mudn.¹

Brit.

/mʌd/, U.S.

/məd/

Forms: Middle English modde, Middle English mode, Middle English moode, Middle English mvd, Middle English mod- (in compounds), Middle English–1600s mudde, Middle English– mud, 1500s moude, 1500s mude, 1500s–1600s mood, 1600s 1700s mudd (U.S.); Scottish pre-1700 mood, pre-1700 mude, pre-1700 mvde, pre-1700 mwd, pre-1700 mwde, pre-1700 mod- (in compounds), pre-1700 moud- (in compounds), pre-1700 moude- (in compounds), pre-1700 mvd- (in compounds), pre-1700 1700s– mud.

Origin: Probably a word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: Probably cognate with (unless borrowed from) Middle Dutch modde, Middle Low German modde, mōde, mudde (German regional (Low German) Mudd, Mudde), Middle High German mot (German (regional) Mott, Mutt), all in sense ‘mud, mire’, and Swedish modd slush (compare also Dutch modden (verb) to dirty, dabble in mud, and perhaps also Dutch regional modde slut); compare also ( < an extended form of the same base) Middle Dutch modder, muddere (Dutch modder), Middle Low German modder (German regional (Low German) Modder, Mudder; > Swedish mudder, Danish mudder), early modern German moter, motter (15th cent.; German regional Motter, Mutter), all in sense ‘mud, mire, rotten vegetation’ (early modern German moder (14th cent.; German Moder mould, decay, (regional) mud, mire, is a borrowing from Low German); further etymology uncertain.Apparently attested earlier in place names, as Modegille (1292; now Mudgill Sike, Cumbria) and perhaps Modepitte (1287; now Muddipit, Devon; compare mud pit at Compounds 2a), though this may rather show muddy adj.; perhaps also earlier in surnames: compare Henrico Muddepenyng (1340). It has been suggested that the English word might be a borrowing from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch, rather than the reflex of an unattested Old English cognate of these words, although the evidence for earlier use in names in areas that are far apart geographically perhaps argues against this (see also place names listed s.v. muddy adj.). In sense 9 after Chinese tǔ soil, especially in yáng tǔ opium, lit. ‘foreign soil’, yān tǔ opium, lit. ‘smoke soil’ (compare quot. 1852 at sense 9 and yen n.³).

I. Literal uses.

a. Soft, moist, glutinous material resulting from the mixing of water with soil, sand, dust, or other earthy matter; mire, sludge. Also: hard material or ground produced by the drying of this; (colloquial) soil.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > mud > [noun]

laira1340

fanc1340

mudc1400

slutchc1400

slikec1425

slipc1440

slobber1440

sorec1440

slot?a1500

glar?a1513

slubber1570

slab1622

lute1694

lutulence1727

sletch1743

sleek1774

slakec1800

the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > [noun] > mud

loamc725

fenc897

addleOE

fanc1340

mudc1400

slutchc1400

slikec1425

slipc1440

slobber1440

sorec1440

sludge1649

mux1746

gutter1785

slakec1800

sposh1836

mudge1848

c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 407 (MED) Þenne morkne in þe mudde most ful nede Alle þat spyrakle inspranc.

a1450–1509 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (A-version) (1913) 4388 Some..brouȝten..grete schydes and þe wode And slunge it into þe mode.

c1475 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 138 (MED) They spared nether mud ne myer, But roden over Inglonde brode and large.

a1500 (c1445) J. Lydgate Miracles St. Edmund 264 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 443 They cam to late, for the chyld was deed—Among the moode the fface lay so lowe.

a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) v. vi. 125 His face he schew besmotterit for a bourd, And all his membris in mude and dung bedoif.

1580 T. Tusser Fiue Hundred Pointes Good Husbandrie (new ed.) f. 13^v Though..loftie ships, leaue anker in mud [etc.].

1615 Bk. Mackay 127 He hard three gentlemen who were in the nixt house and ane wall of mud onlie betwix tham.

1650 in Sussex Archaeol. Coll. (1872) 24 280 The said cottage and stable is built..against the Castle wall of Tymber and Mudd walles.

1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 141 The Sun..darting to the bottom, bak'd the Mud .

1716 J. Gay Trivia i. 14 The spatter'd mud Hides all thy Hose behind.

1781 W. Cowper Charity 531 Plung'd in the stream, they lodge upon the mud.

1808 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 19 114 The Ganges has a prodigious quantity of mud at its sides.

1875 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. 16 750/2 The mud was everywhere ankle-deep.

1920 D. H. Lawrence Women in Love x. 128 What she could see was mud, soft, oozy, watery mud, and from its festering chill, water-plants rose up.

1994 L. Erdrich Bingo Palace xviii. 203 In places the dried mud was baked into an even floor of shaley cracks.

b. Building. Used in combinations to denote methods of wall construction. mud and stud n. English regional (Lincolnshire) posts and laths filled in with mud, as a building material for the walls of cottages, etc. (also called stud and mud). Similarly mud and log, mud and reed, mud and wattle, etc. Frequently attributive. Cf wattle and daub at daub n. 1a.

ΚΠ

1839 W. B. Stonehouse Hist. Isle of Axholme 389 The rectory house was an old fashioned dwelling, with high gables and walls of mud and stud.

1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet III. i. 1 The miserable twelve-feet-square mud-and-log cabins.

1853 L. Giddings Sketches Campaign N. Mexico 34 On the right bank at that place, is a small collection of mud and reed huts, occupied by Mexican fishermen and herdsmen.

1893 Littell's Living Age 28 Oct. 244 The hive-shaped mud and wattle huts of a colony of fellaheen established here [i.e. in Crete] by Mehemet Ali.

1900 Daily News 18 May 6/2 The mud and reed towns of the negro.

1913 Eng. Rev. Aug. 59 I saw the house, a mud and wattle rancho.

1940 Sci. Monthly Oct. 349/1 The very occasional, windowless, mud-and-log huts..emphasized the primeval silence of these wind-swept mountain tops.

1961 Mod. Lang. Notes 76 775 The frail mud and reed walls of the fishermen's huts.

1975 National Geographic Apr. 500 (caption) Tick-tack-toe of a new apartment complex rises amid mud-and-wattle houses in Zanzibar town.

1994 Guardian 25 June (Weekend Suppl.) 63/3 There are numerous examples of Lincolnshire mud and stud.

1998 E. Danticat Farming of Bones xxii. 130 A mud-and-wattle cooking hut near a wooden fence where the compound met an open dirt road.

2. In plural. Tracts of mud on the margin of a tidal river; mudflats.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > seashore or coast > [noun] > muddy

muds1648

mudflat1795

slake1828

sleech1902

1648 Muzzle for Cerberus 24 May we perhaps bring in for either divided party, either Irish, French, Spaniard, or Pope, or any forreigne Nations,..to catch silver Eeles in our muds.

1755 Pennsylvania Gaz. 4 Sept. 3/2 (advt.) Near half a mile front on said river of flats or muds, which yields extraordinary pasture at all seasons.

1771 Pennsylvania Gaz. 8 Aug. 4/1 (advt.) About one acre and a half of cripple and muds or flats, lying between the bank and the river Delaware.

1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads i. 3 At low water, the muds or flats are dry.

1897 Spectator 23 Oct. 553/2 Herons—which feed on the muds left by the tide.

1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 213 There are still no flounders on the famous Bishop's Muds.

1940 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Apr. 15/6 The army district engineer..is prepared to make a survey of the channel through the ‘muds’ at the mouth of the Pocomoke river.

1956 C. Willock Death at Flight iii. 31 At least a thousand pinkfeet. Gone out on the muds for the night.

1988 E. Wood et al. Sea Life Brit. & Ireland 165 The muds here support communities typical of estuarine conditions.

3. Geology. A mixture of water and finely comminuted particles of rock, sometimes with organic matter also, having a consistency varying from that of a semi-liquid to that of a soft and plastic solid, and usually either deposited from suspension in water or ejected from a volcano. Also as a count noun: a particular mixture of this kind; usually in plural.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > stone > stony material > [noun] > particles mixed with water

mud1839

1839 G. A. Mantell Wonders Geol. (ed. 3) II. 563 Some beds..consist of a pure calcareous mud.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 192 Herculaneum was sealed up by a crust of volcanic mud discharged from Vesuvius.

1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 122/1 At some points in the same regions are found green muds and sands, which, as regards their origin..resemble the blue muds.

1939 W. H. Twenhofel Princ. Sedimentation ii. 88 Black muds..have been differentiated into gyttja..and dy if the organic matter was brought to the lakes in colloidal form.

1973 Sci. Amer. July 94/1 Layers of rock salt up to 17,000 feet thick and organic muds have been found under it [sc. the Red Sea].

1990 C. Pellant Rocks, Minerals & Fossils 47/1 The chalk found over much of western Europe is not unlike the deep sea muds (oozes) of modern oceans.

4. = mud student n. at Compounds 2a.

ΚΠ

1906 C. G. Grey Sequel to Story Official Life 9 Some of the men from across Tweed were very kind to us muds.

5. Oil Industry. A liquid (commonly a suspension of clay and other substances in water or oil) that is pumped down the inside and up the outside of the drill pipe during the drilling of an oil or gas well. Also as a count noun: a particular form of this mixture. Also called drilling mud. Cf. mud-laden fluid n., mud fluid n. at Compounds 2a.The liquid has the effect of removing drill cuttings, cooling and lubricating the bit, and preventing the collapse of the sides of the hole and the leakage into it of gas or water from the formations encountered.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > earth > [noun] > mud used in drilling for oil

mud-laden fluid1914

mud1922

1901 J. G. McIntosh tr. H. Neuburger & H. Noalhat Technol. Petroleum xxix. 379 It is..by causing a current of water to circulate continually from the surface of the ground to the bottom of the well, and again from the bottom to the surface, that the mud is continually carried away.

1914 Times Fuel No. 104/2 Water and heavy mud forced along the column of the pipe..keep the bit clean and bring the detritus up to the surface.]

1922 D. T. Day Handbk. Petroleum Industry I. 249 A column of pure water exerts a pressure of 43 pounds per square inch for each 100 feet in height but with mud-laden fluid this pressure may be increased to 50 or 55 pounds... This lateral pressure forces the mud into sands and porous structures, stabilizes caving formations and effectively shuts off water, gas or oil.

1938 J. G. Crowther About Petroleum ix. 73 An artificial mud is preferable, as it is more viscous and does not allow the debris to settle. Drilling-mud serves other important functions.

1957 J. H. Van der Have & C. G. Verver Petroleum ii. 59 Three types of drilling fluid are at present in use: water-base muds, emulsion-type muds and oil-base ‘muds’.

1970 W. G. Roberts Quest for Oil iv. 45 A great deal of research continues into the making of suitable muds.

1994 Sci. Amer. May 57/2 The crew pumps drilling mud, usually made from clay and other additives in water, down the drill pipe and out through jet nozzles in the face of the bit.

II. Figurative and extended uses.

6. Something regarded as base, worthless, or polluting, or as a cause of frustration, delay, etc.; something liable to perplex or confound. Also: spec. information or allegations regarded as damaging or scandalous (cf. dirt n. 2f), also (more commonly) used in phrases at Phrases 1.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > [noun] > a harmful thing or person > substance

mud1563

devil's dust1791

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > worthless

hawc1000

turdc1275

fille1297

dusta1300

lead1303

skitc1330

naught1340

vanityc1340

wrakea1350

rushc1350

dirt1357

fly's wing1377

goose-wing1377

fartc1390

chaff?a1400

nutshella1400

shalec1400

yardc1400

wrack1472

pelfrya1529

trasha1529

dreg1531

trish-trash1542

alchemy1547

beggary?1548

rubbish1548

pelfa1555

chip1556

stark naught1562

paltry?1566

rubbish1566

riff-raff1570

bran1574

baggage1579

nihil1579

trush-trash1582

stubblea1591

tartar1590

garbage1592

bag of winda1599

a cracked or slit groat1600

kitchen stuff1600

tilta1603

nothing?1608

bauble1609

countera1616

a pair of Yorkshire sleeves in a goldsmith's shop1620

buttermilk1630

dross1632

paltrement1641

cattle1643

bagatelle1647

nothingness1652

brimborion1653

stuff1670

flap-dragon1700

mud1706

caput mortuuma1711

snuff1778

twaddle1786

powder-post1790

traffic1828

junk1836

duffer1852

shice1859

punk1869

hogwash1870

cagmag1875

shit1890

tosh1892

tripe1895

dreck1905

schlock1906

cannon fodder1917

shite1928

skunk1929

crut1937

chickenshit1938

crud1943

Mickey Mouse1958

gick1959

garbo1978

turd1978

pants1994

1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1890) II. 78 Lat the cleir fayth and credulitie of our elders be na mixing of glar or mude be tribulit.

1590 J. Greenwood Answere Giffords Def. 31 In this your papisticall mudde,..your reading of mens writings for prayer, is a false worshipp of God.

a1650 T. Adams Serm. Luke xvii. 19 in Wks. (1861–2) II. 199 With an avarous hausture to lick up the mud of corruption.

1706 tr. J. B. Morvan de Bellegarde Refl. upon Ridicule 66 Servile Souls form'd of Mud.

1819 P. B. Shelley Eng. in 1819 in Poet. Wks. (1839) iii. 193 Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow Through public scorn,—mud from a muddy spring.

1840 F. Marryat Poor Jack xxxviii. 281 She flew at me like a tigress; and as I knew that there was no honour and plenty of mud, to be gained by the conflict, I took to my heels.

1934 T. S. Eliot Rock ii. 75 Out of the shiny mud of words..of verbal imprecisions..There spring the perfect order of speech.

1991 S. Faludi Backlash iii. xii. 351 In so many codependency groups, women waded into the quagmires of childhood to ‘rescue’ their little-girl selves—only to sink deeper into the mud.

†7. The lowest or worst part of something, the dregs; the lowest stratum. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [noun] > most

worstOE

worstc1275

muda1586

goldarned1857

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. ii. sig. Kk3^v Any ordinary person (borne of the mud of the people).

1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge v. v. sig. K2^v Scum of the mud of hell.

1637 R. Sanderson Serm. II. 81 The grumbles and mud of their impatience and discontent beginneth to appear.

1760 S. Foote Minor ii. 62 To procure her emersion from the mercantile mud, no consideration wou'd be spar'd.

1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits iv. 57 Defoe said in his wrath, ‘the Englishman was the mud of all races’.

†8. colloquial. A fool, a simpleton. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun]

dizzyc825

cang?c1225

foolc1225

apec1330

mopc1330

saddle-goosec1346

mis-feelinga1382

foltc1390

mopec1390

fona1400

buffardc1430

fopc1440

joppec1440

fonda1450

fondlinga1450

insipienta1513

plume of feathers1530

bobolynec1540

dizzard1546

Little Witham?1548

nodc1563

dawkin1565

cocknel1566

nigion1570

niddicock1577

nodcock1577

cuckoo1581

Jack with the feather1581

niddipol1582

noddyship?1589

stirkc1590

fonkin1591

Gibraltar1593

fopper1598

noddypeak1598

coxcombry1600

simple1600

gowka1605

nup1607

fooliaminy1608

silly ass1608

dosser-head1612

dor1616

glow-worm1624

liripipea1625

doodle1629

sop1637

spalt1639

fool's head1650

buffle1655

Jack Adams1656

bufflehead1659

nincompoopc1668

bavian1678

nokes1679

foolanea1681

cod1699

hulver-head1699

nigmenog1699

single ten1699

mud1703

dowf1722

foolatum1740

silly billy1749

tommy noddy1774

arsec1785

nincom1800

silly1807

slob1810

omadhaun1818

potwalloper1820

mosy1824

amadan1825

gump1825

gype1825

oonchook1825

prawn1845

suck-egg1851

goosey1852

nowmun1854

pelican1856

poppy-show1860

buggerlugs1861

damfool1881

mudhead1882

yob1886

peanut head1891

haggis bag1892

poop1893

gazob1906

mush1906

wump1908

zob1911

gorm1912

goof1916

goofus1916

gubbins1916

dumb cluck1922

twat1922

B.F.1925

goofer1925

bird brain1926

berk1929

Berkeley1929

Berkeley Hunt1929

ding1929

loogan1929

stupido1929

poop-stick1930

nelly1931

droop1932

diddy1933

slappy1937

goof ball1938

get1940

poon1940

tonk1941

clot1942

yuck1943

possum1945

gobdaw1947

momo1953

nig-nog1953

plonker1955

weenie1956

nong-nong1959

Berkshire Hunt1960

balloon1965

doofus1965

dork1965

nana1965

shit-for-brains1966

schmoll1967

tosspot1967

lunchbox1969

doof1971

tonto1973

dorkus1979

motorhead1979

mouth-breather1979

wally1980

wally brain1981

der-brain1983

langer1983

numpty1985

sotong1988

fanny1995

fannybaws2000

1703 Hell upon Earth 5 Mud, a Fool, or thick skull Fellow.

1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang 122 Mud—a stupid twaddling fellow.

1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 113/2 Mud, Einfaltspinsel.

9. slang. Opium. Also in later use: heroin.

ΘΚΠ

the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > an intoxicating drug > [noun] > a) narcotic drug(s) > opium

poppyOE

opiec1385

opiuma1398

afion1542

meconium1601

mud1852

yen she1882

smoke1884

dope1886

hop1887

twang1898

weed1918

gow1922

yen1926

tar1935

gee1936

1852 Harper's Mag. Mar. 569 These ‘special edicts’, especially those touching the expulsion of the ‘smoking mud’, or opium, from the ‘Central Kingdom’ [sc. China].

1915 G. Bronson-Howard God's Man 355 I was showing the sucker here what would happen if any..guy got it into his head to try an' stop us from landing our black mud.

1924 G. C. Henderson Keys to Crookdom xxiv. 303 Smoking opium, called ‘mud’ by the addicts, cannot be sold legally in the United States.

1951 W. S. Burroughs Let. 20 Dec. (1993) 98 Incidentally I have been off junk for six months... Of course, I take a bang or some mud in coffee now and then.

1974 Publishers Weekly 11 Feb. 60/1 Western efforts to open up trade with China in the early to mid-19th century were largely unscrupulous, inspired by the immense profits to be made from ‘mud’ (opium).

1980 D. Courtwright et al. Addicts who Survived 87 You take your yen-hok and dip down into the mud.

1997 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 6 July 2 Once called ‘smack’ or ‘horse’, its [sc. opium's] street names today include ‘Mexican mud’, ‘black tar’ and ‘Perze’.

10. slang. Coffee, esp. strong or black coffee.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > coffee > [noun]

coffee1598

coffee-drink1659

syrup of soot1663

ninny-broth1696

Turkey gruel1705

Java1805

caffè1852

mud1855

Everton toffee1857

go-juice1923

joe1941

decaf1956

1855 H. R. Helper Land of Gold 233 I swallowed my chagrin and a cup of (stewed mud) coffee together.

1875 F. H. Sheppard Love Afloat 209 He..was bearing a cup of ‘Navy mud’, alias coffee.

1925 G. H. Mullin Adventures Scholar Tramp iii. 34 I received punk (bread) and a cup of mud (black coffee).

1945 L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 15/1 Mud, coffee.

1957 ‘N. Culotta’ They're Weird Mob (1958) ix. 135 Got another cuppa mud, Joe?

1996 M. D. Russell Sparrow xxiii. 259 Sofia would brew some of her awful damn Turkish mud.

Phrases

(In figurative senses: cf. branch II.).

P1. colloquial.

a. to sling (also fling, throw) mud: to make disparaging or malicious allegations or criticisms, now esp. in relation to conduct in public life.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > utter slander or calumny [verb (intransitive)]

missay?c1225

wrayc1330

malignc1425

slanderc1426

libel1570

deprave1600

calumniate1609

libellizec1620

sycophantize1636

disreport1655

scandalize1745

to sling (also fling, throw) mud1768

calumny1895

foul-mouth1960

1766 B. Franklin Let. 8 Nov. in Papers (1969) XIII. 488 Time will do us Justice. Dirt thrown on a Mud-Wall may stick and incorporate; but it will not long adhere to polish'd Marble.]

1768 E. Lloyd Powers of Pen (ed. 2) 36 To kick and fling the Mud about, Lest People shou'd not find you out.

1780 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) IV. iv. 79 Never did two angry men of their abilities throw mud with less dexterity.

1860 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 13 Oct. 192/2 Sling mud, and you'll be dirty whether you beat or are beaten.

1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad xx. 187 These people fling mud at that elegant Englishman..and make fun of him.

1884 F. Marryat Under Lilies & Roses vii A woman in my position must expect to have more mud thrown at her than a less important person.

1912 A. Conan Doyle Lost World v. 76 You can only throw mud at the men who have risked their lives to open new fields to science.

1929 Pacific Affairs 2 80 Any Tom, Dick or Harry with..sufficient ability to sling mud at the authorities is forthwith adopted as ‘Our Own Correspondent’.

1959 A. Wesker Chicken Soup with Barley (Author's note), in E. M. Browne New Eng. Dramatists 173 Let no mud be thrown; few people's hands are clean. Just let us think again.

1960 Jrnl. Asian Stud. 19 287 Latter day Japanese Marxist writers have found it useful mud to fling at the wicked capitalists.

1992 Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka) 6 Sept. (New Delhi ed.) (Colour Mag.) 3/2 Ramamurthi said it was unfortunate that a sacred day like August 9 was chosen by the Moopanar faction to sling mud on him and destroy friendly relations with the state government.

b. to drag through the mud and variants: to slander or denigrate publicly; to make disparaging or malicious allegations about; to sully the reputation of (a person) or the worth of (a thing).

ΚΠ

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxxiii. 289 Colonel Crawley has dragged the name of Crawley through the mud.

1885 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 777/2 He should be very thankful to be able to manage it so easily, instead of being dragged through the mud for everybody to gloat over in London.

