. Trust Conservation Volunteers) 9 Cromes, also known as muck rakes.., are mainly used to drag reeds and rubbish from ponds.
2. figurative. A ready or indiscriminate means for gathering in wealth, information, etc.; a means for exposing scandal or uncovering sordid information.In some uses with allusion to Bunyan's description of a man with a muckrake (see quot. 1684 at sense 1), as an emblem of the pursuit of worldly gain.
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the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > [noun] > niggard or mean person > miser or hoarder of wealth
chinch?a1300
wretch1303
chincher1333
muckererc1390
mokerarda1400
muglard1440
gatherer?a1513
hoarder?a1513
warner1513
hardhead1519
snudge1545
cob1548
snidge1548
muckmonger1566
mucker1567
miser?1577
scrape-penny1584
money-miser1586
gromwell-gainer1588
muckscrape1589
muckworm1598
scrib1600
muckraker1601
morkin-gnoff1602
scrape-scall1602
incubo1607
accumulator1611
gripe-money1611
scrape-good1611
silver-hider1611
gripe1621
scrapeling1629
clutch1630
scrape-pelfa1640
volpone1672
spare-penny1707
save-all1729
bagger1740
spare-thrift1803
money-codger1818
hunger-rot1828
muckrake1850
muckthrift1852
gripe-penny1860
hugger-mugger1862
Scrooge1940
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > [noun] > bringing into disrepute > muck-raking > one who
muckrake1850
muckraker1906
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > [noun] > bringing into disrepute > muck-raking > interest in
muckrake1850
1850 Home Evangelization (Amer. Tract Soc.) 144 Mammon may not lift his eyes from his ‘muckrake’ long enough to see all this.
1868 F. W. Ballard in Galaxy Mar. 298 The domestic discords..of the patriarch do not come within the purview of our present inquiry. Let us rather, with muck-rake and drag-net, make prize of more modern material, which may be found lying loose around and within comparatively easy reach.
1871 C. H. Spurgeon Treasury of David II. 241 Those all-gathering muckrakes, who in due time are succeeded by all-scattering forks, which scatter riches as profusely as their sires gathered them parsimoniously.
1895 Sat. Rev. 26 Jan. 125 The ‘garbage of mythland’ that Wagner gathered together with a ‘muck rake’.
1906 T. Roosevelt in Cincinnati Enquirer 15 Apr. 4/4 The men with the muck-rakes are often indispensable to the well-being of society; but only if they know when to stop raking the muck.
c1926 ‘Mixer’ Transport Workers' Song Bk. 18 Then you start your muckrake scandel [sic] And good men you dare defame.
1968 Listener 28 Nov. 726/2 Frank Harris deplored the dismal fate of Sophia in a Paris boarding-house,..regretting that Bennett..preferred to give her a muck rake instead of a soul.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
muckrakev.
/ˈmʌkreɪk/, U.S. /ˈməkˌreɪk/ Originally U.S.
1. intransitive. To rake for dirt, rubbish, etc. Chiefly figurative: to search for evidence of corruption and scandal, esp. among powerful or well-known people or institutions.
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the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > be discredited [verb (intransitive)] > take interest in scandal
muckrake1879
1879 Fortn. Rev. Apr. 507 Men, forgetful of the perennial poetry of the world, muck-raking in a litter of fugitive refuse.
1954 Amer. Scholar 23 421 McCarthy would enjoy himself if he could muckrake in our barnyard.
1970 Guardian 6 Mar. 8/3 They need no prompting to register complaints, muckrake among the police, petition for redress against indecencies.
1990 Village Voice (N.Y.) 20 Nov. 24/1 Years later I wrote a book about the company, not to muckrake, but to examine successful African-American capitalism.
2. transitive. To search through for evidence of corruption and scandal; to subject to investigation of this kind. Also: to seek out (scandalous information).
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the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > detract from [verb (transitive)] > subject to muck-raking
muckrake1910
1910 [see muckraked adj. at Derivatives].
1913 J. London Let. 26 June (1966) 388 I..muck-rake the powers that be from one end of the world to the other.
1927 Amer. Mercury Nov. 274/1 Tom was seeking..to devil the standpat Republicans from Pennsylvania by muckraking certain great corporations of that State.
1943 M. Flavin Journey in Dark 193 The country has been muckraked from one end to the other.
1973 G. Jenkins Cleft of Stars vii. 86 I couldn't bring myself to muck-rake details of the guard's murder.
Derivatives
ˈmuckraked adj. rare subjected to muckraking.
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the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > [adjective] > muck-raking > subjected to
muckraked1910
1910 N.Y. Evening Post 10 Dec. 8 Their knowledge of how it feels to be a muck-raked millionaire.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1366v.1879