1914 J. Joyce Dubliners 148 The working-man is not going to drag the honour of Dublin in the mud to please a German monarch.

1971 S. Howatch Penmarric (1972) iv. i. 370 She was a good, decent, honest person whom my father had dragged through the mud.

1991 Daily Star 24 Dec. 5/1 The Inland Revenue muddled his file with someone who had gone bankrupt... Linda said: ‘Our names have been dragged through the mud.’

c. (the) mud flies and variants: a fight is taking place; (usually figurative, esp. in political contexts) disparaging or malicious allegations are made, antagonism is rife.

ΚΠ

1871 R. H. Newell Versatilities 215 The mud it flew, the sky grew dark, And all the litenins lit; But still them critters roll'd about And fit, and fit, and fit!

1975 Economist 4 Oct. 64/1 Maryland; the mud flies... Mr Marvin Mandel, the present governor, is also under investigation by federal attorneys.

1979 Washington Post (Nexis) 11 Feb. (Mag. section) 6 ‘I don't see how she can continue in the position.’..‘She should resign.’ The mud flew back and forth all week.

1991 Guardian 1 Nov. 2/6 Mud began to fly yesterday in the Hemsworth byelection, belying predictions of a tedious charade in a rock-solid Labour seat.

d. mud sticks: see stick v.¹ Phrases 6.

P2. colloquial and slang.

a. (as) clear as mud: †(a) used as an intensifier (cf. Phrases 2b) (obsolete); (b) not clear at all; completely unintelligible.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > offering nothing intelligible [phrase]

to have neither head nor foot (also feet)1567

(as) clear as mud1805

top or tail-

1805 G. Colman John Bull ii. ii. 28 Don't be bothering my brains, then, or you'll get it as clear as mud.

1809 A. B. Lindsley Love & Friendship 8 You'd beet dady's old leaden hoss all holler; darn my skin, 'f you wouldn't dewe it clear as mud.

1817 J. K. Paulding Lett. from South II. 34 As clear as mud,—as we used to say of Doctor ——'s metaphysics.

1842 R. H. Barham Merchant of Venice in Ingoldsby Legends 2nd Ser. 57 The words are ‘A pound of flesh’,—that's clear as mud.

1919 P. G. Wodehouse My Man Jeeves 213 ‘It seems a little obscure at present, sir, but no doubt it becomes clearer at a later point in the communication.’ ‘It becomes clear as mud!’

1960 B. Kops Dream of Peter Mann 36 Alex: No matter how high you jump you always return to earth. Never lose sight of it, or you might come down with a bump. Is that quite clear? Peter: Clear as mud.

1990 Marxism Today June 7/2 What this really means, of course, is still as clear as mud.

b. as mud: as an intensifier in the sense ‘very, thoroughly’; cf. (as) clear as mud at Phrases 2a, as muck at muck n.¹ Phrases 1. Now chiefly in sick as mud: extremely depressed, exasperated, or furious; cf. sick as muck at muck n.¹ Phrases 1.

ΚΠ

1789 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Glocestershire II. 227 I have seen three-year-old heifers of this breed—to use a familiar phrase—‘as fat as mud’: much fatter than any heifers of that age, I have seen, of any other breed.

1825 in Jrnl. Amer. Folklore (1963) 76 279 Hee'l git as rich as mud if keeps on.

1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Mill on Floss I. ii. ii. 298 Pivart was as ‘thick as mud’ with Wakem.

1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 10 I shall die as sure as mud.

1935 M. de la Roche Young Renny xviii. 152 She hates the thought of his staying on as much as we do. She's as sick as mud about it.

1954 P. G. Wodehouse Jeeves & Feudal Spirit viii. 72 He's as sick as mud about it. He moons broodingly to and fro, looking like Hamlet.

1990 W. Stewart Right Church Wrong Pew (1991) xi. 82 He said his brother and sister were sick as mud when the rich aunt pegged out and left all her money to him.

P3. colloquial. [Compare sense 8.] one's name is mud (also Mud): one is discredited, in disgrace, or temporarily unpopular.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > be discredited [verb (intransitive)]

one's name is mud (also Mud)1823

to lose face1834

1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang 122 Mud, a stupid twaddling fellow. ‘And his name is mud!’ ejaculated upon the conclusion of a silly oration, or of a leader in the Courier.

1887 Lantern (New Orleans) 16 Apr. 2/1 Zeller wants to be Recorder..but his name is mud.

1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands viii. 92 D'yeh mean to tell me how Hoggy's let you loose agin after you gettin' glorious in his dry-goods, 'n' makin' his name mud all up 'n' down ther town?

1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke (new ed.) 13 I'm crook; me name is Mud; I've done me dash.

1973 W. M. Duncan Big Timer vii. 51 Riordan his name is and so far as I'm concerned from now on it's Mud.

1993 M. Atwood Robber Bride xiv. 89 If you forget their birthdays your name is mud.

P4. to stick in the mud: see stick v.¹ Phrases 4a.

P5. slang. (here's) mud in your eye: ‘Here's to you!’ ‘Good health!’ ‘Cheers!’ Used as an informal salutation before drinking. Also here's mud.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking salutations [interjection]

rivoa1593

my service to you1637

tope1651

three times three1683

hob or nob1756

bottoms up!1858

chin chin1888

here's hoping, how, looking (at you), luck1896

down the hatch1918

cheerio1919

cheero1919

(here's) mud in your eye1927

cheers1930

lechayim1932

salut1933

salud1938

the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking salutations [interjection] > in drinking healths

have towardsc1400

here's to1597

skol1600

tope1651

hob or nob1756

slainte1824

here's hoping, how, looking (at you), luck1888

santé1903

prosit1916

here's to the skin off your nose1925

(here's) mud in your eye1927

lechayim1932

1927 H. V. Morton In Search of Eng. iii. 60 ‘Here's mud in your eye!’ said one of the modern pilgrims, tossing down his martini.

1949 P. G. Wodehouse Mating Season xxiii. 198 ‘Skin off your nose, Jeeves.’ ‘Mud in your eye, sir, if I may use the expression.’

1952 C. Brossard Who walk in Darkness 100 ‘Here's mud,’ he said. We drank.

1956 J. Symons Paper Chase x. 73 Here's mud in your eye, Eileen.

1995 I. Banks Whit xvi. 267 ‘Thanks,’ I said, accepting my refilled glass. ‘Cheers.’ ‘Mud in your eye.’

P6. Australian. up to mud: as bad as ever; good for nothing; not up to much.

ΚΠ

1931 G. C. Bolton Fine Country to starve In (1972) 157 We meet by chance in the street. ‘Hullo! How's things?’ ‘Up to mud’!

1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Nov. 42/2 Still, men today are mostly up to mud.

1965 J. O'Grady Aussie Eng. 60 Anything ‘up to mud’ is ‘not up to much.’ It's no good. It's buggered.

P7. U.S. slang. to hold one's mud (esp. among African Americans): to refrain from defecating; (hence) to keep one's composure or resolve (frequently while under interrogation); to show courage or endurance.

ΚΠ

1966 in Trans-action (1967) 4 8 Providing that he can ‘hold his mud’, keep cool, and out of trouble.

1977 M. Torres in R. P. Rettig et al. Manny ii. 64/1 I can't hold my mud and so I have to perch on the shitter like a bare-assed bird on a telephone wire.

1980 Easyriders May 48/2 Try to hold your mud and hang in there.

1991 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 18 Jan. a3 It's a terrible, terrible time... I just hope Israel can hold their mud now.

1999 L.A. Weekly 16 July (News section) 23 Her man was testing her, seeing if she was loyal and would hold her mud.

Compounds

C1.

a. General attributive.

mud bottom n.

ΚΠ

1850 W. Colton Deck & Port 399 You are only halfway, and there your scow sticks fast in the midst of a great mud bottom, from which the last ripple of water has retreated.

1860 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. Nov. 458 in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 150 (1860) 583 We have..met with only the minute forms [sc. of Foraminifera] of a 700-fathoms mud-bottom.

1925 Amer. Midland Naturalist 9 335 Gravel-bottom develops a more swollen, strongly sculptured form, while mud-bottom has a less swollen and less sculptured form.

1992 R. MacNeil Burden of Desire i. 7 It was big enough to accommodate the whole British navy,..with a mud bottom that would hold any anchor in a blow.

mud cabin n.

ΚΠ

1780 A. Young Tour Ireland (Dublin ed.) I. 102 This town appears exceedingly flourishing..yet 40 years ago..there were nothing but mud cabbins in it.

1829 J. MacTaggart Three Years in Canada II. 243 It is a singular fact..with the Irish, that if they can get a mud-cabin, they will never think of building one of wood.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 316 Their mudcabins and their shielings by the roadside were laid low by the batteringram.

1991 A. Nikiforuk Fourth Horseman vii. 121 Typhus flourished best during cold weather when lousy peasants rarely washed and huddled together in mud cabins for warmth.

mud colour n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective] > greyish brown

mud-coloured1772

smoke-brown1807

mud colour1818

lead-brown1897

nutmeg1965

1818 Lady Morgan Let. 26 Aug. in Passages from Autobiogr. (1859) 29 A colour I have supplied her with (not from the rainbow), dun-ducketty mud colour.

1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 420 It is better than all white, or dunduckety mud-colour paint.

1990 E. Blair Maggie Jordan 38 As far as the eye could see, the water was a dirty mud colour.

mud floor n.

ΚΠ

1794 W. Godwin Caleb Williams II. xiv. 267 I chanced to observe a nail trodden into the mud floor at no great distance from me.

1843 G. Borrow Bible in Spain I. ii. 35 A little side room with a mud floor.

1960 A. Koestler Lotus & Robot i. i. 28 It had brought..a mud-floor of starved refugees, increased poverty, land hunger, and the threat of civil war.

2001 Scotsman (Nexis) 21 Feb. 13 Thousands of families at Herat face sub-zero temperatures in shelters with mud floors.

mud fort n.

ΚΠ

1809 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. I. ii. iv. 103 The thriving state of the settlement..gradually awakened the leaders from a profound lethargy, into which they had fallen, after having built their mud fort.

1844 W. H. Sleeman Rambles & Recoll. Indian Official II. xvii. 232 A young Jât chief..resides in a mud fort.

1976 National Observer (U.S.) 24 Jan. 19/3 What had been lost at Waterloo and Sedan could be won back by whumping mud forts in the Sahel.

2000 Topeka Capital Jrnl. (Nexis) 16 Aug. The mud forts they were building may not have been as impressive as the larger ones once used to defend the city in its infancy, when pro-slavers from Missouri threatened the free-state community.

mud-heap n.

ΚΠ

1655 I. Walton Compl. Angler (ed. 2) xiii. 265 The Eele may..be found..in the River Thames, and in many mud heaps in other Rivers.

1814 C. F. Lawler Royalty Fog-bound 14 Again along the streets he rattled; Again the dusky vapour battled; Pass'd the mud heap, devoid of fear.

1871 C. Kingsley At Last II. x. 53 His bare feet plashing from log to log and mud-heap to mud-heap.

1990 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 8 Aug. 56/2 Just add water..from Sydney's recent deluge, and there is—instant mudheap.

mud-house n.

ΚΠ

1548 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1844) I. 260 He has..distroyit iiij mwd houissis in my cloise and fald.

1776 T. Pennant Tour in Scotl. 1772 II. 119 The extensive corn-lands, with the mud-houses, dabbed on the outside with cow dung.

1856 C. J. Lever Martins of Cro' Martin 126 He built a mud-house.

1997 A. Sivanandan When Memory Dies iv. 44 When he emerged from the wood, she was gone, but before him lay the mudhouses of the nalava settlement.

mud-hovel n.

ΚΠ

1790 tr. Mdm. de Cambon Young Grandison I. xliv. 209 It matters not whether it be in a palace, or a mud hovel.

1827 S. B. H. Judah Buccaneers I. i. i. 33 By degrees the black mud hovel and the rough log hut disappeared, and the brown and glazed tile, and the small yellow brick..took their place.

1921 D. H. Lawrence Tortoises 33 And so behold him following the tail Of that mud-hovel of his slowly-rambling spouse.

1992 T. Hughes Rain Charm for Duchy 20 And Swallow, weaned on midges in a mud-hovel, Now the sun's own navigator.

mud hut n.

ΚΠ

1759 A. Brice Grand Gazetteer 738/2 Joppa... There was hardly a tolerable House standing, or any Thing but the old Castle,..with a few pitiful Mud Huts.

1803 J. Davis Trav. U.S.A. 3 I have entered with equal interest the mud-hut of the negro, and the log-house of the planter.

1941 L. Hellman Watch on Rhine iii. 166 In every town..and every mud hut in the world, there is always a man who..will fight to make a good world.

2013 B. A. Bergner Poetics of Stage Space xiv. 145 There is no way to plan the construction of a mud hut... You just grab some mud and start making.

mud-pool n.

ΚΠ

1790 J. Wolcot Benevolent Epist. to Sylvanus Urban in Wks. (1816) II. 90 How kind! how humble! thus the god of day Deigns to a mudpool to impart his ray!

1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipel. I. xvii. 407 An old mud-pool dried up and hardened.

1990 Birder's World Aug. 12/2 We..spent the hours..rambling from one bird haunt to another, past flocks of lofty Sandhill Cranes and mudpools alive with Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks.

mud puddle n.

ΚΠ

1793 R. Alsop et al. Echo (1807) 97 Along the streets no verdant weeds appear'd, No blades of grass the geese and goslings cheer'd, No brook, nor pond, mud-puddle, slough, nor pool.

1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major Jack Downing viii. 60 She'd jest done washing the floor; and I declare, it looked as grey as if she'd got the water out of a mud puddle.

1912 R. Kipling Songs from Bks. (1913) 76 As a frog shows in a mud-puddle.

1990 S. Daniels Beside Herself 2 Let sleeping mud puddles lie.

mud-shoal n.

ΚΠ

1835 Amer. State Papers: Mil. Affairs V. 658 The obstructions in the harbor consisting of oyster beds and mud shoals.

1955 W. Empson Coll. Poems (1984) 29 Mud shoals, a new alluvium, dabbled water, Shallow, and specked with thistles.

2000 Sierra (Nexis) 1 May 47 Two great blue herons..lift from their mud-shoal perch as we approach.

mud spring n.

ΚΠ

1837 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 22 93 Openings..which contain..only muddy water (mud springs).

1856 D. Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. iii. 34 Sulphurous mud-springs are quite common in volcanic districts.

1901 E. F. Pittman Mineral Resources New S. Wales 466 An account of the Artesian basin would be incomplete without a reference to the peculiar occurrences known as Mud Springs.

1992 S. Winchester Pacific 38 The hot mud springs of Rotorua.

b. Instrumental.

mud-bespattered adj.

ΚΠ

1794 P. Freneau Village Merchant 8 One ask'd what luck had happ'd him on the road, And one ungeer'd the mud-bespatter'd team.

1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. vii. 60/2 Every window of your Feeling, even of your Intellect, as it were, begrimed and mud-bespattered.

1904 J. Rhoades Little Flowers St. Francis of Assisi 42 Soaked thus with rain, and frozen with the cold, And mud-bespattered and with hunger spent.

1995 Time Internat. 5 June 16 The game of rugby has graduated from mud-bespattered schoolboy melees into something of a global gladiatorial spectacle.

mud-built adj.

ΚΠ

1740 J. Thomson & D. Mallet Alfred i. ii That mud-built cottage is thy sovereign's palace.

1866 Sydney Punch 17 Nov. 203/2 We'll leave the mud-built city far behind us And dwell beneath the eucalyptic shade.

1988 New Scientist 10 Mar. 63/1 The mosque at Djenné is the largest mudbuilt structure in the world.

2000 Independent (Nexis) 19 Oct. In flood-hit areas houses of the poor were mud-built and hence more vulnerable to rushing flood-water.

mud-caked adj.

ΚΠ

1838 C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron 137 When he..described my mud-caked face.., even Marion's gravity was conquered.

1912 W. Deeping Sincerity xxxix. 281 Grassless fields, mud-caked ponds, and empty wells.

1993 Guardian 9 Oct. (Weekend Suppl.) 47/2 Each mud-caked fortress, with tiny fissures for windows, was home to an extended family spread over five or six floors.

mud-chinked adj.

ΚΠ

1858 Harper's Mag. Jan. 176/2 Whether their dwelling is the brown-stone palace..or the mud-chinked cottage.

1904 W. Churchill Crossing ii. iii. 281 Their feeble rays reënforcing the firelight and revealing the mud-chinked walls.

1946 W. Faulkner Portable Faulkner App. 737 Jefferson Mississippi was one long rambling onestorey mudchinked log building housing the Chickasaw Agent and his tradingpost store.

mud-choked adj.

ΚΠ

1853 Harper's Mag. Nov. 751/1 Vessels of large size..turn aside from the mud-choked mouths of the Mississippi.

1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. vi. [Hades] 96 Past beds of reeds, over slime, mudchoked bottles, carrion dogs.

1993 C. Wallace-Crabbe Rungs of Time 38 We'll be struggling through an Annual General Meeting like a mud-choked pond.

mud-covered adj.

ΚΠ

1834 A. Pike Prose Sketches & Poems 168 There is the public square, surrounded with blocks of mud buildings, with porticos in front, roughly pillared, and mud-covered.

1892 N.Y. Daily Tribune 3 July 14/5 His clothes were wet and mud-covered.

1990 E. Blair Maggie Jordan ii. 37 She next came upon the mud-covered carcass of a sheep, and another of a Friesian cow.

† mud-exhausted adj. Obsolete poetic

ΚΠ

1622 M. Drayton 2nd Pt. Poly-olbion xxvii. 135 The mud-exhausted Meres.

mud-feeding adj.

ΚΠ

1926 J. S. Huxley Ess. Pop. Sci. xvii. 209 The endostyle degenerates together with the rest of the mud-feeding apparatus.

1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. 2 122 Mud-feeding animals play a significant part in re-working the sediment even on the floor of the abyssal parts of the ocean.

1990 Ecol. Monographs 60 355/2 A small number of Curimata argentea (mud-feeding curimatid)..were collected in the extreme downstream segment of Caño Volcán.

mud-greasy adj.

ΚΠ

1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia ii. 44 Badly paved, mud-greasy..road.

mud-layered adj.

ΚΠ

1930 E. Blunden Poems 145 Mud-layered cobble-stones.

mud-moulded adj. poetic

ΚΠ

1906 T. Hardy Dynasts: Pt. 2nd v. viii. 246 We are the only phantoms now abroad On this mud-moulded ball!

mud-plastered adj.

ΚΠ

1843 J. J. Jarves Scenes Sandwich Islands i. 23 A flag-staff—a stone wall—some natural embrasures in the lava rock, a fire-proof straw-built and mud-plastered powder magazine.

1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xlv. 468 A Syrian village is a hive of huts..as square as a dry-goods box; it is mud-plastered all over.

1991 G. Seymour Condition Black iii. 75 He had walked, disshevelled [sic] and mud-plastered, out into the square.

mud-shot adj.

ΚΠ

1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma 9 He helped her down the perilous mud-shot iron steps of the old Independent.

mud-spattered adj.

ΚΠ

1845 E. Cook Poems 2nd Ser. 98 Close-tilted waggons and mud-spattered carts Set down a rare cargo of happy young hearts.

1919 Outing Mar. 295/1 Presently there emerged from under the mud spattered car an amiable middle aged Vermonter.

1996 C. Bateman Of Wee Sweetie Mice & Men vi. 49 He wore a green bomber jacket, black jeans, mud-spattered red DM boots and a scowl.

mud-splashed adj.

ΚΠ

1857 A. Smith City Poems 97 I sit in this familiar room, Where mud-splashed hunting squires resort.

1859 All Year Round 30 Apr. 24/1 Lines of buff-coloured, mud-splashed, square-topped houses.

a1992 L. Colwin More Home Cooking (1993) xi. 65 Mud-splashed Wellies are hardly the proper attire for formal dining.

mud-splattered adj.

ΚΠ

1853 M. B. Howitt Poet. Wks. 353 Close-tilted wagons and mud-splattered carts Set down a rare cargo of happy young hearts.

1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel i. 5 Mudsplattered trouserlegs.

1993 C. T. Rowan Dream Makers, Dream Breakers i. 9 He saw a tall, crayon-brown farmer in mud-splattered overalls.

mud-stained adj.

ΚΠ

1838 H. W. Herbert Hist. Novel i. iv. 74 The laggards of the chase came straggling in, with mud-stained garb and jaded horses.

1845 R. S. Surtees Hillingdon Hall II. xxiv. 145 His rough-coated, mud-stained team.

a1922 H. Lawson in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 144 And mud-stained, wet, and weary, He goes by rock and tree.

1996 Independent 19 Jan. 5/1 Amid the..white rastas and mud-stained tree huggers, Jeannine, Lady Barber,..cuts a curious figure.

c. Parasynthetic.

mud-bottomed adj.

ΚΠ

1823 J. McHenry Wilderness I. xiv. 194 Into the mud-bottomed pit he plunged.

1908 T. Hardy Dynasts: Pt. 3rd vii. iii. 297 Where there is a mud-bottomed stream, the Lasne.

1949 C. Longfield Dragonflies Brit. Isles (ed. 2) 132 It inhabits, in England, slow-running, mud-bottomed streams.

2000 Tampa (Florida) Tribune 26 Nov. 3 The fish are likely to look for any warmer areas they can find, and this often moves them into mud-bottomed sloughs in the afternoons.

mud-coloured adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective] > greyish brown

mud-coloured1772

smoke-brown1807

mud colour1818

lead-brown1897

nutmeg1965

1772 G. A. Stevens Songs Comic & Satyrical 47 Oh! my Jack, cries the mud-coloured she, And gave him some rib squeezing hugs.

1838 J. Pardoe River & Desart I. 110 A sort of mud-coloured cotton.

1982 A. Barr & P. York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 44/1 Mud-coloured worsted, cut slim, with mole-coloured velvet collar (optional).

2000 Independent 16 Dec. 47 It's about as exciting as mud-coloured Plasticine—only much more expensive.

mud-floored adj.

ΚΠ

1828 A. M. Porter Coming Out in J. Porter & A. M. Porter Coming Out & Field of Forty Footsteps I. 47 A mud-floored cabin.

1853 A. R. Wallace Narr. Trav. Amazon xiii. 373 A small mud-floored, leaky-roofed room.

1951 A. Koestler Age of Longing i. vi. 108 All men did that who had..met in mud-floored rooms before the Great Change.

1996 New Scientist 24 Feb. 35/1 Cattle released from their mud-floored pens could succumb to other serious tick-borne diseases.

mud-heaped adj.

ΚΠ

1900 Overland Monthly 35 82 The mud-heaped wheels..had been sunken in the ground to their hubs nearly all the way.

1935 W. Empson Poems 26 Empty, mudheaped, through which the alluvial scheme Flows temporary as the modern world.

mud-roofed adj.

ΚΠ

1834 A. Pike Prose Sketches & Poems 137 The little village, resembling an oriental town, with its low, square, mud-roofed houses.

1843 F. Sale Jrnl. Disasters Afghanistan 37 The houses are all flat-roofed and mud-roofed.

1901 R. Kipling Kim iii. 63 A mud-walled, mud-roofed hamlet.

1992 G. Pape Storm Pattern 3 The man and the woman Could see a mud-roofed hogan With the top half of the east-facing Door open.

d. Locative (chiefly poetic and literary).

mud-couched adj.

ΚΠ

1936 W. Faulkner Absalom, Absalom! ii. 44 It was that same Akers who had blundered onto the mudcouched negro five years ago.

† mud-lost adj. Obsolete

ΚΠ

1834 S. T. Coleridge Poet. Wks. I. i. 22 While they their mud-lost sandals hunt.

mud-mattressed adj.

ΚΠ

1960 S. Plath Colossus 48 Mud-mattressed under the sign of the hag In a clench of blood, the sleep-talking virgin Gibbets..the moon's man.

mud-stuck adj.

ΚΠ

1908 T. Hardy Dynasts: Pt. 3rd vii. iv. 299 His horse got mud-stuck in a new-ploughed plot.

1997 A. R. Ammons Glare 57 There is no mud-stuck elephant slashing his trunk about.

e. Objective.

mud-loving adj.

ΚΠ

a1856 H. Miller Pop. Geol. (1860) 276 Judging from the character of those gray carbonaceous deposits in which the Graptolites..abound, it is probable that they were also mud-loving animals.

1990 Sea Frontiers Dec. 55/1 As the algal mat develops and continues to bind the sediment, the area becomes stable enough for mud-loving organisms..to move in.

f. Similative.

mud-black adj.

ΚΠ

1890 Overland Monthly 15 481 Enoch distended the lids of his own eyes until a yellow penumbra showed clear around the mud-black iris.

1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 28 I feel the drum-winds of his wings and the drip of his cold, webbed feet, mud-black brush over my face as he goes.

1951 P. Matthiessen in Harper's Mag. Feb. 58/1 His skin was the mud black of the coastal Negro.

1999 Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 28 Feb. She has gone from creating canvasses that were almost mud-black with paint to ones that revel in light, colour and humor.

mud-brown adj.

ΚΠ

1856 H. Mayhew Great World London 128 Convicts, clad in their suits of mud-brown cloth.

1932 H. Priest Call of Bush 48 It is a most unappetising creature to find on the end of your line, having a scaleless, mud-brown skin.

1989 Independent 25 Nov. 41/5 She pours coffee from a mud-brown pot.

mud-grey adj.

ΚΠ

1879 Scribner's Monthly Mar. 713/1 What the Mexicans call El Desierto, which is not to be understood as a region of shifting sand and mud-gray mountains, like the deserts of the Bedawee.

1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (N.Y. ed.) 136 You meet a huge and mud-grey elephant.

1991 P. Grescoe Flesh Wound iv. 34 Simone's mud-grey apartment building is a remnant of the old city.

C2.

mud balance n. Oil Industry a balance designed for measuring the density of drilling mud.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > oil and natural gas recovery equipment > [noun] > equipment for use with drilling mud

mud pumpc1857

slush pit1931

mud hog1932

shale shaker1959

mud balance1960

1960 C. Gatlin Petroleum Engin. vi. 70/2 The density of drilling muds is normally measured with a mud balance.

2000 World Tunnelling (Nexis) 1 Mar. 95 A sudden drop in viscosity can cause problems. Use a Marsh funnel and mud balance to identify the problem.

mud barge n. a barge for transporting dredged mud; = mudboat n. 1.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > flat-bottomed boat > [noun] > barge > mud- or hopper-barge

mudboata1691

hopper-barge1759

mud-scow1766

mud barge1861

mudlighter1909

1861 Littell's Living Age 12 Jan. 125/1 And drops, the mud-barge, down the tide Where the immortal galleys float.

1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xviii. 242 Ther toad-stools..was growin'..like mussels on er mudbarge.

1926 W. Runciman Collier Brigs 77 They..took in chalk ballast from the wharves, and occasionally from mud-barges when they could not get a ready turn at the wharves.

2001 Advocate (Baton Rouge) (Nexis) 1 Feb. b3 Richard owned Magnolia Service Contractors, and was building two mud barges for MI drilling.

† mud bigging n. Scottish Obsolete rare a building made out of mud.

ΚΠ

1588 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1882) 1st Ser. IV. 288 The said complenaris foirsaid house.., being laich mud bigging.

mud board n. a flat board laid over muddy ground to facilitate walking on it; a duckboard; (also) = mud-patten n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boards fastened to foot > [noun]

glib-board1682

mud-patten1791

mud board1824

backstay1830

splasher1859

backster1867

mud-splasher1880

1824 P. Hawker Instr. Young Sportsmen (ed. 3) 334 (Plate) Thin oak Mudboards 16 inches square.

1842 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 364 What would avail Lieutenant Colonel Hawker's accuracy of aim, his punt, his mud-boards..in comparison with those amphibious bipeds?

1995 Mother Earth News Dec. 104 My most vivid memories of Reserve are of snake-infested swamps and sugar fields and mud boards that were supposed to be sidewalks.

mud boot n. a kind of tall boot worn as a protection from mud.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boot > [noun] > heavy or strong > jack-boot > types of

waterboot1477

ankle-jack1800

quarter-jack1809

mud boot1824

1824 Ann. Reg. 1823 (Otridge ed.) iii. Patents 316*/2 Improvements in constructing gambadoes, or mud boots.

1825 T. Carlyle Let. 4 Mar. in Coll. Lett. T. & J. W. Carlyle (1970) III. 293 I have bought me a pair of monstrous buckskin mud-boots (spatterdashes that cover the whole shoe and extend midway up the thigh).

1985 New Yorker 21 Jan. 75/2 She puts on her old duffel coat and a pair of mud boots.

1994 Toronto Star 25 June (Metro ed.) k2/4 Goldberger moves, even in clunky mud boots, with a grace and efficiency that betray her earlier life as a dancer.

mudboy n. Oil Industry colloquial a person responsible for the quality of drilling mud; a mud engineer.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > worker in oil industry > [noun] > who prepares or examines mud

mudboy1958

mud engineer1970

mud-logger1972

1958 Times 15 May 14/6 The quality of the mud during drilling operations [for oil] is, therefore, very important, and the mudboy, who is responsible for preparing it, is quite a skilled workman.

mud-brick n. a brick made of (usually unfired) mud; such bricks collectively; frequently attributive.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > earth > [noun] > mud-brick

adobe1748

mud-brick1810

dobe1838

1810 Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi App. ii. 7 Houses would be built entirely of mud-brick (like those in New Spain).

1885 R. F. Burton tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainm. I. vii. 71 She came..to a reed fence built about a round-roofed hut of mud-bricks.

1903 Speaker 5 Sept. 527/2 The old town being built of mud-brick had vanished.

1963 M. Laurence Tomorrow-tamer 227 Then she was gone, shutting quietly behind her the packing-case door of the mudbrick shanty.

1991 A. Hourani Hist. Arab Peoples ii. vi. 105 Grandparents, parents and children living together in village houses made of stone, mud-brick or whatever material was locally available.

mud chute n. a slide or chute of mud; also figurative.

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1938 H. G. Wells Apropos of Dolores iv. 211 It is the most awful gabble—but it is nothing more than the inevitable end of this mud-chute called ‘history’.

1994 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 7 Aug. 1 f I remember clearly people playing in the mud... There were these mud chutes, and people would run and slide.

mud clerk n. U.S. an assistant to the purser on a river steamer.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > management of money > [noun] > one who has charge of or manages money > on a ship

nipcheese1785

mud clerk1872

1872 E. Eggleston End of World xxvi. 171 It was natural enough that the ‘mud-clerk’ on the old steamboat Iatan should have taken a fancy to the ‘striker’, as the engineer's apprentice was called.

1912 I. S. Cobb Back Home 103 Even her two mud clerks, let alone her captain and her pilots, wore uniforms.

2000 Arkansas Democrat-Gaz. (Nexis) 19 May e8 The steamboat's boilers exploded, killing the pilot and Henry, who was serving as mud clerk.

mud cone n. a cone formed by the accumulation of hardened mud round the vent of a mud volcano.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > volcano > [noun] > cone or peak

pike1555

puy1827

cone1830

hornito1830

monticule1830

cinder-cone1849

parasitic cone1863

mud cone1868

piton1886

driblet cone1888

sommac1910

shield1937

1868 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 412/1 Half a mile northward from these mud cones there is a group of petroleum springs.

1995 Marine Geophysical Res. 17 115/1 Mud volcanoes, mud cones, and mud ridges have been identified on..the crestal area..of the Mediterranean Ridge.

mud-crack n. a crack formed in drying mud as a result of shrinkage.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > discontinuity or unconformity > [noun] > fissure or crack

clinta1400

shake1747

grike1781

sun crack1831

mud-crack1853

shrinkage crack1867

1853 Catal. Cabinet Nat. Hist. State of N.Y. 36 Medina sandstone..(with mud cracks). Oswego village.

1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. 94 Rill-marks, mud-cracks, and rain-drop impressions.

1917 Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 25 135 (heading) Some factors affecting the development of mud-cracks.

1993 E. N. K. Clarkson Invertebr. Palaeontol. & Evol. (ed. 3) iii. 59/1 The fossils came from a shallow marine to littoral sequence..; the occasional emergence of shoals is shown by polygonal mudcracks at certain horizons.

mud drum n. a cylindrical chamber attached to a boiler where solid impurities in the water supplied are removed and collected.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > boiler > [noun] > parts of > other parts

saddle1688

float1753

fire door1765

mudhole1824

stay-bolt1839

water table1856

hydrostat1858

mud drum1864

vomit1880

hydrokineter1883

retarder1890

1864 Sci. Amer. 21 May 321/2 In connection with a steam boiler explosion..the witness exhibited a piece of iron from the exploded mud drum.

1893 Science 22 Dec. 338/1 This improvement consists in the use of a double decked boiler with a mud drum below.

1924 F. J. Drover Coal & Oil Fired Boilers ii. v. 143 For from 1,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. of heating surface the standard Stirling boiler consists of three steam drums and two mud drums.

mud engineer n. Oil Industry a person responsible for the quality and supply of drilling mud.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > worker in oil industry > [noun] > who prepares or examines mud

mudboy1958

mud engineer1970

mud-logger1972

1970 W. G. Roberts Quest for Oil iv. 46 The mud engineer and geologist will be examining the mud all the time to find out what sort of rock is being bored.

1996 L. Erdrich Tales of Burning Love 3 He was no more than temporary, a mud engineer due for a transfer.

mud fence n. a wall made of dried mud, or mud-bricks; now frequently (North American) in as homely (also ugly) as a mud fence.

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1839 Columbian Reg. (New Haven, Connecticut) 19 Feb. 4/3 There is a man down the street as ugly as a mud fence in a thunder storm.

1844 J. Gregg Commerce of Prairies I. 150 Mud fences, or walls of very large adobes, are also occasionally to be met with.

1931 C. Wells Horror House xi. 180 The type of beauty commonly ascribed to a mud fence.

1965 J. F. West Time Was 34 Ugly as a mud fence daubed with chinquapins.

1989 G. Vanderhaeghe Homesick xvii. 225 They found it very off-putting, virgins and widows alike, the tithing and the glass eye—not to mention the man is as homely as a mud fence.

mud-flinger n. [after to fling mud s.v. Phrases 1a] = mud-slinger n.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > [noun] > one who slanders

missayer1340

slandererc1340

jurorc1380

third tonguea1382

defamerc1425

malignerc1425

disclanderer1447

praterc1500

evil-sayer1530

ill sayera1533

infamera1533

belier1541

sycophant1548

calumniatorc1550

disgracer1570

infamator1571

depraver1584

calumnier1586

libeller1589

infamizer1593

maldisant1598

oblocutor1603

traducer1603

villainizer1605

vilifier1611

calumner1614

scandallerc1620

scandalizer1632

blackmouth1642

deflowerer1645

famer1646

defamator1658

reflector1681

reflecter1686

asperser1702

bedirtera1742

libellist1794

mud-flinger1839

denigrator1875

mud-slinger1876

tar-brusher1884

libellant-

1839 W. M. Thackeray Let. 1–2 Dec. in Lett. A. T. Ritchie (1924) i. 8 Very curious the abuse is of that character. Old Southey is one of the chief mudflingers.

1989 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 31 Jan. a7 Three months ago he was a gutter-fighting mud-flinger, a candidate who was permanently sullying his reputation.

2001 Buffalo (N.Y.) News (Nexis) 13 Feb. c1 It's good mental exercise to defend the Clintons against all current mud-flingers.

mud-flinging n. = mud-slinging n.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > [noun]

teleeOE

folk-leasinga1000

tolec1000

wrayingc1000

missaw?c1225

slanderc1290

disclanderc1300

famationc1325

noisec1325

skander1338

missaying1340

misspeecha1375

slanderingc1380

biting1382

defaminga1400

filtha1400

missaya1400

obloquya1438

oblocution?a1439

juroryc1440

defamationa1450

defamea1450

forspeaking1483

depravinga1500

defamya1513

injury?1518

depravation1526

maledictiona1530

abusion?1530

blasphemation1533

infamation1533

insectationa1535

calumning1541

calumniation?1549

abuse1559

calumnying1563

calumny1564

belying?1565

illingc1575

scandalizing1575

misparlance?1577

blot1587

libelling1587

scandal1596

traducement1597

injurying1604

deprave1610

vilifying1611

noisec1613

disfame1620

sycophancy1622

aspersion1633

disreport1640

medisance1648

bollocking1653

vilification1653

sugillation1654

blasphemya1656

traduction1656

calumniating1660

blaspheming1677

aspersing1702

blowing1710

infamizing1827

malignation1836

mud-slinging1858

mud-throwing1864

denigration1868

mud-flinging1876

dénigrement1883

malignment1885

injurious falsehood1907

mud-sling1919

bad-mouthing1939

bad mouth1947

trash-talking1974

1876 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 432 Unhappily, mud-flinging is to a very large class of mankind one of the more enjoyable features of every canvass.

1958 New Statesman 22 Feb. 220/2 This latest torrent of mud-flinging was, of course, set off by the letter..from Mr A. H. Milward, Chief Executive of British European Airways.

a1963 C. S. Lewis Discarded Image (1964) iv. 80 This towering vaunt, this philosophic panache which goes beyond mere indifference to mud-flinging and actually courts it, is of Cynic origin.

2001 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 4 Mar. b1 Unhappy with the unexpected mud-flinging and the tangling with city politics, Zing officials..wanted out of the expensive lease.

mud fluid n. Oil Industry = sense 5.

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1914 A. G. Heggem & J. A. Pollard Drilling Wells in Oklahoma by Mud-Laden Fluid Method (U.S. Bureau of Mines Techn. Paper No. 68) 23 The mud fluid was then bailed from the inside of the casing and drilling continued.

1946 Mod. Petroleum Technol. (Inst. Petroleum) 88 When drilling through porous sands it is often necessary to prepare a mud fluid..which leaves on the walls of the well a thin and impervious sheath which seals the pores.

1998 Oil & Gas Jrnl. (Nexis) 21 Dec. 93 Mud fluid filtration and system cleaning are critical for reducing damage.

mud flush n. Oil Industry a flow of drilling mud.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > drilling for oil or gas > [noun] > flow of drilling mud

mud flush1946

1946 Mod. Petroleum Technol. (Inst. Petroleum) 86 There are two main systems employed in drilling oil-wells: (1) the rotary or mud-flush system, and (2) the cable-tool or percussion system.

1990 Mining Mag. (Nexis) Mar. 180 The methods for cuttings removal from the hole have improved with increased circulation rates, larger drill pipes and the almost universal use of reverse circulation mud flush.

† mud-grappler n. Obsolete slang a fist; esp. one's fist.

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1844 ‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. II. 207 I wish to goodness my mud-grappler had been cut off close up to the wrist, afore it hit you that way.

mud hoe n. an implement for scraping mud off roads, consisting of a wide blade with a straight edge at the end of a long handle.

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1853 H. Stephens Farmer's Guide 470 Immediately after a rainy day,..the men should each take a mud hoe or harle,..and rake the loose straws and liquid mud on all the roads around the steading.

mud horse n. British regional a wooden sledge used by shrimpers in the Bristol Channel to transport their catch across mudflats to the shore.

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1892 Littell's Living Age 9 Jan. 120/1 The fisherman comes from his poles at low water mounted on his strange mud horse, or mud sleigh.

1985 Vogue July 143/1 The last of a unique species of fisherman pushes his ‘mud-horse’ over the flats at low tide to the shrimping nets.

1989 Daily Tel. 3 Jan. 12/7 A descendant of the medieval pioneers of mud horse fishing claimed yesterday that the ancient way of life was in danger of being lost to the nuclear age.

mud-laden fluid n. Oil Industry = sense 5.

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society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > earth > [noun] > mud used in drilling for oil

mud-laden fluid1914

mud1922

1914 J. A. Pollard & A. G. Heggem Mud-laden Fluid Applied to Well Drilling (U.S. Bureau of Mines Techn. Paper No. 66) 7 In this paper the term ‘mud-laden fluid’ is applied to a mixture of water with any clay which will remain suspended in water for a considerable time.

1946 Mod. Petroleum Technol. 88 The circuit of this mud-laden fluid..begins at the slush-pumps.

1989 Limnol. & Oceanogr. 34 935/2 The height to which the mud-laden fluid rose in the top layer appeared to increase.

mud lava n. volcanic mud.

ΘΚΠ

the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > ejected volcanic material > [noun] > mud

mud lava1804

moya1830

lahar1929

1804 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 28 Showers of rain..were magnified into mud-lavas.

1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 250/1 ‘Mud-lavas’, on account of their liquidity and swiftness of motion, are..dreaded for their destructiveness.

1953 Caribbean Q. 3 ii. 80 Components which the mud ‘lava’ has picked up from the underlying rocks.

1998 Times (Nexis) 27 Mar. Lice were infecting Herculaneum on the day in 79 AD that Vesuvius erupted and buried the city and its population under ash and steaming mud lava.

mudlighter n. [ < mud n.¹ + lighter n.¹] = mud barge n.

ΘΚΠ

society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > flat-bottomed boat > [noun] > barge > mud- or hopper-barge

mudboata1691

hopper-barge1759

mud-scow1766

mud barge1861

mudlighter1909

1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. Mud-lighter, an open flat-bottomed boat which receives the contents of the iron scoop or shovel operated by a mud-digger.

1915 W. B. Yeats Reveries (1916) 78 He..had nothing to do but work himself into a rage if he saw a mudlighter mismanaged.

mud-logger n. Oil Industry an engineer who monitors drilling by mud logging.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > worker in oil industry > [noun] > who prepares or examines mud

mudboy1958

mud engineer1970

mud-logger1972

1972 L. M. Harris Introd. Deepwater Floating Drilling Operations iii. 25 Services: mud loggers, transportation, divers, roustabout labor.

1986 Financial Times 4 Oct. 5/6 Site foremen or mudloggers (engineers who monitor the progress of drilling operations) would pay between £10 and £30 excess.

mud logging n. Oil Industry examination of the drilling mud coming out of a borehole for signs of oil or gas or other indications of the strata being drilled.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > industry > drilling for oil or gas > [noun] > other procedures

jar1865

run1880

round trip1900

shooting1914

swabbing1921

underreaming1922

acidization1934

squeeze cementing1938

mud logging1960

re-entry1961

stab1972

upending1976

1960 C. Gatlin Petroleum Engin. xi. 199/1 Continuous mud logging is..an excellent exploratory tool.

1989 Sunday Tel. 10 Dec. (Appointments) p. x/3 Immediate vacancies exist for experienced mudlogging geologists.

1999 Oil & Gas Interests (Electronic ed.) 13 Dec. Directional drilling, MWD and LWD services, mud logging and survey services are included in the deal.

mud lump n. U.S. a mound or cone of mud or silt formed in a river delta, esp. that of the Mississippi.

ΚΠ

1853 De Bow's Rev. July 78 The ‘mud lumps’ of which we hear so much, are found generally..at the outer edge of the bars, and in water as deep as five fathoms.

1944 H. T. Kane Deep Delta Country 132 The ‘mud lumps’ of the Mississippi are a phenomenon without counterpart.

1987 New Yorker 23 Feb. 56/3 The mouth was defended by a mud-lump blockade—impenetrable masses of sediment dumped by the river as it reached the still waters of the Gulf.

mud map n. Australian a sketch map giving directions, spec. one outlined on the ground.

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1879 Queenslander 11 Jan. 43/1 Now comes in the keystone to the mutual understanding between blacks and whites—the mud-map. I..give the cue ‘Bindeaca Goondi’, by drawing a circle to represent our camp.

1919 E. S. Sorenson Chips & Splinters 14 An obscure little place that isn't marked on any map excepting always the mud maps that Phineas draws on the road with a stick when directing some unfortunate wanderer to the awful place.

1956 T. Ronan Moleskin Midas iii. 171 I want a fresh horse and some tucker and a mud map for getting to town without hitting too many roads.

1982 J. A. Sharwood Vocab. Austral. Dried Vine Fruits Industry 34 A mud map or a sand map is no longer just a diagram sketched roughly in the soil but may be a more elaborate illustration produced on paper within an office.

2000 Canberra Times (Nexis) 13 Dec. a4 Guests were handed mud maps to negotiate the tables that were set up in the gallery's outdoor garden.

mud mask n. a mask made of or daubed with mud; (also) = mud-pack n.; a paste of mud applied to the face for a purpose other than cosmetic.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > [noun] > preparations for the skin or complexion > face packs

face mask1754

mud mask1854

face pack1916

mud-pack1922

mask1928

pack1934

1854 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross xxxii. 249 ‘More dirt the less hurt!’ is a pleasant piece o' consolation for a friend with a mud mask.

1928 Daily Express 16 June 3/4 I suggested that I should like a mud-mask. The assistant appeared to be alarmed.

1993 Q. Wilder One Shining Summer (BNC) Mandy was still awake, reading a book in bed by the light of her kerosene bedside lamp. A green mud-mask was smeared on her face.

1995 Denver Post 30 Apr. t3/1 We visited Asaro, home of the legendary mudmen who once daubed their bodies with gray clay and wore mud masks over their heads to create ghostly apparitions that terrified their enemies.

mud-mask v. rare (transitive) to treat with a mud-mask.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > beautify (the skin or complexion) [verb (transitive)] > use a face pack

mud-mask1928

1928 Daily Express 22 Dec. 3/5 Faces have been massaged and mud-masked.

mud-masked adj. treated with a mud-mask or having a face covered in mud.

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1985 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 24 May 12 (caption) Mud-masked Dinka tribesmen in southern Sudan.

2000 Kiplinger's Personal Finance Apr. 30/1 There was a time when the mud-masked man was a bit of a lone ranger. But now men under 35 are shedding their inhibitions like dead skin cells to buy lotions and face scrubs.

mud-patten n. a board attached to a person's boot or shoe to facilitate walking on muddy ground.

ΘΚΠ

the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boards fastened to foot > [noun]

glib-board1682

mud-patten1791

mud board1824

backstay1830

splasher1859

backster1867

mud-splasher1880

1791 W. Gilpin Remarks Forest Scenery II. 193 Mud-pattens are flat pieces of board, which the fowler ties to his feet that he may not sink in the mud.

1863 Fraser's Mag. Feb. 146/2 The safest way is to assault on foot with mud-pattens.

1941 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 10 309 These arms of the river dry out almost completely at low tide and leave flats of very soft and deep grey mud which cannot be crossed on foot without mud-pattens.

mud-pipes n. gum boots; thick boots for use in muddy conditions (cf. pipe n.¹ 16).

ΚΠ

1848 Sinks of London laid Open 116/1 Mud pipes, thick boots.

1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 52/1 Mud Pipes, Knee Caps, and Trotter Cases, built very low.

1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 199 Mud-pipes,..bottes imperméables.

1984 P. Beale Partridge's Dict. Slang (ed. 8) 763/1 Mud-pipes, thick boots: from earlyish C.19.

mud pit n. a pit containing mud; (Oil Industry) a pit which holds drilling mud.

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1856 Harper's Mag. May 732/2 ‘The mine, then, is still in ruins?’ ‘Yes, a mere mud pit.’

1896 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 25 202 If his wife is with child, he will not enter the mud pits.

1961 J. E. Brantly Hist. Petroleum Engin. vi. 421 (caption) Rig Layout and Mud Pits, Gulf coast, 1953.

1979 Forbes (Nexis) 14 May 24 What penalty do I suffer..if Ferdinand the Bull breaches the fence and drowns in the mud pit?

1991 Offshore Engineer Sept. 68/3 The equipment..is relatively tiny..with a 200 barrel holding tank and regular mud pit agitators.

mud plunger n. a person employed to stir sediment in the manufacture of bleach (see quot. 1892).

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1892 Labour Comm. Gloss. Mud plungers, men in the chemical industry engaged at bleach plant in stirring up the sediment from manganese and acid to extract the gas.

mud pot n. chiefly U.S. a pool of bubbling mud.

ΚΠ

1872 Prelim. Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. Montana 107 A short distance south of the Fountain Geyser is one of the most remarkable mud-pots in the Fire-Hole Valley.

1943 N. Marsh Colour Scheme ix. 147 Alongside the path a mudpot no bigger than a saucepan worked industriously.

1989 Chicago Tribune 5 Feb. xii. 3/1 Mud pots that gurgle and perk and let off more steam.

mudproof adj. impervious to mud.

ΘΚΠ

the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > [adjective] > stopping up or blocking > without leak or tight > specific

watertight1489

wind-tight1507

wind and water tighta1550

weatherproof1647

weather-tight1648

wind-fast1648

airtight1728

steam-tight1765

waterproofed1813

gas-tight1819

acid-proof1844

gas-proof1846

oil-tight1847

mudproof1897

pressure-tight1899

draught-proof1908

weather-stripped1908

spill-proof1920

vacuum-tight1927

splash-proof1929

vapour-proof1946

1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 255/1 Extra Superfine, strictly rain and mud proof French serge.

1990 Birds Mag. Summer 71 (advt.) Nitrogen gas filled, waterproof, mudproof, sandproof and rubber armoured, [binoculars] are perfect for all-weather, outdoor use.

mud pup n. Canadian slang a young Englishman sent to western Canada to learn farming; a student of agriculture.

ΚΠ

1955 Maclean's 2 Apr. 80/2 When the war [of 1914–18] started the Mud Pups joined up to the last man and the bachelor population of Duncan vanished overnight.

1957 R. Barratt Coronets & Buckskin xviii. 164 Mudpups were unwanted younger sons whose parents gave a premium to have them taught farming.

1994 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 28 Jan. a15 For a modest fee of $60 a month, errant sons of the gentry would be sent to learn farming... We called these boys the Mud Pups. Then the war came..and..the Mud Pups all left to volunteer.

† mud-quake n. Obsolete an earthquake occurring in muddy or marshy terrain.Apparently an isolated use for humorous effect.

ΚΠ

1760 H. Walpole Let. to H. Mann 3 Feb. The Dutch..have lately had a mud-quake, and giving themselves terra-firma airs, call it an earthquake!

mud room n. North American a small vestibule, spec. one in which wet or muddy footwear may be left as one enters a house.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room by situation > [noun] > entrance-hall or vestibule

fore-entry1535

hall1663

entrance hall1677

side entry1680

tambour1728

vestibule1730

entryway1746

entry hall1753

oeil-de-boeuf1785

voorhuis1822

voorkamer1827

atrium1864

hallway1877

wind-porch1899

mud room1950

1950 A. E. Burke et al. Archit. & Building Trades Dict. 212/1 Mud room, in building, a small room or entranceway where members of the family remove their muddy overshoes or rubbers before going into any of the other rooms.

1964 Calgary (Alberta) Herald 13 Feb. 16/5 One of the most common places of theft occurrences in the school is in the mud room.

1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 36/4 (advt.) Necessary additions as family room with indoor barbecue,..laundry and mud room..have been architecturally added.

1995 D. Francis Come to Grief iv. 58 We passed a gun-room, flower-room and mud-room (ranks of green wellies).

mud runner n. U.S. = mudder n.¹

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1905 Evening Sun (N.Y.) 17 Aug. All the races..were won by the product of stallions that in their day were famous mud runners.

2001 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 8 Feb. d6 He didn't want too much sun because Pole Position was a noted mud runner.

mud rush n. = mudslide n.; also figurative.

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1903 Science 17 698 The ‘mud-rushes’ [sc. in diamond mines] are the most serious liability.

2001 H. Wagner in P. Särkkä & P. Eloranta Rock Mechanics p. xxvii/1 In the mud rush which was initiated by the pillar failure one miner was trapped in a refuge chamber.

mud-scatter n. poetic a splash of mud.

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1919 J. Masefield Reynard the Fox 78 Mud-scatters chased him as he scudded.

mud-scraper n. an implement for removing mud; spec. = scraper n. 5.

ΚΠ

1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 323 Cowl-rake, a mud scraper.

1885 J. Magruder Across Chasm ii. 26 ‘The mud-scraper’, she wrote her mother, in her first letter home, ‘is a thing of beauty, and the coal-scuttle a joy forever.’

1937 J. P. Marquand Late George Apley iv. 29 At no time in the history of the world have such material changes occurred as those in John Apley's life span... Let us sum it up in a single homely detail... Let us start..with the mud-scrapers on the houses of Beacon Hill.

1997 Stuart (Florida) News (Nexis) 23 Mar. g10 Years ago we heard from a reader who recycled plastic grocery bags by braiding them into area rugs, which she then put next to the kitchen sink and used as ‘mudscrapers’ outside her entryway.

mud season n. originally and chiefly U.S. a time of year when the ground is particularly muddy; spec. = mud time n.

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1851 R. Waddington tr. F. M. von Bodenstedt Morning-land II. iii. 57 The proper mud season commences when the night-frosts and snow-storms have quite ceased.

1942 Los Angeles Times 8 Apr. 3/8 (headline) Jap Army faces rains in Burma. Mud season beginning May 14 will trap foe.

2002 High Country News 18 Mar. 2/2 The day the streets start looking squeaky clean in mud season, we'll know it's time to move on to that next last haven from the suburbanizing world.

† mud-shine n. Obsolete the reflection of light on muddy stones.Apparently only in the writings of Leigh Hunt.

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1828 L. Hunt in Companion 6 Feb. 43 The lamp-light shining in the gutters; ‘mud-shine’, as an artist of our acquaintance used to call it, with a gusto of reprobation.

1850 L. Hunt Autobiogr. I. vi. 247 A roar of hoarse voices round the door, and mud-shine on the pavement.

mud show n. slang (now archaic) an exhibition, carnival, performance, etc., held in the open air.

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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > type of show or spectacle > [noun] > in open air

mud show1909

1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 178/2 Mud show, an agricultural, or other out-door show.

1943 J. Mitchell McSorley's Wonderful Saloon 88 She started out with a tramp circus or ‘mud show’, whose rickety, louse-infested wagons were pulled by oxen.

1997 B. Morrow Giovanni's Gift iii. 203 They might go to the county-fair mudshow, ride the transient, rickety carousel trucked in one week along with the convoy of other circus machinery.

mud showman n. a person who participates in a mud show.

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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > [noun] > show-people > showman

exhibitera1616

exhibitor1654

showman1728

traveller1762

slang cove1789

exhibitioner1791

sideshowman1858

mud showman1927

1927 K. Nicholson Barker 150 Mud showman, a carnival man.

mud side n. a muddy bank, shore, etc.

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1923 G. B. Shaw Let. 5 Apr. in To a Young Actress (1960) 42 I am here at the mudside (the Bristol channel can hardly be called sea) to recuperate.

1998 G. Stern This Time 96 It is a poem I am able to write after..watching them [sc. ducks] slip down the mud sides and float into the current.

mud-splasher n. (a) = mud-patten n.; (b) a mudguard or mudflap; esp. one used on a bicycle.

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the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boards fastened to foot > [noun]

glib-board1682

mud-patten1791

mud board1824

backstay1830

splasher1859

backster1867

mud-splasher1880

1880 S. Baring-Gould Mehalah II. viii. 145 What do you mean coming to a house of worship in mud-splashers?

1891 Cent. Mag. June 260/1 Here's a splendid pair of brand-new boots..made for your mud-splashers alone.

1975 S. Heaney New Sel. Poems (1990) 85 His bicycle stood at the window-sill, The rubber cowl of a mud-splasher Skirting the front mudguard.

mud stick n. a pole for punting in muddy rivers, having a forked or widened tip.

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1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting 142 Now, you see this mud-stick or setting pole..[Note] Pole with a forked or widened end to prevent its sinking in mud.

1931 Amer. Mercury Jan. 50/1 We both carried ‘mud sticks’ to be rammed down and held by the upper ends while we raked off the heavy accumulations.

mudstone n. Geology any sedimentary rock derived from clay or silt; esp. one lacking the laminations of shale.

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the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > sedimentary rock > [noun] > other argillaceous

tough-stonea1641

waxen vein1681

mudstone1736

marlstone1766

marlite1794

pelite1879

lutite1904

1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ A mud stone, Saxum limosum.

1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 50 In some places they are called clunch and mudstone.

1876 A. H. Green Geol. for Students: Physical Geol. ii. §6. 72 Mudstone is a convenient name for clayey rocks that have the appearance of partially hardened masses of sandy mud.

1957 H. S. Zim & P. R. Shaffer Rocks & Minerals 124 Shales or mudstones are mainly clays which have hardened into rock.

1991 New Civil Engineers 3 Oct. 25/2 Each beacon is founded on a 1.6m diameter steel pile which was inserted into a hole bored through sandstone and mercia mudstone.

mud student n. colloquial a student of agriculture.

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1845 R. S. Surtees Hillingdon Hall III. xxxii. 22 Have what they call mud students... Some of the great farmers i' the north have them, and they pay well whether they larn ought or not.

1856 Notes & Queries 6 Sept. 198/1 With whom a young friend of mine was ‘a mud student’, that is, was a farming pupil.

1904 M. Cradock Sport in N.Z. 149 At the homestead when we had fossicked out a bit of mutton..I found a confounded ‘jackaroo’ (Anglicé ‘mud student’) who had only arrived from the Old Country today, ‘dossed’ down on my bed.

1995 Scotsman (Nexis) 19 June 28 A spell as a ‘mud student’ at Seale Hayne [Agricultural College], Devon.

mud tank n. (a) a pit or tank containing mud; (Oil Industry) a portable metal tank used to hold drilling fluid; (b) an earth dam.

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1884 Littell's Living Age 25 Oct. 240/1 Not less comforting is the evening bath by moonlight in the mud-tank, which by daylight looks so very unattractive.

1898 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Jan. 3/2 The weak are falling back; Closely guarded by the mud-tank just abreast the western wing.

1939 M. Franklin & D. Cusack Pioneers on Parade 7 Her face was..criss-crossed with lines like a mud tank in drought.

1992 B. Davenport Horizontal & Vertical Drilling vi. 57 In hard rock areas, a small spud unit drills a spud hole into the ground..and a Flow line is welded to the conductor and run to the mud tanks.

mud-throwing n. (literal) the throwing of mud; (usually) (figurative) = mud-slinging n.

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the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > [noun]

teleeOE

folk-leasinga1000

tolec1000

wrayingc1000

missaw?c1225

slanderc1290

disclanderc1300

famationc1325

noisec1325

skander1338

missaying1340

misspeecha1375

slanderingc1380

biting1382

defaminga1400

filtha1400

missaya1400

obloquya1438

oblocution?a1439

juroryc1440

defamationa1450

defamea1450

forspeaking1483

depravinga1500

defamya1513

injury?1518

depravation1526

maledictiona1530

abusion?1530

blasphemation1533

infamation1533

insectationa1535

calumning1541

calumniation?1549

abuse1559

calumnying1563

calumny1564

belying?1565

illingc1575

scandalizing1575

misparlance?1577

blot1587

libelling1587

scandal1596

traducement1597

injurying1604

deprave1610

vilifying1611

noisec1613

disfame1620

sycophancy1622

aspersion1633

disreport1640

medisance1648

bollocking1653

vilification1653

sugillation1654

blasphemya1656

traduction1656

calumniating1660

blaspheming1677

aspersing1702

blowing1710

infamizing1827

malignation1836

mud-slinging1858

mud-throwing1864

denigration1868

mud-flinging1876

dénigrement1883

malignment1885

injurious falsehood1907

mud-sling1919

bad-mouthing1939

bad mouth1947

trash-talking1974

1864 O. W. Holmes Our Progressive Independence 507/2 In the interval between the cudgel-stroke of Johnson and the mud-throwing of Carlyle, America had grown strong.

1873 Appletons' Jrnl. 19 July 79/3 This mud-throwing on a gigantic scale alarmed the Almighty, who feared the whole universe would be torn to pieces.

1895 Thistleton's Illustr. Jolly Giant 29 Aug. 98/3 It is one of those dirty, mud-throwing affairs that no respectable person cares about taking part in.

1988 Seahorse Sept.–Oct. 27/3 The resulting mud throwing between race officials and the police with threats of prosecution and counter libel action is an unsightly distraction from the sport.

mud time n. U.S. regional (north-eastern) the period in early spring before the ground is completely thawed, when the ground is particularly muddy.

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1867 F. G. Johnson Nicolson Pavement 28 The cobble is much like a country road frozen stone hard in mud-time, on which country people think it quite dangerous to drive faster than a walk.

1902 Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Herald 22 Mar. As soon as spring opens the people trot out their old shoes and have them patched up to wear through mud time.

1994 P. R. Craig Off Season (1996) i. 1 In mud time she exchanged her skirts and sandals for rubber boots and oversized jeans.

mud-trap n. any device for straining or screening mud.

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1970 Motoring Which? July 93/2 Both cars had areas which may well give trouble in a couple of years' time—mud traps around the headlamp cowls of the 3-litre, [etc.].

1994 Canal & Riverboat Feb. 59/4 On the raw-water type there will probably be a filter and mud-trap in the water inlet pipe.

† mud valve n. Obsolete a valve at the bottom of a boiler through which sediment is removed.

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1860 Sci. Amer. 26 May 352/1 The lower parts of the shafts..may be provided with mud valves for blowing off the deposite [sic] as it accumulates.

1878 Manufacturer & Builder June 124 (caption) The sediment is allowed to accumulate until it rises to a level with the outlet, then mud valves, suitably arranged in the bottom of the tanks, are opened and the sediment washed out.

mud wagon n. North American (now historical) a type of carriage, less elaborate and comfortable than a stagecoach, and usually of lighter construction; cf. mud-cart n. 2.

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1835 C. J. Latrobe Rambler in N. Amer. II. 259 We had to put up with an open ‘mud-waggon’, with spring seats.

1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It vii. 60 We had to change our stage (for a less sumptuous affair, called a ‘mud-wagon’).

1955 W. Foster-Harris Old West vi. 173 A mud wagon..was either a lighter, smaller, simpler version of the big Concord stage, or, more often, a wagonette.

1993 Western Horseman Apr. 38/2 The mudwagon was a kind of low-class stagecoach and hardly an example of the traditional stage.

mudwing n. a mudguard, a mudflap.

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society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [noun] > parts of vehicle moving on wheels > mudguard

wing1783

mudguard1850

splashguard1917

mudwing1927

1927 Daily Express 9 Sept. 11/3 All the six 1928 models are of improved appearance, with..mudwings which not only look better, but also keep off the mud more efficiently.

1959 Times 27 Apr. (Rubber Industry Suppl.) p. vi/1 On many goods and passenger vehicles rubber mud-wings are used.

1988 Pract. Motorist Mar. 4/3 The one shown here..isn't..difficult to fit..so long as you can follow American terminology such as..‘fender’ (mudwing).

1998 Transport News Aug. 69/2 (advt.) Distributors for:—Borg & Beck..Featherwing Mudwing & anti-spray accessories.

b. In the names of animals.

mud bass n. U.S. (a) = mud sunfish n. a; (b) the largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides; (c) the warmouth, Lepomis gulosus; cf. mud sunfish n. b.

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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Centrarchidae (sun-fish) > [noun] > member of genus Pomotis

sunfish1685

sun perch1804

sunny1835

mud bass1884

sun1896

1884 G. B. Goode in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 405 The Mud Bass..is found only in the coastwise streams of the lowlands from New Jersey to North Carolina.

1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Mud bass, the large-mouthed black bass.

1949 L. S. Caine N. Amer. Fresh Water Sport Fish ii. 47 The warmouth is commonly called ‘mud bass’ because it prefers lakes and streams with mud bottoms.

1983 G. C. Becker Fishes Wisonsin 817 Warmouth... Other common names..mud bass.

† mud-borer n. Obsolete rare a small marine burrowing shrimp, Upogebia stellata (infraorder Thalassinidea), which lives in long deep burrows excavated in sand or mud.

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1850 A. White Crustacea in List Specimens Brit. Mus. IV. 33 Gebia stellata. Mud-borer.

† mud-burrower n. Obsolete rare a marine burrowing shrimp, Callianassa subterranea (infraorder Thalassinidea), which lives in long deep burrows excavated in sand or mud.

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1850 A. White Crustacea in List Specimens Brit. Mus. IV. 32 Callianassa subterranea. Mud-burrower.

mud catfish n. U.S. a mudcat, esp. the brown bullhead, Ictalurus nebulosus.

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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Scorpaeniformes (scorpion-fish) > [noun] > family Cottidae (sculpins) > member of genus Cottus (bull-head)

sea-dragon1551

gull-head1611

sculpin1672

bullhead1674

mud catfish1818

sea-toad1884

1818 Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 3 354 Silurus punctatus... Mud Cat-fish.

1842 J. E. De Kay Zool. N.-Y. iv. 187 The Mud Catfish..[is] recognized by the scarified and clouded appearance of its skin.

1870 Amer. Naturalist 4 386 [The] Mud cat-fish (Amiurus DeKayi) [is found in the Delaware near Trenton, New Jersey.].

1964 H. T. Walden Familiar Freshwater Fishes Amer. xiv. 201 The flathead catfish has acquired several local names, such as mud catfish, goujon, shovelhead, and yellow cat.

mud coot n. U.S. (now rare) the American coot, Fulica americana.

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1890 Cent. Dict. Mud-coot, the common American coot, Fulica americana.

1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. I. 214 Coot. Fulica americana... [Also called] Pond Hen; Mud Coot; Ivory-billed Coot.

mud crab n. (a) a crab of the brachyuran genus Panopeus; (b) a large edible swimming crab, Scylla serrata, of Indo-Pacific mangrove swamps (also called mangrove crab).

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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Brachyura (crab) > member of genus Panopaeus (mud crab)

mud crab1713

1713 J. Petiver Aquatilium Animalium Amboinæ 1 Squilla Lutaria Rum... Mud-Crab.

1884 R. Rathbun in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 772 The Mud Crabs—Panopeus Herbstii [etc.].

1966 T. C. Roughley Fish & Fisheries Austral. (ed. 7) 127 Mud or Mangrove crab... This large crab has a powerful pair of nippers which can easily crush a finger carelessly placed.

1994 New Scientist 21 May 7/1 Thailand, for example, is the world's largest producer of barramundi, a coastal fish, and mud crab, both natives of Australia.

mud dab n. chiefly U.S. (a) the winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus; (b) any of several righteye flounders of the genus Limanda; esp. the yellowfin sole, L. aspera, of the northern Pacific.

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the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Pleuronectiformes (flat-fish) > [noun] > family Pleuronectidae > pseudopleuronectes americanus (winter flounder)

winter flounder1814

mud dab1873

niggerfish1876

1873 T. Gill Catal. Fishes East Coast N. Amer. 16 Pseudopleuronectes americanus... Common flounder; winter-flounder; mud dab.

1898 Bull. U.S. National Mus. No. 27. 2644 Limanda... Mud Dabs.

1960 List Common & Sci. Names Fishes U.S. & Canada (Amer. Fisheries Soc. Special Publ. No. 2) (ed. 2) Index to Common Names 55/1 Mud dab, see yellowfin sole.

† mud-devil n. U.S. Obsolete the hellbender, Cryptobranchus (formerly Menopoma) alleganiensis.

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the world > animals > amphibians > order Urodela or Caudata > [noun] > family Cryptobranchidae > cryptobranchus alleghaniensis (hellbender)

land pike1687

hellbender1812

mud-devil1825

water-puppy1832

Menopoma1835

menopome1842

man-eater1859

ground-puppy1863

mud puppy1877

1825 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 11 278 Menopoma Alleghaniensis... Hell-bender. Mud-devil.

1861 Atlantic Monthly May 588/2 We have among the Lizards the Mud-Devil, (Menopoma Alleghaniensis,) which grows in the sluggish streams to the length of two feet.

1878 Johnson's New Universal Cycl. (new ed.) III. 414/1 The commonest species, M[enopoma] Alleghaniense, known as hell-bender, mud-devil, ground-puppy, young alligator, or tweeg, abounds in the waters of the Ohio.

mud-dipper n. U.S. regional the ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensis.

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1888 G. Trumbull Names & Portraits Birds 110 [The ruddy duck, Erismatura rubida, is known] at Eastville, Va., [as] Mud Dipper.

1944 L. A. Hausman Illustr. Encycl. Amer. Birds 520 Mud-dipper—see Duck, ruddy.

mud duck n. U.S. = mud hen n. 1; esp. the American coot, Fulica americana.

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the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [noun] > domestic

mallard1314

puddle duck1841

mud duck1857

puddler1945

1857 Porter's Spirit of Times 26 Sept. 54/2 There is duck of every quality, canvas-back, wood, mud, and various other species.

1903 Forest & Stream 27 Feb. 150 They are a cross between the mallard and ordinary mud duck.

1920 E. Pound Let. 11 Sept. (1971) 158 If you weren't stupider than a mud-duck you would know that every kick to bad writing is by that much a help for the good.

1985 J. Adams Good Intentions xxiii. 168 They watched mallards and teal and canvasbacks and mud ducks and a zillion other waterfowl.

mud dweller n. an animal living in a muddy habitat, spec. a water beetle of the genus Ilybius (family Dytiscidae).

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the world > animals > by habitat > [noun] > aquatic animal > that lives in mud

mud dweller1881

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Adephaga (carnivorous beetles) > Hydradephaga (aquatic) > member of family Dytiscidae (mud-dweller)

water tiger1774

mud dweller1881

1881 Amer. Naturalist 15 545 The Artiodactyla..long continued as mud dwellers.

1952 J. Clegg Freshwater Life Brit. Isles xiv. 221 The Mud Dweller, Ilybius fuliginosus, [is] a bronze-coloured beetle with yellow margins to its wing-cases.

1963 Times 19 Jan. 10/6 It [sc. the Dublin Bay Prawn] feeds, somewhat indiscriminately like all its kind, on its fellow mud-dwellers.

1992 New Brunswick Outdoor Adventure Guide 2/2 One of the more important mud dwellers is a tiny mud shrimp known as Corophium Voluater.

mud eel n. an elongate creature inhabiting muddy water; esp. (a) a salamander, Siren lacertina (family Sirenidae), of the south-eastern United States; (b) a larval lamprey.

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the world > animals > fish > superclass Agnatha > [noun] > suborder Petromyzontoidei or genus Petromyzon > member of (lamprey) > at certain stage of growth

lampret1656

mud iguana1767

mud eel1774

ammocœte1859

1774 J. R. Forster Resol. Jrnl. (1982) IV. 604 Very fine Mud-Eel..were caught this morning.

1823 Charleston (S. Carolina) Courier 7 Mar. 2/4 The British..fairly chased our militiamen across Broad River, to the huge amazement of the mud eels and cats.

1840 Boston Jrnl. Nat. Hist. 3 473 Ammocoetes concolor Kirtland. The Mud-eel.

1895 Proc. U.S. National Mus. 1894 17 337 Amphiuma means..is known under the name of ‘mud eel’.

1938 R. Schrenkeisen Field Bk. Fresh-water Fishes N. Amer. 5 The young [of Petromyzon marinus]..are called ‘mud-eels’.

1948 V. Palmer Golconda xxi. 177 This big trollop of a woman, he was thinking. She had no more decent feeling than a mud-eel.

1994 Buzzworm (Nexis) Jan. 26 You might try first on mud eels in Korea, which are plentiful, rather than experiment with an animal that's got its back against the wall.

mud-eye n. Australian a dragonfly larva.

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1911 D. A. Macdonald Bush Boys Bk. 95 They live on the yabbie, the shrimp, and the mud-eye—which is the water form of the dragon-fly.

1951 T. C. Roughley Fish & Fisheries Austral. 296 The sluggish dragonfly larvae, popularly known as ‘mud-eyes’, which are found in the mud of streams, are..relished by the fish.

1985 Canberra Chron. 10 July 19/4 When they cleaned the fish they found it had 26 mudeyes in its stomach.

mud goose n. a Canada goose of the subspecies Branta canadensis hutchinsii; also called Hutchins's goose.

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1844 J. P. Giraud Birds Long Island 292 Anser hutchinsii. Hutchins's goose..is known by the name of ‘Mud Goose’.

1859 S. G. Goodrich Illustr. Nat. Hist. Animal Kingdom II. 315 Hutchins's Goose, A. Hutchinsi—called Mud Goose on Long Island.

1925 E. H. Forbush Birds of Mass. I. 295 Branta canadensis húchinsi (Richardson). Hutchins's Goose. Other names: short-necked goose; little goose; mud goose.

† mud iguana n. U.S. Obsolete = mud eel n. (a).

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the world > animals > fish > superclass Agnatha > [noun] > suborder Petromyzontoidei or genus Petromyzon > member of (lamprey) > at certain stage of growth

lampret1656

mud iguana1767

mud eel1774

ammocœte1859

1767 Philos. Trans. 1766 (Royal Soc.) 56 189 The natives call it Mud-Inguana [sic].

1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 224 The Siren or Mud-iguana, a fish of the order Branchio-stegi.

1874 Amer. Cycl. VII. 619/2 He published accounts of..the mud iguana, or siren of South Carolina, an amphibious animal.

mudminnow n. any of several small freshwater fishes of the genus Umbra (family Umbridae), found in North America and Eurasia and able to survive low oxygen concentrations and very low temperatures.

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1838 J. P. Kirtland in 2nd Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio 169 Mud Minnow.

1897 N.Y. Forest, Fish & Game Comm. 2d Rep. 229 Umbra limi... A number of mud minnows were shipped in wet moss from Caledonia, N.Y.

1973 Nature 5 Oct. 261/2 Male and female specimens of the central mudminnow, U. limi (Kirtland) were collected from two populations.

1982 D. Sternberg Fishing with Live Bait 22 Mudminnows..live in swamps and sluggish streams in many eastern states.

mud oyster n. a large oyster, Ostrea angasi, native to south-eastern Australia.

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1770 J. Cook Jrnl. 23 Aug. (1955) I. 394 The Shell-fish are Oysters of 3 or 4 sorts, viz. Rock oysters and Mangrove Oysters..Pearl Oysters, and Mud Oysters.

1855 I. Boyd in A. H. Hume Lake George to Port Phillip 25 We came upon a black-fellow's camp, with the mud-oyster shells lying about it.

1994 Trans. Royal Soc. S. Austral. 118 253 The aquaculture of the Pacific oyster has filled the market niche left by the loss of the mud oyster fishery.

mud plover n. British regional and U.S. the grey plover, Pluvialis squatarola.

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1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 181 Grey Plover... Its habit of frequenting the sea-shore has obtained for it the names Sea plover, Sea cock... Strand plover... Mud plover.

1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. I. 256 Black-bellied plover... Other names... Mud plover.

1946 L. A. Hausman Field Bk. Eastern Birds 258 Mud plover... Very shy birds, running about on the flats in great numbers.

mudpoke n. U.S. (now rare) = shitepoke n.

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the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Ardeidae (herons and bitterns) > genus Nycticorax (night-heron)

Nycticorax1688

shitepoke1775

Quaker1776

night heron1785

qua-bird1792

mudpoke1809

quawk1844

nankeen crane1872

squawk1872

1809 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. II. vi. ii. 86 That notable bird ycleped the Mud-poke.

1919 F. L. Burns Ornithol. Chester County, Pennsylvania 39 Butorides virescens virescens..‘mudpoke’.

1919 F. L. Burns Ornithol. Chester County, Pennsylvania 40 Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax..‘mudpoke’.

mudpout n. North American = mudcat n. 1.

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the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Siluriformes (catfish) > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous member of

sea-cat1601

gaff-topsail1794

mudpout1804

mudcat1819

blue cat1826

channel cat-fish1838

channel cat1847

sea-catfish1882

goujon1883

scorpion fish1883

bashaw1888

ground spearing1896

1804 T. G. Fessenden Orig. Poems 27 Like an otter that paddles the creek, In quest of a mud pout, or sucker.

1872 M. S. De Vere Americanisms 382 A species [of Cat-fish] is known also as Mudpout.

1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 May 41/6 I've been fishing for mudpout ever since I was six years old.

mudprawn n. a South African estuarine prawn of the genus Upogebia, esp. U. africana.

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1957 Jrnl. Ecol. 45 368 The investigation..was a direct result of reading..newspaper accounts mentioning the wholesale death and destruction of the mud-prawn Upogebia africana.

1969 A. Fugard Boesman & Lena i. 7 Digging for bait. Mudprawns and worms in an old jam tin.

1991 S. Afr. Jrnl. Sci. 87 519 Larvae of the estuarine mudprawn, Upogebia africana, undergo an obligatory phase of marine development before returning to estuaries as post-larvae to settle.

mud shad n. U.S. (a) the moon-eye, Hiodon tergisus; (b) the gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum, a freshwater fish of eastern North America, which is silver-coloured with dark stripes along its upper side.

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the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > order Clupeiformes > [noun] > family Clupeidae and herrings > doromosa cepedianum (hickory shad)

hickory shada1816

shad-herring1845

mud shad1876

gizzard shad1884

stink-shad1884

white-eyed shad1884

winter shad1884

thread-herring1888

1876 G. B. Goode Classif. Coll. Illustr. Animal Resources U.S. 63 Fish, (eastern coast:)..Mud shad, (Dorosoma cepedianum.)

1883 Bull. U.S. National Mus. No. 27. 455 Gizzard Shad; Mud Shad; Hickory Shad... The species has no commercial value.

1907 Amer. Naturalist 41 7 Dorosoma cepedianum (Le Sueur). Mud Shad.—Delaware River at Torresdale, [etc.]

1983 G. C. Becker Fishes Wisconsin 273 Gizzard Shad... Other names..mud shad.

mud shark n. (a) U.S. regional (Alaska), the burbot, Lota lota; (b) North American any of various benthic sharks, esp. of the family Hexanchidae.

ΚΠ

1936 Alaska Sportsman Aug. 17 Then there are such undesirable varieties as mud sharks, dog-fish, devil fish, turbot, and a variety of red cod.

1948 List Names Fishes U.S. & Canada (Amer. Fisheries Soc.) 5 Atlantic mud shark..Hexanchus griseus.

1988 P. Wayburn Adventuring in Alaska (rev. ed.) iv. 329 These people still travel the river to Kotzebue Sound and on to the Chukchi Sea to exchange their inland products—furs and the liver of mud sharks.

mud shrimp n. any of various marine shrimps of the superfamily Thalassinoidea, which inhabit burrows dug in mud or sand.

ΚΠ

1930 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 6 36 (title) The natural history of the mud shrimp Upogebia pugellensis.

1978 Biol. Bull. 154 241 (title) Larval development of the rare burrowing mud shrimp Naushonia Crangonoides Kingsley.

1994 E. E. Ruppert & R. D. Barnes Invertebr. Zool. (ed. 6) xiv. 703/1 Burrowing shrimps or mud shrimps (Callianassa, Upogebia, and Thalassina) are shallow-water or intertidal decapods that live in long, deep burrows excavated in sand or mud.

mud snake n. a non-venomous black and red colubrid snake of the southern United States, Farancia abacura; also called hoop snake.

ΚΠ

1907 R. L. Ditmars Reptile Bk. xxxviii. 367 Farancia abacura... Also called the Rainbow Snake, Mud Snake, Horn Snake and Hoop Snake.

1937 C. H. Curran & C. Kauffield Snakes & their Ways xv. 212 Farancia abacura, or mud snake, which uses its caudal spine to jab an enemy and distract attention from its more vulnerable parts.

1998 Orlando Sentinel (Nexis) 19 Sept. c11 The Florida Mud Snake is a large burrowing snake that is usually found in swampy areas.

mud swallow n. any of several birds of the swallow family that build nests of mud; esp. (U.S.) the American cliff swallow, Hirundo pyrrhonota.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Hirundinidae > genus Petrochelidan > species Pyrrhonota (cliff swallow)

republican swallow1824

mud swallow1868

cliff swallow1870

mud-dauber1899

1868 Putnam's Mag. Nov. 562/2 He..found, in the doves about the barn, the mud-swallows' nests under the eaves,..such suggestions of peace, and home-like hospitality.

1873 C. G. Leland Egyptian Sketch-bk. 42 Those curious mud-swallow nests of little villages.

1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. III. 84 Cliff Swallow... Barn Swallow; Mud Swallow; Republican Swallow.

1953 S. G. Jewett et al. Birds Washington State 449 Oregon Cliff Swallow, other names..Mud swallow.

† mud terrapin n. U.S. Obsolete = mud turtle n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > suborder Cryptodira > member of family Trionychidae (soft-shell)

mud turtle1756

softshell turtle1804

soft tortoise1821

mud terrapin1829

softshell1830

softback1832

Trionyx1835

potamian1851

1829 Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. N.Y. 3 120 Terrapene pensylvanica... Mud tarapin of the southern states.

1842 Nat. Hist. N.Y., Zool. iii. 23 The Musk Tortoise or Mud Turtle, Mud Terrapin or Stink-pot.

1892 Harper's Mag. Sept. 590/1 Everywhere dotting the sand..are rough misshapen tracks of mud-terrapins.

† mud tortoise n. Obsolete = mud turtle n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > turtles or sea-tortoises > that lives in mud

mud tortoise1668

mud turkle1858

1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 28 Testudo Lutaria..the Mud Tortoise.

1841 Boston Jrnl. Nat. Hist. 3 7 Sternothaerus odoratus. The mud Tortoise.

1854 R. Owen Struct. Skeleton & Teeth in Orr's Circle Sci.: Org. Nature I. 213 The soft or mud-tortoises (trionyx and sphargis).

1888 Philos. Trans. 1887 (Royal Soc.) B. 178 22 In most Mud Tortoises (Trionychidæ) they [sc. paired anal pouches] seem likewise to be absent.

mud trout n. Newfoundland the brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Salmoniformes (salmon or trout) > family Salmonidae (salmon) > [noun] > genus Salvelinus > salvelinus fontinalis (brook trout)

mud trout1842

brook trout1869

speckled trout1869

speckle-belly1874

1842 R. H. Bonnycastle Newfoundland in 1842 I. 269 The..salmon trout, and..common trout, with a variety called mud trout, are..plentiful in rivers and ponds.

1916 Dial. Notes 4 332 Mud-trout, the brook-trout.

1969 H. Horwood Newfoundland 224 Newfoundland's only native trout..is the speckled brook trout (known locally..as a ‘mud trout’).

1993 Newfoundland Sportsman Winter 2/2 That three-pound mud trout your son landed last summer.

mud turkle n. U.S. regional = mud turtle n.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > turtles or sea-tortoises > that lives in mud

mud tortoise1668

mud turkle1858

1858 Southern Literary Messenger 26 388/1 All I cood doo I coodin taik no mo ingziety in it then the mud turkils afosed.

1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn viii. 70 And so you ain't had no meat nor bread to eat all this time? Why didn't you get mud-turkles?

1909 Dial. Notes 3 351 Mud-turkle, the mud-turtle: chiefly among the negroes.

1946 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. vi. 21 Mud turkle, a small turtle found in muddy bottoms, in either fresh or salt water. Pamlico. Mainly among Negroes.

mud turtle n. a freshwater turtle that frequently climbs out on to muddy banks; esp. any of several small turtles of the American family Kinosternidae, which have scent glands that produce an unpleasant smell; also figurative.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > suborder Cryptodira > member of family Trionychidae (soft-shell)

mud turtle1756

softshell turtle1804

soft tortoise1821

mud terrapin1829

softshell1830

softback1832

Trionyx1835

potamian1851

1756 P. Collinson Let. 20 Jan. in W. D. Darlington Memorials J. Bartram & H. Marshall (1849) 201 The great Mud Turtle..is really a formidable animal. He bit very fierce at a stick. He had near bit my finger.

1796 Aurora (Philadelphia) 17 May The crocodile throats of the gentle snappers or mud tortles in the Jersey market.

1857 D. H. Strother Virginia Illustr. (1871) i. i. 32 ‘Looks more like he was embalmed,’ cried another. ‘A mummy! or a mud-turtle lying on his back!’

1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age 48 He's in that pilot-house now, showing those mud-turtles how to hunt for easy water.

1915 J. Conrad Victory vii. 135 Fancy a mud-turtle like you trying to pass an opinion on a gentleman!

1990 T. C. Boyle East is East i. 140 He..saw the cooters and mud turtles line up like dominoes on a log beneath him.

mud-turtle-shaped adj. shaped like a mud turtle.

ΚΠ

1871 ‘M. Twain’ Screamers 132 A pickininny, mud-turtle-shaped craft of a schooner.

mud wasp n. (a) U.S. = mud-dauber n. 1; (b) Australian = mason wasp n. at mason n.¹ Compounds 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > the wasps > super family Sphecoidea or family Sphecidae > member of genus Sceliphron (mud-dauber)

mud wasp1824

mud-dauber1856

1824 Old Colony Memorial (Plymouth, Mass.) 6 Mar. A sort of would-be dandy; having the bottom of his waist pinched up to the size of a quart pot, and thus resembling in shape what we call a mud wasp.

1861 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1859–60 4 338 The common black and yellow mud wasp (Pelopæus lunatus) belongs to this group.

1894 Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales 9 29 Abispa splendida... Among our ‘mason or mud wasps’ this takes the palm for being one of the largest and handsomest.

1925 Bulletin (Sydney) 14 May 22/2 In Queensland mud-wasps build everywhere.

1995 Boston Globe (Nexis) 17 Sept. (N. Weekly section) 23 Mud wasps have homesteaded behind and on my shutters.

c. In the names of plants.

mud horsetail n. rare a horsetail that grows in wet mud; †great mud horsetail, great horsetail, E. telmateia (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > ferns > [noun] > horse-tail and allies

padpipe?a1300

paddock-pipec1300

holy-water strinklec1440

shavegrassc1450

shavewortc1450

horsetail1538

shaving-grass1538

cat's tail1552

toad-pipe1578

pewterwort1597

horse-willow1611

prêle1661

shave-weed1691

water horsetail1710

horse-pipe1785

rush1804

shave-rush1821

equisetum1830

pipeweed1837

scouring rush1845

mud horsetail1855

jointweed1879

bottlebrush1883

1855 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. (1861) VI. 297 Great Mud Horsetail.

1945 A. B. Jackson Step's Wayside & Woodland Ferns (new. ed.) 122 The Mud or Smooth Horsetail..is certainly the commonest of the British species.

† mud knotweed n. U.S. Obsolete amphibious bistort, Persicaria amphibia.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Polygonaceae (dock and allies) > [noun] > bistort and allies

adderwortOE

arsesmarta1300

persicarya1400

persicaria?a1450

polygonya1500

buckwheat1548

polygonum1562

passions1568

bistort1578

oysterloit1578

goat's wheat1597

peachwort1597

plumbago1597

redshank1597

snake-weed1597

dragonwort1656

smartweed1787

patience dock1796

red-legs1820

passion dock1828

smartgrass1837

mud knotweed1845

jointweed1866

tear-thumb1866

pinch-weed1883

knotweed1884

sachaline1901

1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Familiar Lect. Bot. (new ed.) App. 145/2 Polygonium amphibium (mud knotweed).

1856 Trans. Michigan Agric. Soc. 7 415 Polygonum amphibium, Linn. Mud knot-weed.

mud purslane n. rare a North American waterwort, Elatine americana.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > aquatic, marsh, and sea-shore plants > [noun] > waterwort

waterwort1762

water pepper1771

mud purslane1845

1845 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. ii. 69 E. americana... Mud Purslane.

1921 Amer. Midland Naturalist 7 57 Elatine triandra Schk. Mud purslane. Mud in dried up ponds.

1957 Amer. Midland Naturalist 58 45 Elatine triandra Schk. (E. americana of western authors, not Arn.).—Mud Purslane. Bottom of shallow pools.

mud rush n. (a) a rush, Juncus gerardii, that grows in salt marshes in north temperate regions; also called saltmarsh rush; (b) any of several clubrushes belonging or formerly belonging to the genus Scirpus.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > sedges

starc1300

carexa1398

float-grassc1440

red sedge1480

sag1531

pry grassa1600

flea-grass1670

star-grass1782

sedge1785

sea sedge1796

sharp-pry-grass1803

blue star grass1807

whip-grass1814

flea-sedge1816

saw-grass1822

mud rush1824

tight-locka1825

nut grass1830

razor grass1834

twig-rush1836

nut rush1843

sand grass1856

mud sedge1859

niggerhead1859

nutsedge1861

pingao1867

sword-rush1875

tupak-grass1884

tussock-sedge1884

sennegrass1897

nigger's-head1921

1824 J. E. Smith Eng. Flora II. 166 J[uncus] cœnosus. Mud Rush.

1855 W. J. Hooker & G. A. W. Arnott Brit. Flora (ed. 7) 493 Isolepis R. Brown. Isolepis. Mud-rush.

1880 T. R. A. Briggs Flora of Plymouth 341 J[uncus] Gerardi, Lois. Mud Rush. Native; in marshes and damp spots about salt water inlets and tidal rivers. Very common.

1899 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 318 The work was done by mud-rushes transporting upwards miscellaneous subterranean débris.

1961 R. W. Butcher New Illustr. Brit. Flora II. 789 Scirpus (Schœnoplectus) triquetrus... The Triangular-stemmed Mud-rush is a stout, glabrous, perennial.

1964 V. J. Chapman Coastal Vegetation iv. 96 The lower Festucetum often contains abundant Armeria, and at higher levels Fiorin (Agrostis stolonifera), Mud rush (Juncus gerardi), Buck's-horn plantain (Plantago coronopus) are common.

mud sedge n. a sedge, Carex limosa, of spongy bogs in north temperate regions.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > sedges

starc1300

carexa1398

float-grassc1440

red sedge1480

sag1531

pry grassa1600

flea-grass1670

star-grass1782

sedge1785

sea sedge1796

sharp-pry-grass1803

blue star grass1807

whip-grass1814

flea-sedge1816

saw-grass1822

mud rush1824

tight-locka1825

nut grass1830

razor grass1834

twig-rush1836

nut rush1843

sand grass1856

mud sedge1859

niggerhead1859

nutsedge1861

pingao1867

sword-rush1875

tupak-grass1884

tussock-sedge1884

sennegrass1897

nigger's-head1921

1859 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. VI. 37 Carex limosa (Mud Sedge).

1917 Bot. Gaz. 55 200 The sedge mat is composed almost entirely of Carex limosa L. (mud sedge).

1995 New Scientist 28 Nov. 13/2 If a bog is disrupted..nutrients begin to run in from dying vegetation... Sensitive species, including long-leaved sundew and mud sedge soon disappear.

mud-weed n. rare (a) mudwort, Limosella aquatica; †(b) lesser marshwort, Apium inundatum (obsolete).

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > aquatic, marsh, and sea-shore plants > [noun] > other aquatic plants

sea-purslane1548

frog-bit1578

heartwort1578

milkwort1578

water dragon1578

water-liverwort1578

water milfoil1578

water radish1578

arrowhead1597

saltwort1597

water archer1597

calla1601

water-rocket1605

sea rocket1611

water archer1617

water chickweed1633

water purslane1633

arsesmart1640

water hyssop1653

water thyme1655

water serpent1659

Myriophyllum1754

least water plantain1756

mud-weed1756

Thalia1756

water-leaf1756

marsh liverwort1760

bastard plantain1762

wool-weed1765

Ruppia1770

goat's foot1773

pipewort1776

blinking chickweed1777

mudwort1789

arrowleaf1805

water-target1814

water willow1814

felwort1816

water shield1817

mermaid weed1822

mud plantain1822

hydrilla1824

blinks1835

crystalwort1846

naiad1846

waterwort1846

arrow weed1848

willow-thorn1857

lattice leaf1866

marsh flower1866

bonnet1869

lattice plant1877

sea-ash1884

alligator weed1887

water parsley1891

water hyacinth1897

lirio1926

neverwet1927

1756 J. Hill Brit. Herbal 84 Mudweed. Plantaginella.

1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 557 Bastard Plantain, or Plantain Mudweed.

1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 762/1 Mudweed, Heliosciadium inundatum.

1936 N. L. Britton & A. Brown Illustr. Flora Northern U.S., Canada, & Brit. Possessions (ed. 2) III. 198 Limosella aquatica L. Mudweed. Mudwort... On muddy shores and in brooks, Labrador and Hudson Bay to the Northwest Territory.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	mud
释义	mudn.¹ Brit. /mʌd/, U.S. /məd/ Forms: Middle English modde, Middle English mode, Middle English moode, Middle English mvd, Middle English mod- (in compounds), Middle English–1600s mudde, Middle English– mud, 1500s moude, 1500s mude, 1500s–1600s mood, 1600s 1700s mudd (U.S.); Scottish pre-1700 mood, pre-1700 mude, pre-1700 mvde, pre-1700 mwd, pre-1700 mwde, pre-1700 mod- (in compounds), pre-1700 moud- (in compounds), pre-1700 moude- (in compounds), pre-1700 mvd- (in compounds), pre-1700 1700s– mud. Origin: Probably a word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: Probably cognate with (unless borrowed from) Middle Dutch modde, Middle Low German modde, mōde, mudde (German regional (Low German) Mudd, Mudde), Middle High German mot (German (regional) Mott, Mutt), all in sense ‘mud, mire’, and Swedish modd slush (compare also Dutch modden (verb) to dirty, dabble in mud, and perhaps also Dutch regional modde slut); compare also ( < an extended form of the same base) Middle Dutch modder, muddere (Dutch modder), Middle Low German modder (German regional (Low German) Modder, Mudder; > Swedish mudder, Danish mudder), early modern German moter, motter (15th cent.; German regional Motter, Mutter), all in sense ‘mud, mire, rotten vegetation’ (early modern German moder (14th cent.; German Moder mould, decay, (regional) mud, mire, is a borrowing from Low German); further etymology uncertain.Apparently attested earlier in place names, as Modegille (1292; now Mudgill Sike, Cumbria) and perhaps Modepitte (1287; now Muddipit, Devon; compare mud pit at Compounds 2a), though this may rather show muddy adj.; perhaps also earlier in surnames: compare Henrico Muddepenyng (1340). It has been suggested that the English word might be a borrowing from Middle Low German or Middle Dutch, rather than the reflex of an unattested Old English cognate of these words, although the evidence for earlier use in names in areas that are far apart geographically perhaps argues against this (see also place names listed s.v. muddy adj.). In sense 9 after Chinese tǔ soil, especially in yáng tǔ opium, lit. ‘foreign soil’, yān tǔ opium, lit. ‘smoke soil’ (compare quot. 1852 at sense 9 and yen n.³). I. Literal uses. 1. a. Soft, moist, glutinous material resulting from the mixing of water with soil, sand, dust, or other earthy matter; mire, sludge. Also: hard material or ground produced by the drying of this; (colloquial) soil. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > mud > [noun] laira1340 fanc1340 mudc1400 slutchc1400 slikec1425 slipc1440 slobber1440 sorec1440 slot?a1500 glar?a1513 slubber1570 slab1622 lute1694 lutulence1727 sletch1743 sleek1774 slakec1800 the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > [noun] > mud loamc725 fenc897 addleOE fanc1340 mudc1400 slutchc1400 slikec1425 slipc1440 slobber1440 sorec1440 sludge1649 mux1746 gutter1785 slakec1800 sposh1836 mudge1848 c1400 (?c1380) Cleanness (1920) 407 (MED) Þenne morkne in þe mudde most ful nede Alle þat spyrakle inspranc. a1450–1509 (?a1300) Richard Coer de Lyon (A-version) (1913) 4388 Some..brouȝten..grete schydes and þe wode And slunge it into þe mode. c1475 in F. J. Furnivall Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 138 (MED) They spared nether mud ne myer, But roden over Inglonde brode and large. a1500 (c1445) J. Lydgate Miracles St. Edmund 264 in C. Horstmann Altengl. Legenden (1881) 2nd Ser. 443 They cam to late, for the chyld was deed—Among the moode the fface lay so lowe. a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) v. vi. 125 His face he schew besmotterit for a bourd, And all his membris in mude and dung bedoif. 1580 T. Tusser Fiue Hundred Pointes Good Husbandrie (new ed.) f. 13^v Though..loftie ships, leaue anker in mud [etc.]. 1615 Bk. Mackay 127 He hard three gentlemen who were in the nixt house and ane wall of mud onlie betwix tham. 1650 in Sussex Archaeol. Coll. (1872) 24 280 The said cottage and stable is built..against the Castle wall of Tymber and Mudd walles. 1697 J. Dryden tr. Virgil Georgics iv, in tr. Virgil Wks. 141 The Sun..darting to the bottom, bak'd the Mud . View more context for this quotation 1716 J. Gay Trivia i. 14 The spatter'd mud Hides all thy Hose behind. 1781 W. Cowper Charity 531 Plung'd in the stream, they lodge upon the mud. 1808 Med. & Physical Jrnl. 19 114 The Ganges has a prodigious quantity of mud at its sides. 1875 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. 16 750/2 The mud was everywhere ankle-deep. 1920 D. H. Lawrence Women in Love x. 128 What she could see was mud, soft, oozy, watery mud, and from its festering chill, water-plants rose up. 1994 L. Erdrich Bingo Palace xviii. 203 In places the dried mud was baked into an even floor of shaley cracks. b. Building. Used in combinations to denote methods of wall construction. mud and stud n. English regional (Lincolnshire) posts and laths filled in with mud, as a building material for the walls of cottages, etc. (also called stud and mud). Similarly mud and log, mud and reed, mud and wattle, etc. Frequently attributive. Cf wattle and daub at daub n. 1a. ΚΠ 1839 W. B. Stonehouse Hist. Isle of Axholme 389 The rectory house was an old fashioned dwelling, with high gables and walls of mud and stud. 1843 F. Marryat Narr. Trav. M. Violet III. i. 1 The miserable twelve-feet-square mud-and-log cabins. 1853 L. Giddings Sketches Campaign N. Mexico 34 On the right bank at that place, is a small collection of mud and reed huts, occupied by Mexican fishermen and herdsmen. 1893 Littell's Living Age 28 Oct. 244 The hive-shaped mud and wattle huts of a colony of fellaheen established here [i.e. in Crete] by Mehemet Ali. 1900 Daily News 18 May 6/2 The mud and reed towns of the negro. 1913 Eng. Rev. Aug. 59 I saw the house, a mud and wattle rancho. 1940 Sci. Monthly Oct. 349/1 The very occasional, windowless, mud-and-log huts..emphasized the primeval silence of these wind-swept mountain tops. 1961 Mod. Lang. Notes 76 775 The frail mud and reed walls of the fishermen's huts. 1975 National Geographic Apr. 500 (caption) Tick-tack-toe of a new apartment complex rises amid mud-and-wattle houses in Zanzibar town. 1994 Guardian 25 June (Weekend Suppl.) 63/3 There are numerous examples of Lincolnshire mud and stud. 1998 E. Danticat Farming of Bones xxii. 130 A mud-and-wattle cooking hut near a wooden fence where the compound met an open dirt road. 2. In plural. Tracts of mud on the margin of a tidal river; mudflats. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > land mass > shore or bank > seashore or coast > [noun] > muddy muds1648 mudflat1795 slake1828 sleech1902 1648 Muzzle for Cerberus 24 May we perhaps bring in for either divided party, either Irish, French, Spaniard, or Pope, or any forreigne Nations,..to catch silver Eeles in our muds. 1755 Pennsylvania Gaz. 4 Sept. 3/2 (advt.) Near half a mile front on said river of flats or muds, which yields extraordinary pasture at all seasons. 1771 Pennsylvania Gaz. 8 Aug. 4/1 (advt.) About one acre and a half of cripple and muds or flats, lying between the bank and the river Delaware. 1883 G. C. Davies Norfolk Broads i. 3 At low water, the muds or flats are dry. 1897 Spectator 23 Oct. 553/2 Herons—which feed on the muds left by the tide. 1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 213 There are still no flounders on the famous Bishop's Muds. 1940 Sun (Baltimore) 23 Apr. 15/6 The army district engineer..is prepared to make a survey of the channel through the ‘muds’ at the mouth of the Pocomoke river. 1956 C. Willock Death at Flight iii. 31 At least a thousand pinkfeet. Gone out on the muds for the night. 1988 E. Wood et al. Sea Life Brit. & Ireland 165 The muds here support communities typical of estuarine conditions. 3. Geology. A mixture of water and finely comminuted particles of rock, sometimes with organic matter also, having a consistency varying from that of a semi-liquid to that of a soft and plastic solid, and usually either deposited from suspension in water or ejected from a volcano. Also as a count noun: a particular mixture of this kind; usually in plural. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > stone > stony material > [noun] > particles mixed with water mud1839 1839 G. A. Mantell Wonders Geol. (ed. 3) II. 563 Some beds..consist of a pure calcareous mud. 1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) 192 Herculaneum was sealed up by a crust of volcanic mud discharged from Vesuvius. 1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 122/1 At some points in the same regions are found green muds and sands, which, as regards their origin..resemble the blue muds. 1939 W. H. Twenhofel Princ. Sedimentation ii. 88 Black muds..have been differentiated into gyttja..and dy if the organic matter was brought to the lakes in colloidal form. 1973 Sci. Amer. July 94/1 Layers of rock salt up to 17,000 feet thick and organic muds have been found under it [sc. the Red Sea]. 1990 C. Pellant Rocks, Minerals & Fossils 47/1 The chalk found over much of western Europe is not unlike the deep sea muds (oozes) of modern oceans. 4. = mud student n. at Compounds 2a. ΚΠ 1906 C. G. Grey Sequel to Story Official Life 9 Some of the men from across Tweed were very kind to us muds. 5. Oil Industry. A liquid (commonly a suspension of clay and other substances in water or oil) that is pumped down the inside and up the outside of the drill pipe during the drilling of an oil or gas well. Also as a count noun: a particular form of this mixture. Also called drilling mud. Cf. mud-laden fluid n., mud fluid n. at Compounds 2a.The liquid has the effect of removing drill cuttings, cooling and lubricating the bit, and preventing the collapse of the sides of the hole and the leakage into it of gas or water from the formations encountered. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > earth > [noun] > mud used in drilling for oil mud-laden fluid1914 mud1922 1901 J. G. McIntosh tr. H. Neuburger & H. Noalhat Technol. Petroleum xxix. 379 It is..by causing a current of water to circulate continually from the surface of the ground to the bottom of the well, and again from the bottom to the surface, that the mud is continually carried away. 1914 Times Fuel No. 104/2 Water and heavy mud forced along the column of the pipe..keep the bit clean and bring the detritus up to the surface.] 1922 D. T. Day Handbk. Petroleum Industry I. 249 A column of pure water exerts a pressure of 43 pounds per square inch for each 100 feet in height but with mud-laden fluid this pressure may be increased to 50 or 55 pounds... This lateral pressure forces the mud into sands and porous structures, stabilizes caving formations and effectively shuts off water, gas or oil. 1938 J. G. Crowther About Petroleum ix. 73 An artificial mud is preferable, as it is more viscous and does not allow the debris to settle. Drilling-mud serves other important functions. 1957 J. H. Van der Have & C. G. Verver Petroleum ii. 59 Three types of drilling fluid are at present in use: water-base muds, emulsion-type muds and oil-base ‘muds’. 1970 W. G. Roberts Quest for Oil iv. 45 A great deal of research continues into the making of suitable muds. 1994 Sci. Amer. May 57/2 The crew pumps drilling mud, usually made from clay and other additives in water, down the drill pipe and out through jet nozzles in the face of the bit. II. Figurative and extended uses. 6. Something regarded as base, worthless, or polluting, or as a cause of frustration, delay, etc.; something liable to perplex or confound. Also: spec. information or allegations regarded as damaging or scandalous (cf. dirt n. 2f), also (more commonly) used in phrases at Phrases 1. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > [noun] > a harmful thing or person > substance mud1563 devil's dust1791 the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > worthless hawc1000 turdc1275 fille1297 dusta1300 lead1303 skitc1330 naught1340 vanityc1340 wrakea1350 rushc1350 dirt1357 fly's wing1377 goose-wing1377 fartc1390 chaff?a1400 nutshella1400 shalec1400 yardc1400 wrack1472 pelfrya1529 trasha1529 dreg1531 trish-trash1542 alchemy1547 beggary?1548 rubbish1548 pelfa1555 chip1556 stark naught1562 paltry?1566 rubbish1566 riff-raff1570 bran1574 baggage1579 nihil1579 trush-trash1582 stubblea1591 tartar1590 garbage1592 bag of winda1599 a cracked or slit groat1600 kitchen stuff1600 tilta1603 nothing?1608 bauble1609 countera1616 a pair of Yorkshire sleeves in a goldsmith's shop1620 buttermilk1630 dross1632 paltrement1641 cattle1643 bagatelle1647 nothingness1652 brimborion1653 stuff1670 flap-dragon1700 mud1706 caput mortuuma1711 snuff1778 twaddle1786 powder-post1790 traffic1828 junk1836 duffer1852 shice1859 punk1869 hogwash1870 cagmag1875 shit1890 tosh1892 tripe1895 dreck1905 schlock1906 cannon fodder1917 shite1928 skunk1929 crut1937 chickenshit1938 crud1943 Mickey Mouse1958 gick1959 garbo1978 turd1978 pants1994 1563 N. Winȝet Certain Tractates (1890) II. 78 Lat the cleir fayth and credulitie of our elders be na mixing of glar or mude be tribulit. 1590 J. Greenwood Answere Giffords Def. 31 In this your papisticall mudde,..your reading of mens writings for prayer, is a false worshipp of God. a1650 T. Adams Serm. Luke xvii. 19 in Wks. (1861–2) II. 199 With an avarous hausture to lick up the mud of corruption. 1706 tr. J. B. Morvan de Bellegarde Refl. upon Ridicule 66 Servile Souls form'd of Mud. 1819 P. B. Shelley Eng. in 1819 in Poet. Wks. (1839) iii. 193 Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow Through public scorn,—mud from a muddy spring. 1840 F. Marryat Poor Jack xxxviii. 281 She flew at me like a tigress; and as I knew that there was no honour and plenty of mud, to be gained by the conflict, I took to my heels. 1934 T. S. Eliot Rock ii. 75 Out of the shiny mud of words..of verbal imprecisions..There spring the perfect order of speech. 1991 S. Faludi Backlash iii. xii. 351 In so many codependency groups, women waded into the quagmires of childhood to ‘rescue’ their little-girl selves—only to sink deeper into the mud. †7. The lowest or worst part of something, the dregs; the lowest stratum. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [noun] > most worstOE worstc1275 muda1586 goldarned1857 a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) iii. ii. sig. Kk3^v Any ordinary person (borne of the mud of the people). 1602 J. Marston Antonios Reuenge v. v. sig. K2^v Scum of the mud of hell. 1637 R. Sanderson Serm. II. 81 The grumbles and mud of their impatience and discontent beginneth to appear. 1760 S. Foote Minor ii. 62 To procure her emersion from the mercantile mud, no consideration wou'd be spar'd. 1856 R. W. Emerson Eng. Traits iv. 57 Defoe said in his wrath, ‘the Englishman was the mud of all races’. †8. colloquial. A fool, a simpleton. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > lack of understanding > stupid, foolish, or inadequate person > foolish person, fool > [noun] dizzyc825 cang?c1225 foolc1225 apec1330 mopc1330 saddle-goosec1346 mis-feelinga1382 foltc1390 mopec1390 fona1400 buffardc1430 fopc1440 joppec1440 fonda1450 fondlinga1450 insipienta1513 plume of feathers1530 bobolynec1540 dizzard1546 Little Witham?1548 nodc1563 dawkin1565 cocknel1566 nigion1570 niddicock1577 nodcock1577 cuckoo1581 Jack with the feather1581 niddipol1582 noddyship?1589 stirkc1590 fonkin1591 Gibraltar1593 fopper1598 noddypeak1598 coxcombry1600 simple1600 gowka1605 nup1607 fooliaminy1608 silly ass1608 dosser-head1612 dor1616 glow-worm1624 liripipea1625 doodle1629 sop1637 spalt1639 fool's head1650 buffle1655 Jack Adams1656 bufflehead1659 nincompoopc1668 bavian1678 nokes1679 foolanea1681 cod1699 hulver-head1699 nigmenog1699 single ten1699 mud1703 dowf1722 foolatum1740 silly billy1749 tommy noddy1774 arsec1785 nincom1800 silly1807 slob1810 omadhaun1818 potwalloper1820 mosy1824 amadan1825 gump1825 gype1825 oonchook1825 prawn1845 suck-egg1851 goosey1852 nowmun1854 pelican1856 poppy-show1860 buggerlugs1861 damfool1881 mudhead1882 yob1886 peanut head1891 haggis bag1892 poop1893 gazob1906 mush1906 wump1908 zob1911 gorm1912 goof1916 goofus1916 gubbins1916 dumb cluck1922 twat1922 B.F.1925 goofer1925 bird brain1926 berk1929 Berkeley1929 Berkeley Hunt1929 ding1929 loogan1929 stupido1929 poop-stick1930 nelly1931 droop1932 diddy1933 slappy1937 goof ball1938 get1940 poon1940 tonk1941 clot1942 yuck1943 possum1945 gobdaw1947 momo1953 nig-nog1953 plonker1955 weenie1956 nong-nong1959 Berkshire Hunt1960 balloon1965 doofus1965 dork1965 nana1965 shit-for-brains1966 schmoll1967 tosspot1967 lunchbox1969 doof1971 tonto1973 dorkus1979 motorhead1979 mouth-breather1979 wally1980 wally brain1981 der-brain1983 langer1983 numpty1985 sotong1988 fanny1995 fannybaws2000 1703 Hell upon Earth 5 Mud, a Fool, or thick skull Fellow. 1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang 122 Mud—a stupid twaddling fellow. 1886 H. Baumann Londinismen 113/2 Mud, Einfaltspinsel. 9. slang. Opium. Also in later use: heroin. ΘΚΠ the world > physical sensation > use of drugs and poison > an intoxicating drug > [noun] > a) narcotic drug(s) > opium poppyOE opiec1385 opiuma1398 afion1542 meconium1601 mud1852 yen she1882 smoke1884 dope1886 hop1887 twang1898 weed1918 gow1922 yen1926 tar1935 gee1936 1852 Harper's Mag. Mar. 569 These ‘special edicts’, especially those touching the expulsion of the ‘smoking mud’, or opium, from the ‘Central Kingdom’ [sc. China]. 1915 G. Bronson-Howard God's Man 355 I was showing the sucker here what would happen if any..guy got it into his head to try an' stop us from landing our black mud. 1924 G. C. Henderson Keys to Crookdom xxiv. 303 Smoking opium, called ‘mud’ by the addicts, cannot be sold legally in the United States. 1951 W. S. Burroughs Let. 20 Dec. (1993) 98 Incidentally I have been off junk for six months... Of course, I take a bang or some mud in coffee now and then. 1974 Publishers Weekly 11 Feb. 60/1 Western efforts to open up trade with China in the early to mid-19th century were largely unscrupulous, inspired by the immense profits to be made from ‘mud’ (opium). 1980 D. Courtwright et al. Addicts who Survived 87 You take your yen-hok and dip down into the mud. 1997 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 6 July 2 Once called ‘smack’ or ‘horse’, its [sc. opium's] street names today include ‘Mexican mud’, ‘black tar’ and ‘Perze’. 10. slang. Coffee, esp. strong or black coffee. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > coffee > [noun] coffee1598 coffee-drink1659 syrup of soot1663 ninny-broth1696 Turkey gruel1705 Java1805 caffè1852 mud1855 Everton toffee1857 go-juice1923 joe1941 decaf1956 1855 H. R. Helper Land of Gold 233 I swallowed my chagrin and a cup of (stewed mud) coffee together. 1875 F. H. Sheppard Love Afloat 209 He..was bearing a cup of ‘Navy mud’, alias coffee. 1925 G. H. Mullin Adventures Scholar Tramp iii. 34 I received punk (bread) and a cup of mud (black coffee). 1945 L. Shelly Hepcats Jive Talk Dict. 15/1 Mud, coffee. 1957 ‘N. Culotta’ They're Weird Mob (1958) ix. 135 Got another cuppa mud, Joe? 1996 M. D. Russell Sparrow xxiii. 259 Sofia would brew some of her awful damn Turkish mud. Phrases (In figurative senses: cf. branch II.). P1. colloquial. a. to sling (also fling, throw) mud: to make disparaging or malicious allegations or criticisms, now esp. in relation to conduct in public life. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > utter slander or calumny [verb (intransitive)] missay?c1225 wrayc1330 malignc1425 slanderc1426 libel1570 deprave1600 calumniate1609 libellizec1620 sycophantize1636 disreport1655 scandalize1745 to sling (also fling, throw) mud1768 calumny1895 foul-mouth1960 1766 B. Franklin Let. 8 Nov. in Papers (1969) XIII. 488 Time will do us Justice. Dirt thrown on a Mud-Wall may stick and incorporate; but it will not long adhere to polish'd Marble.] 1768 E. Lloyd Powers of Pen (ed. 2) 36 To kick and fling the Mud about, Lest People shou'd not find you out. 1780 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Painting (ed. 2) IV. iv. 79 Never did two angry men of their abilities throw mud with less dexterity. 1860 Vanity Fair (N.Y.) 13 Oct. 192/2 Sling mud, and you'll be dirty whether you beat or are beaten. 1880 ‘M. Twain’ Tramp Abroad xx. 187 These people fling mud at that elegant Englishman..and make fun of him. 1884 F. Marryat Under Lilies & Roses vii A woman in my position must expect to have more mud thrown at her than a less important person. 1912 A. Conan Doyle Lost World v. 76 You can only throw mud at the men who have risked their lives to open new fields to science. 1929 Pacific Affairs 2 80 Any Tom, Dick or Harry with..sufficient ability to sling mud at the authorities is forthwith adopted as ‘Our Own Correspondent’. 1959 A. Wesker Chicken Soup with Barley (Author's note), in E. M. Browne New Eng. Dramatists 173 Let no mud be thrown; few people's hands are clean. Just let us think again. 1960 Jrnl. Asian Stud. 19 287 Latter day Japanese Marxist writers have found it useful mud to fling at the wicked capitalists. 1992 Sunday Observer (Sri Lanka) 6 Sept. (New Delhi ed.) (Colour Mag.) 3/2 Ramamurthi said it was unfortunate that a sacred day like August 9 was chosen by the Moopanar faction to sling mud on him and destroy friendly relations with the state government. b. to drag through the mud and variants: to slander or denigrate publicly; to make disparaging or malicious allegations about; to sully the reputation of (a person) or the worth of (a thing). ΚΠ 1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) xxxiii. 289 Colonel Crawley has dragged the name of Crawley through the mud. 1885 Atlantic Monthly Dec. 777/2 He should be very thankful to be able to manage it so easily, instead of being dragged through the mud for everybody to gloat over in London. 1914 J. Joyce Dubliners 148 The working-man is not going to drag the honour of Dublin in the mud to please a German monarch. 1971 S. Howatch Penmarric (1972) iv. i. 370 She was a good, decent, honest person whom my father had dragged through the mud. 1991 Daily Star 24 Dec. 5/1 The Inland Revenue muddled his file with someone who had gone bankrupt... Linda said: ‘Our names have been dragged through the mud.’ c. (the) mud flies and variants: a fight is taking place; (usually figurative, esp. in political contexts) disparaging or malicious allegations are made, antagonism is rife. ΚΠ 1871 R. H. Newell Versatilities 215 The mud it flew, the sky grew dark, And all the litenins lit; But still them critters roll'd about And fit, and fit, and fit! 1975 Economist 4 Oct. 64/1 Maryland; the mud flies... Mr Marvin Mandel, the present governor, is also under investigation by federal attorneys. 1979 Washington Post (Nexis) 11 Feb. (Mag. section) 6 ‘I don't see how she can continue in the position.’..‘She should resign.’ The mud flew back and forth all week. 1991 Guardian 1 Nov. 2/6 Mud began to fly yesterday in the Hemsworth byelection, belying predictions of a tedious charade in a rock-solid Labour seat. d. mud sticks: see stick v.¹ Phrases 6. P2. colloquial and slang. a. (as) clear as mud: †(a) used as an intensifier (cf. Phrases 2b) (obsolete); (b) not clear at all; completely unintelligible. ΘΚΠ the mind > mental capacity > intelligibility > unintelligibility > depth, obscurity > offering nothing intelligible [phrase] to have neither head nor foot (also feet)1567 (as) clear as mud1805 top or tail- 1805 G. Colman John Bull ii. ii. 28 Don't be bothering my brains, then, or you'll get it as clear as mud. 1809 A. B. Lindsley Love & Friendship 8 You'd beet dady's old leaden hoss all holler; darn my skin, 'f you wouldn't dewe it clear as mud. 1817 J. K. Paulding Lett. from South II. 34 As clear as mud,—as we used to say of Doctor ——'s metaphysics. 1842 R. H. Barham Merchant of Venice in Ingoldsby Legends 2nd Ser. 57 The words are ‘A pound of flesh’,—that's clear as mud. 1919 P. G. Wodehouse My Man Jeeves 213 ‘It seems a little obscure at present, sir, but no doubt it becomes clearer at a later point in the communication.’ ‘It becomes clear as mud!’ 1960 B. Kops Dream of Peter Mann 36 Alex: No matter how high you jump you always return to earth. Never lose sight of it, or you might come down with a bump. Is that quite clear? Peter: Clear as mud. 1990 Marxism Today June 7/2 What this really means, of course, is still as clear as mud. b. as mud: as an intensifier in the sense ‘very, thoroughly’; cf. (as) clear as mud at Phrases 2a, as muck at muck n.¹ Phrases 1. Now chiefly in sick as mud: extremely depressed, exasperated, or furious; cf. sick as muck at muck n.¹ Phrases 1. ΚΠ 1789 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Glocestershire II. 227 I have seen three-year-old heifers of this breed—to use a familiar phrase—‘as fat as mud’: much fatter than any heifers of that age, I have seen, of any other breed. 1825 in Jrnl. Amer. Folklore (1963) 76 279 Hee'l git as rich as mud if keeps on. 1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Mill on Floss I. ii. ii. 298 Pivart was as ‘thick as mud’ with Wakem. 1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 10 I shall die as sure as mud. 1935 M. de la Roche Young Renny xviii. 152 She hates the thought of his staying on as much as we do. She's as sick as mud about it. 1954 P. G. Wodehouse Jeeves & Feudal Spirit viii. 72 He's as sick as mud about it. He moons broodingly to and fro, looking like Hamlet. 1990 W. Stewart Right Church Wrong Pew (1991) xi. 82 He said his brother and sister were sick as mud when the rich aunt pegged out and left all her money to him. P3. colloquial. [Compare sense 8.] one's name is mud (also Mud): one is discredited, in disgrace, or temporarily unpopular. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > be discredited [verb (intransitive)] one's name is mud (also Mud)1823 to lose face1834 1823 ‘J. Bee’ Slang 122 Mud, a stupid twaddling fellow. ‘And his name is mud!’ ejaculated upon the conclusion of a silly oration, or of a leader in the Courier. 1887 Lantern (New Orleans) 16 Apr. 2/1 Zeller wants to be Recorder..but his name is mud. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands viii. 92 D'yeh mean to tell me how Hoggy's let you loose agin after you gettin' glorious in his dry-goods, 'n' makin' his name mud all up 'n' down ther town? 1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke (new ed.) 13 I'm crook; me name is Mud; I've done me dash. 1973 W. M. Duncan Big Timer vii. 51 Riordan his name is and so far as I'm concerned from now on it's Mud. 1993 M. Atwood Robber Bride xiv. 89 If you forget their birthdays your name is mud. P4. to stick in the mud: see stick v.¹ Phrases 4a. P5. slang. (here's) mud in your eye: ‘Here's to you!’ ‘Good health!’ ‘Cheers!’ Used as an informal salutation before drinking. Also here's mud. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking salutations [interjection] rivoa1593 my service to you1637 tope1651 three times three1683 hob or nob1756 bottoms up!1858 chin chin1888 here's hoping, how, looking (at you), luck1896 down the hatch1918 cheerio1919 cheero1919 (here's) mud in your eye1927 cheers1930 lechayim1932 salut1933 salud1938 the world > food and drink > drink > drinking > drinking salutations [interjection] > in drinking healths have towardsc1400 here's to1597 skol1600 tope1651 hob or nob1756 slainte1824 here's hoping, how, looking (at you), luck1888 santé1903 prosit1916 here's to the skin off your nose1925 (here's) mud in your eye1927 lechayim1932 1927 H. V. Morton In Search of Eng. iii. 60 ‘Here's mud in your eye!’ said one of the modern pilgrims, tossing down his martini. 1949 P. G. Wodehouse Mating Season xxiii. 198 ‘Skin off your nose, Jeeves.’ ‘Mud in your eye, sir, if I may use the expression.’ 1952 C. Brossard Who walk in Darkness 100 ‘Here's mud,’ he said. We drank. 1956 J. Symons Paper Chase x. 73 Here's mud in your eye, Eileen. 1995 I. Banks Whit xvi. 267 ‘Thanks,’ I said, accepting my refilled glass. ‘Cheers.’ ‘Mud in your eye.’ P6. Australian. up to mud: as bad as ever; good for nothing; not up to much. ΚΠ 1931 G. C. Bolton Fine Country to starve In (1972) 157 We meet by chance in the street. ‘Hullo! How's things?’ ‘Up to mud’! 1933 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Nov. 42/2 Still, men today are mostly up to mud. 1965 J. O'Grady Aussie Eng. 60 Anything ‘up to mud’ is ‘not up to much.’ It's no good. It's buggered. P7. U.S. slang. to hold one's mud (esp. among African Americans): to refrain from defecating; (hence) to keep one's composure or resolve (frequently while under interrogation); to show courage or endurance. ΚΠ 1966 in Trans-action (1967) 4 8 Providing that he can ‘hold his mud’, keep cool, and out of trouble. 1977 M. Torres in R. P. Rettig et al. Manny ii. 64/1 I can't hold my mud and so I have to perch on the shitter like a bare-assed bird on a telephone wire. 1980 Easyriders May 48/2 Try to hold your mud and hang in there. 1991 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 18 Jan. a3 It's a terrible, terrible time... I just hope Israel can hold their mud now. 1999 L.A. Weekly 16 July (News section) 23 Her man was testing her, seeing if she was loyal and would hold her mud. Compounds C1. a. General attributive. mud bottom n. ΚΠ 1850 W. Colton Deck & Port 399 You are only halfway, and there your scow sticks fast in the midst of a great mud bottom, from which the last ripple of water has retreated. 1860 Q. Jrnl. Geol. Soc. Nov. 458 in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 150 (1860) 583 We have..met with only the minute forms [sc. of Foraminifera] of a 700-fathoms mud-bottom. 1925 Amer. Midland Naturalist 9 335 Gravel-bottom develops a more swollen, strongly sculptured form, while mud-bottom has a less swollen and less sculptured form. 1992 R. MacNeil Burden of Desire i. 7 It was big enough to accommodate the whole British navy,..with a mud bottom that would hold any anchor in a blow. mud cabin n. ΚΠ 1780 A. Young Tour Ireland (Dublin ed.) I. 102 This town appears exceedingly flourishing..yet 40 years ago..there were nothing but mud cabbins in it. 1829 J. MacTaggart Three Years in Canada II. 243 It is a singular fact..with the Irish, that if they can get a mud-cabin, they will never think of building one of wood. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. xii. [Cyclops] 316 Their mudcabins and their shielings by the roadside were laid low by the batteringram. 1991 A. Nikiforuk Fourth Horseman vii. 121 Typhus flourished best during cold weather when lousy peasants rarely washed and huddled together in mud cabins for warmth. mud colour n. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective] > greyish brown mud-coloured1772 smoke-brown1807 mud colour1818 lead-brown1897 nutmeg1965 1818 Lady Morgan Let. 26 Aug. in Passages from Autobiogr. (1859) 29 A colour I have supplied her with (not from the rainbow), dun-ducketty mud colour. 1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 420 It is better than all white, or dunduckety mud-colour paint. 1990 E. Blair Maggie Jordan 38 As far as the eye could see, the water was a dirty mud colour. mud floor n. ΚΠ 1794 W. Godwin Caleb Williams II. xiv. 267 I chanced to observe a nail trodden into the mud floor at no great distance from me. 1843 G. Borrow Bible in Spain I. ii. 35 A little side room with a mud floor. 1960 A. Koestler Lotus & Robot i. i. 28 It had brought..a mud-floor of starved refugees, increased poverty, land hunger, and the threat of civil war. 2001 Scotsman (Nexis) 21 Feb. 13 Thousands of families at Herat face sub-zero temperatures in shelters with mud floors. mud fort n. ΚΠ 1809 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. I. ii. iv. 103 The thriving state of the settlement..gradually awakened the leaders from a profound lethargy, into which they had fallen, after having built their mud fort. 1844 W. H. Sleeman Rambles & Recoll. Indian Official II. xvii. 232 A young Jât chief..resides in a mud fort. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 24 Jan. 19/3 What had been lost at Waterloo and Sedan could be won back by whumping mud forts in the Sahel. 2000 Topeka Capital Jrnl. (Nexis) 16 Aug. The mud forts they were building may not have been as impressive as the larger ones once used to defend the city in its infancy, when pro-slavers from Missouri threatened the free-state community. mud-heap n. ΚΠ 1655 I. Walton Compl. Angler (ed. 2) xiii. 265 The Eele may..be found..in the River Thames, and in many mud heaps in other Rivers. 1814 C. F. Lawler Royalty Fog-bound 14 Again along the streets he rattled; Again the dusky vapour battled; Pass'd the mud heap, devoid of fear. 1871 C. Kingsley At Last II. x. 53 His bare feet plashing from log to log and mud-heap to mud-heap. 1990 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 8 Aug. 56/2 Just add water..from Sydney's recent deluge, and there is—instant mudheap. mud-house n. ΚΠ 1548 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1844) I. 260 He has..distroyit iiij mwd houissis in my cloise and fald. 1776 T. Pennant Tour in Scotl. 1772 II. 119 The extensive corn-lands, with the mud-houses, dabbed on the outside with cow dung. 1856 C. J. Lever Martins of Cro' Martin 126 He built a mud-house. 1997 A. Sivanandan When Memory Dies iv. 44 When he emerged from the wood, she was gone, but before him lay the mudhouses of the nalava settlement. mud-hovel n. ΚΠ 1790 tr. Mdm. de Cambon Young Grandison I. xliv. 209 It matters not whether it be in a palace, or a mud hovel. 1827 S. B. H. Judah Buccaneers I. i. i. 33 By degrees the black mud hovel and the rough log hut disappeared, and the brown and glazed tile, and the small yellow brick..took their place. 1921 D. H. Lawrence Tortoises 33 And so behold him following the tail Of that mud-hovel of his slowly-rambling spouse. 1992 T. Hughes Rain Charm for Duchy 20 And Swallow, weaned on midges in a mud-hovel, Now the sun's own navigator. mud hut n. ΚΠ 1759 A. Brice Grand Gazetteer 738/2 Joppa... There was hardly a tolerable House standing, or any Thing but the old Castle,..with a few pitiful Mud Huts. 1803 J. Davis Trav. U.S.A. 3 I have entered with equal interest the mud-hut of the negro, and the log-house of the planter. 1941 L. Hellman Watch on Rhine iii. 166 In every town..and every mud hut in the world, there is always a man who..will fight to make a good world. 2013 B. A. Bergner Poetics of Stage Space xiv. 145 There is no way to plan the construction of a mud hut... You just grab some mud and start making. mud-pool n. ΚΠ 1790 J. Wolcot Benevolent Epist. to Sylvanus Urban in Wks. (1816) II. 90 How kind! how humble! thus the god of day Deigns to a mudpool to impart his ray! 1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipel. I. xvii. 407 An old mud-pool dried up and hardened. 1990 Birder's World Aug. 12/2 We..spent the hours..rambling from one bird haunt to another, past flocks of lofty Sandhill Cranes and mudpools alive with Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks. mud puddle n. ΚΠ 1793 R. Alsop et al. Echo (1807) 97 Along the streets no verdant weeds appear'd, No blades of grass the geese and goslings cheer'd, No brook, nor pond, mud-puddle, slough, nor pool. 1833 S. Smith Life & Writings Major Jack Downing viii. 60 She'd jest done washing the floor; and I declare, it looked as grey as if she'd got the water out of a mud puddle. 1912 R. Kipling Songs from Bks. (1913) 76 As a frog shows in a mud-puddle. 1990 S. Daniels Beside Herself 2 Let sleeping mud puddles lie. mud-shoal n. ΚΠ 1835 Amer. State Papers: Mil. Affairs V. 658 The obstructions in the harbor consisting of oyster beds and mud shoals. 1955 W. Empson Coll. Poems (1984) 29 Mud shoals, a new alluvium, dabbled water, Shallow, and specked with thistles. 2000 Sierra (Nexis) 1 May 47 Two great blue herons..lift from their mud-shoal perch as we approach. mud spring n. ΚΠ 1837 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 22 93 Openings..which contain..only muddy water (mud springs). 1856 D. Page Adv. Text-bk. Geol. iii. 34 Sulphurous mud-springs are quite common in volcanic districts. 1901 E. F. Pittman Mineral Resources New S. Wales 466 An account of the Artesian basin would be incomplete without a reference to the peculiar occurrences known as Mud Springs. 1992 S. Winchester Pacific 38 The hot mud springs of Rotorua. b. Instrumental. mud-bespattered adj. ΚΠ 1794 P. Freneau Village Merchant 8 One ask'd what luck had happ'd him on the road, And one ungeer'd the mud-bespatter'd team. 1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. vii. 60/2 Every window of your Feeling, even of your Intellect, as it were, begrimed and mud-bespattered. 1904 J. Rhoades Little Flowers St. Francis of Assisi 42 Soaked thus with rain, and frozen with the cold, And mud-bespattered and with hunger spent. 1995 Time Internat. 5 June 16 The game of rugby has graduated from mud-bespattered schoolboy melees into something of a global gladiatorial spectacle. mud-built adj. ΚΠ 1740 J. Thomson & D. Mallet Alfred i. ii That mud-built cottage is thy sovereign's palace. 1866 Sydney Punch 17 Nov. 203/2 We'll leave the mud-built city far behind us And dwell beneath the eucalyptic shade. 1988 New Scientist 10 Mar. 63/1 The mosque at Djenné is the largest mudbuilt structure in the world. 2000 Independent (Nexis) 19 Oct. In flood-hit areas houses of the poor were mud-built and hence more vulnerable to rushing flood-water. mud-caked adj. ΚΠ 1838 C. Gilman Recoll. Southern Matron 137 When he..described my mud-caked face.., even Marion's gravity was conquered. 1912 W. Deeping Sincerity xxxix. 281 Grassless fields, mud-caked ponds, and empty wells. 1993 Guardian 9 Oct. (Weekend Suppl.) 47/2 Each mud-caked fortress, with tiny fissures for windows, was home to an extended family spread over five or six floors. mud-chinked adj. ΚΠ 1858 Harper's Mag. Jan. 176/2 Whether their dwelling is the brown-stone palace..or the mud-chinked cottage. 1904 W. Churchill Crossing ii. iii. 281 Their feeble rays reënforcing the firelight and revealing the mud-chinked walls. 1946 W. Faulkner Portable Faulkner App. 737 Jefferson Mississippi was one long rambling onestorey mudchinked log building housing the Chickasaw Agent and his tradingpost store. mud-choked adj. ΚΠ 1853 Harper's Mag. Nov. 751/1 Vessels of large size..turn aside from the mud-choked mouths of the Mississippi. 1922 J. Joyce Ulysses ii. vi. [Hades] 96 Past beds of reeds, over slime, mudchoked bottles, carrion dogs. 1993 C. Wallace-Crabbe Rungs of Time 38 We'll be struggling through an Annual General Meeting like a mud-choked pond. mud-covered adj. ΚΠ 1834 A. Pike Prose Sketches & Poems 168 There is the public square, surrounded with blocks of mud buildings, with porticos in front, roughly pillared, and mud-covered. 1892 N.Y. Daily Tribune 3 July 14/5 His clothes were wet and mud-covered. 1990 E. Blair Maggie Jordan ii. 37 She next came upon the mud-covered carcass of a sheep, and another of a Friesian cow. † mud-exhausted adj. Obsolete poetic ΚΠ 1622 M. Drayton 2nd Pt. Poly-olbion xxvii. 135 The mud-exhausted Meres. mud-feeding adj. ΚΠ 1926 J. S. Huxley Ess. Pop. Sci. xvii. 209 The endostyle degenerates together with the rest of the mud-feeding apparatus. 1964 Oceanogr. & Marine Biol. 2 122 Mud-feeding animals play a significant part in re-working the sediment even on the floor of the abyssal parts of the ocean. 1990 Ecol. Monographs 60 355/2 A small number of Curimata argentea (mud-feeding curimatid)..were collected in the extreme downstream segment of Caño Volcán. mud-greasy adj. ΚΠ 1921 D. H. Lawrence Sea & Sardinia ii. 44 Badly paved, mud-greasy..road. mud-layered adj. ΚΠ 1930 E. Blunden Poems 145 Mud-layered cobble-stones. mud-moulded adj. poetic ΚΠ 1906 T. Hardy Dynasts: Pt. 2nd v. viii. 246 We are the only phantoms now abroad On this mud-moulded ball! mud-plastered adj. ΚΠ 1843 J. J. Jarves Scenes Sandwich Islands i. 23 A flag-staff—a stone wall—some natural embrasures in the lava rock, a fire-proof straw-built and mud-plastered powder magazine. 1869 ‘M. Twain’ Innocents Abroad xlv. 468 A Syrian village is a hive of huts..as square as a dry-goods box; it is mud-plastered all over. 1991 G. Seymour Condition Black iii. 75 He had walked, disshevelled [sic] and mud-plastered, out into the square. mud-shot adj. ΚΠ 1858 R. S. Surtees Ask Mamma 9 He helped her down the perilous mud-shot iron steps of the old Independent. mud-spattered adj. ΚΠ 1845 E. Cook Poems 2nd Ser. 98 Close-tilted waggons and mud-spattered carts Set down a rare cargo of happy young hearts. 1919 Outing Mar. 295/1 Presently there emerged from under the mud spattered car an amiable middle aged Vermonter. 1996 C. Bateman Of Wee Sweetie Mice & Men vi. 49 He wore a green bomber jacket, black jeans, mud-spattered red DM boots and a scowl. mud-splashed adj. ΚΠ 1857 A. Smith City Poems 97 I sit in this familiar room, Where mud-splashed hunting squires resort. 1859 All Year Round 30 Apr. 24/1 Lines of buff-coloured, mud-splashed, square-topped houses. a1992 L. Colwin More Home Cooking (1993) xi. 65 Mud-splashed Wellies are hardly the proper attire for formal dining. mud-splattered adj. ΚΠ 1853 M. B. Howitt Poet. Wks. 353 Close-tilted wagons and mud-splattered carts Set down a rare cargo of happy young hearts. 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel i. 5 Mudsplattered trouserlegs. 1993 C. T. Rowan Dream Makers, Dream Breakers i. 9 He saw a tall, crayon-brown farmer in mud-splattered overalls. mud-stained adj. ΚΠ 1838 H. W. Herbert Hist. Novel i. iv. 74 The laggards of the chase came straggling in, with mud-stained garb and jaded horses. 1845 R. S. Surtees Hillingdon Hall II. xxiv. 145 His rough-coated, mud-stained team. a1922 H. Lawson in Penguin Bk. Austral. Ballads (1964) 144 And mud-stained, wet, and weary, He goes by rock and tree. 1996 Independent 19 Jan. 5/1 Amid the..white rastas and mud-stained tree huggers, Jeannine, Lady Barber,..cuts a curious figure. c. Parasynthetic. mud-bottomed adj. ΚΠ 1823 J. McHenry Wilderness I. xiv. 194 Into the mud-bottomed pit he plunged. 1908 T. Hardy Dynasts: Pt. 3rd vii. iii. 297 Where there is a mud-bottomed stream, the Lasne. 1949 C. Longfield Dragonflies Brit. Isles (ed. 2) 132 It inhabits, in England, slow-running, mud-bottomed streams. 2000 Tampa (Florida) Tribune 26 Nov. 3 The fish are likely to look for any warmer areas they can find, and this often moves them into mud-bottomed sloughs in the afternoons. mud-coloured adj. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > colour > named colours > brown or brownness > [adjective] > greyish brown mud-coloured1772 smoke-brown1807 mud colour1818 lead-brown1897 nutmeg1965 1772 G. A. Stevens Songs Comic & Satyrical 47 Oh! my Jack, cries the mud-coloured she, And gave him some rib squeezing hugs. 1838 J. Pardoe River & Desart I. 110 A sort of mud-coloured cotton. 1982 A. Barr & P. York Official Sloane Ranger Handbk. 44/1 Mud-coloured worsted, cut slim, with mole-coloured velvet collar (optional). 2000 Independent 16 Dec. 47 It's about as exciting as mud-coloured Plasticine—only much more expensive. mud-floored adj. ΚΠ 1828 A. M. Porter Coming Out in J. Porter & A. M. Porter Coming Out & Field of Forty Footsteps I. 47 A mud-floored cabin. 1853 A. R. Wallace Narr. Trav. Amazon xiii. 373 A small mud-floored, leaky-roofed room. 1951 A. Koestler Age of Longing i. vi. 108 All men did that who had..met in mud-floored rooms before the Great Change. 1996 New Scientist 24 Feb. 35/1 Cattle released from their mud-floored pens could succumb to other serious tick-borne diseases. mud-heaped adj. ΚΠ 1900 Overland Monthly 35 82 The mud-heaped wheels..had been sunken in the ground to their hubs nearly all the way. 1935 W. Empson Poems 26 Empty, mudheaped, through which the alluvial scheme Flows temporary as the modern world. mud-roofed adj. ΚΠ 1834 A. Pike Prose Sketches & Poems 137 The little village, resembling an oriental town, with its low, square, mud-roofed houses. 1843 F. Sale Jrnl. Disasters Afghanistan 37 The houses are all flat-roofed and mud-roofed. 1901 R. Kipling Kim iii. 63 A mud-walled, mud-roofed hamlet. 1992 G. Pape Storm Pattern 3 The man and the woman Could see a mud-roofed hogan With the top half of the east-facing Door open. d. Locative (chiefly poetic and literary). mud-couched adj. ΚΠ 1936 W. Faulkner Absalom, Absalom! ii. 44 It was that same Akers who had blundered onto the mudcouched negro five years ago. † mud-lost adj. Obsolete ΚΠ 1834 S. T. Coleridge Poet. Wks. I. i. 22 While they their mud-lost sandals hunt. mud-mattressed adj. ΚΠ 1960 S. Plath Colossus 48 Mud-mattressed under the sign of the hag In a clench of blood, the sleep-talking virgin Gibbets..the moon's man. mud-stuck adj. ΚΠ 1908 T. Hardy Dynasts: Pt. 3rd vii. iv. 299 His horse got mud-stuck in a new-ploughed plot. 1997 A. R. Ammons Glare 57 There is no mud-stuck elephant slashing his trunk about. e. Objective. mud-loving adj. ΚΠ a1856 H. Miller Pop. Geol. (1860) 276 Judging from the character of those gray carbonaceous deposits in which the Graptolites..abound, it is probable that they were also mud-loving animals. 1990 Sea Frontiers Dec. 55/1 As the algal mat develops and continues to bind the sediment, the area becomes stable enough for mud-loving organisms..to move in. f. Similative. mud-black adj. ΚΠ 1890 Overland Monthly 15 481 Enoch distended the lids of his own eyes until a yellow penumbra showed clear around the mud-black iris. 1929 D. H. Lawrence Pansies 28 I feel the drum-winds of his wings and the drip of his cold, webbed feet, mud-black brush over my face as he goes. 1951 P. Matthiessen in Harper's Mag. Feb. 58/1 His skin was the mud black of the coastal Negro. 1999 Palm Beach (Florida) Post (Nexis) 28 Feb. She has gone from creating canvasses that were almost mud-black with paint to ones that revel in light, colour and humor. mud-brown adj. ΚΠ 1856 H. Mayhew Great World London 128 Convicts, clad in their suits of mud-brown cloth. 1932 H. Priest Call of Bush 48 It is a most unappetising creature to find on the end of your line, having a scaleless, mud-brown skin. 1989 Independent 25 Nov. 41/5 She pours coffee from a mud-brown pot. mud-grey adj. ΚΠ 1879 Scribner's Monthly Mar. 713/1 What the Mexicans call El Desierto, which is not to be understood as a region of shifting sand and mud-gray mountains, like the deserts of the Bedawee. 1923 D. H. Lawrence Birds, Beasts & Flowers (N.Y. ed.) 136 You meet a huge and mud-grey elephant. 1991 P. Grescoe Flesh Wound iv. 34 Simone's mud-grey apartment building is a remnant of the old city. C2. a. mud balance n. Oil Industry a balance designed for measuring the density of drilling mud. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > oil and natural gas recovery equipment > [noun] > equipment for use with drilling mud mud pumpc1857 slush pit1931 mud hog1932 shale shaker1959 mud balance1960 1960 C. Gatlin Petroleum Engin. vi. 70/2 The density of drilling muds is normally measured with a mud balance. 2000 World Tunnelling (Nexis) 1 Mar. 95 A sudden drop in viscosity can cause problems. Use a Marsh funnel and mud balance to identify the problem. mud barge n. a barge for transporting dredged mud; = mudboat n. 1. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > flat-bottomed boat > [noun] > barge > mud- or hopper-barge mudboata1691 hopper-barge1759 mud-scow1766 mud barge1861 mudlighter1909 1861 Littell's Living Age 12 Jan. 125/1 And drops, the mud-barge, down the tide Where the immortal galleys float. 1906 E. Dyson Fact'ry 'Ands xviii. 242 Ther toad-stools..was growin'..like mussels on er mudbarge. 1926 W. Runciman Collier Brigs 77 They..took in chalk ballast from the wharves, and occasionally from mud-barges when they could not get a ready turn at the wharves. 2001 Advocate (Baton Rouge) (Nexis) 1 Feb. b3 Richard owned Magnolia Service Contractors, and was building two mud barges for MI drilling. † mud bigging n. Scottish Obsolete rare a building made out of mud. ΚΠ 1588 in D. Masson Reg. Privy Council Scotl. (1882) 1st Ser. IV. 288 The said complenaris foirsaid house.., being laich mud bigging. mud board n. a flat board laid over muddy ground to facilitate walking on it; a duckboard; (also) = mud-patten n. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boards fastened to foot > [noun] glib-board1682 mud-patten1791 mud board1824 backstay1830 splasher1859 backster1867 mud-splasher1880 1824 P. Hawker Instr. Young Sportsmen (ed. 3) 334 (Plate) Thin oak Mudboards 16 inches square. 1842 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 364 What would avail Lieutenant Colonel Hawker's accuracy of aim, his punt, his mud-boards..in comparison with those amphibious bipeds? 1995 Mother Earth News Dec. 104 My most vivid memories of Reserve are of snake-infested swamps and sugar fields and mud boards that were supposed to be sidewalks. mud boot n. a kind of tall boot worn as a protection from mud. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boot > [noun] > heavy or strong > jack-boot > types of waterboot1477 ankle-jack1800 quarter-jack1809 mud boot1824 1824 Ann. Reg. 1823 (Otridge ed.) iii. Patents 316/2 Improvements in constructing gambadoes, or mud boots. 1825 T. Carlyle Let.* 4 Mar. in Coll. Lett. T. & J. W. Carlyle (1970) III. 293 I have bought me a pair of monstrous buckskin mud-boots (spatterdashes that cover the whole shoe and extend midway up the thigh). 1985 New Yorker 21 Jan. 75/2 She puts on her old duffel coat and a pair of mud boots. 1994 Toronto Star 25 June (Metro ed.) k2/4 Goldberger moves, even in clunky mud boots, with a grace and efficiency that betray her earlier life as a dancer. mudboy n. Oil Industry colloquial a person responsible for the quality of drilling mud; a mud engineer. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > worker in oil industry > [noun] > who prepares or examines mud mudboy1958 mud engineer1970 mud-logger1972 1958 Times 15 May 14/6 The quality of the mud during drilling operations [for oil] is, therefore, very important, and the mudboy, who is responsible for preparing it, is quite a skilled workman. mud-brick n. a brick made of (usually unfired) mud; such bricks collectively; frequently attributive. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > earth > [noun] > mud-brick adobe1748 mud-brick1810 dobe1838 1810 Z. M. Pike Acct. Exped. Sources Mississippi App. ii. 7 Houses would be built entirely of mud-brick (like those in New Spain). 1885 R. F. Burton tr. Arabian Nights' Entertainm. I. vii. 71 She came..to a reed fence built about a round-roofed hut of mud-bricks. 1903 Speaker 5 Sept. 527/2 The old town being built of mud-brick had vanished. 1963 M. Laurence Tomorrow-tamer 227 Then she was gone, shutting quietly behind her the packing-case door of the mudbrick shanty. 1991 A. Hourani Hist. Arab Peoples ii. vi. 105 Grandparents, parents and children living together in village houses made of stone, mud-brick or whatever material was locally available. mud chute n. a slide or chute of mud; also figurative. ΚΠ 1938 H. G. Wells Apropos of Dolores iv. 211 It is the most awful gabble—but it is nothing more than the inevitable end of this mud-chute called ‘history’. 1994 Dallas Morning News (Nexis) 7 Aug. 1 f I remember clearly people playing in the mud... There were these mud chutes, and people would run and slide. mud clerk n. U.S. an assistant to the purser on a river steamer. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > management of money > [noun] > one who has charge of or manages money > on a ship nipcheese1785 mud clerk1872 1872 E. Eggleston End of World xxvi. 171 It was natural enough that the ‘mud-clerk’ on the old steamboat Iatan should have taken a fancy to the ‘striker’, as the engineer's apprentice was called. 1912 I. S. Cobb Back Home 103 Even her two mud clerks, let alone her captain and her pilots, wore uniforms. 2000 Arkansas Democrat-Gaz. (Nexis) 19 May e8 The steamboat's boilers exploded, killing the pilot and Henry, who was serving as mud clerk. mud cone n. a cone formed by the accumulation of hardened mud round the vent of a mud volcano. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > land > landscape > high land > volcano > [noun] > cone or peak pike1555 puy1827 cone1830 hornito1830 monticule1830 cinder-cone1849 parasitic cone1863 mud cone1868 piton1886 driblet cone1888 sommac1910 shield1937 1868 Atlantic Monthly Oct. 412/1 Half a mile northward from these mud cones there is a group of petroleum springs. 1995 Marine Geophysical Res. 17 115/1 Mud volcanoes, mud cones, and mud ridges have been identified on..the crestal area..of the Mediterranean Ridge. mud-crack n. a crack formed in drying mud as a result of shrinkage. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > structural features > discontinuity or unconformity > [noun] > fissure or crack clinta1400 shake1747 grike1781 sun crack1831 mud-crack1853 shrinkage crack1867 1853 Catal. Cabinet Nat. Hist. State of N.Y. 36 Medina sandstone..(with mud cracks). Oswego village. 1863 J. D. Dana Man. Geol. 94 Rill-marks, mud-cracks, and rain-drop impressions. 1917 Jrnl. Geol. (Chicago) 25 135 (heading) Some factors affecting the development of mud-cracks. 1993 E. N. K. Clarkson Invertebr. Palaeontol. & Evol. (ed. 3) iii. 59/1 The fossils came from a shallow marine to littoral sequence..; the occasional emergence of shoals is shown by polygonal mudcracks at certain horizons. mud drum n. a cylindrical chamber attached to a boiler where solid impurities in the water supplied are removed and collected. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > equipment > machine > machines which impart power > boiler > [noun] > parts of > other parts saddle1688 float1753 fire door1765 mudhole1824 stay-bolt1839 water table1856 hydrostat1858 mud drum1864 vomit1880 hydrokineter1883 retarder1890 1864 Sci. Amer. 21 May 321/2 In connection with a steam boiler explosion..the witness exhibited a piece of iron from the exploded mud drum. 1893 Science 22 Dec. 338/1 This improvement consists in the use of a double decked boiler with a mud drum below. 1924 F. J. Drover Coal & Oil Fired Boilers ii. v. 143 For from 1,000 to 10,000 sq. ft. of heating surface the standard Stirling boiler consists of three steam drums and two mud drums. mud engineer n. Oil Industry a person responsible for the quality and supply of drilling mud. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > worker in oil industry > [noun] > who prepares or examines mud mudboy1958 mud engineer1970 mud-logger1972 1970 W. G. Roberts Quest for Oil iv. 46 The mud engineer and geologist will be examining the mud all the time to find out what sort of rock is being bored. 1996 L. Erdrich Tales of Burning Love 3 He was no more than temporary, a mud engineer due for a transfer. mud fence n. a wall made of dried mud, or mud-bricks; now frequently (North American) in as homely (also ugly) as a mud fence. ΚΠ 1839 Columbian Reg. (New Haven, Connecticut) 19 Feb. 4/3 There is a man down the street as ugly as a mud fence in a thunder storm. 1844 J. Gregg Commerce of Prairies I. 150 Mud fences, or walls of very large adobes, are also occasionally to be met with. 1931 C. Wells Horror House xi. 180 The type of beauty commonly ascribed to a mud fence. 1965 J. F. West Time Was 34 Ugly as a mud fence daubed with chinquapins. 1989 G. Vanderhaeghe Homesick xvii. 225 They found it very off-putting, virgins and widows alike, the tithing and the glass eye—not to mention the man is as homely as a mud fence. mud-flinger n. [after to fling mud s.v. Phrases 1a] = mud-slinger n. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > [noun] > one who slanders missayer1340 slandererc1340 jurorc1380 third tonguea1382 defamerc1425 malignerc1425 disclanderer1447 praterc1500 evil-sayer1530 ill sayera1533 infamera1533 belier1541 sycophant1548 calumniatorc1550 disgracer1570 infamator1571 depraver1584 calumnier1586 libeller1589 infamizer1593 maldisant1598 oblocutor1603 traducer1603 villainizer1605 vilifier1611 calumner1614 scandallerc1620 scandalizer1632 blackmouth1642 deflowerer1645 famer1646 defamator1658 reflector1681 reflecter1686 asperser1702 bedirtera1742 libellist1794 mud-flinger1839 denigrator1875 mud-slinger1876 tar-brusher1884 libellant- 1839 W. M. Thackeray Let. 1–2 Dec. in Lett. A. T. Ritchie (1924) i. 8 Very curious the abuse is of that character. Old Southey is one of the chief mudflingers. 1989 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 31 Jan. a7 Three months ago he was a gutter-fighting mud-flinger, a candidate who was permanently sullying his reputation. 2001 Buffalo (N.Y.) News (Nexis) 13 Feb. c1 It's good mental exercise to defend the Clintons against all current mud-flingers. mud-flinging n. = mud-slinging n. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > [noun] teleeOE folk-leasinga1000 tolec1000 wrayingc1000 missaw?c1225 slanderc1290 disclanderc1300 famationc1325 noisec1325 skander1338 missaying1340 misspeecha1375 slanderingc1380 biting1382 defaminga1400 filtha1400 missaya1400 obloquya1438 oblocution?a1439 juroryc1440 defamationa1450 defamea1450 forspeaking1483 depravinga1500 defamya1513 injury?1518 depravation1526 maledictiona1530 abusion?1530 blasphemation1533 infamation1533 insectationa1535 calumning1541 calumniation?1549 abuse1559 calumnying1563 calumny1564 belying?1565 illingc1575 scandalizing1575 misparlance?1577 blot1587 libelling1587 scandal1596 traducement1597 injurying1604 deprave1610 vilifying1611 noisec1613 disfame1620 sycophancy1622 aspersion1633 disreport1640 medisance1648 bollocking1653 vilification1653 sugillation1654 blasphemya1656 traduction1656 calumniating1660 blaspheming1677 aspersing1702 blowing1710 infamizing1827 malignation1836 mud-slinging1858 mud-throwing1864 denigration1868 mud-flinging1876 dénigrement1883 malignment1885 injurious falsehood1907 mud-sling1919 bad-mouthing1939 bad mouth1947 trash-talking1974 1876 N. Amer. Rev. Oct. 432 Unhappily, mud-flinging is to a very large class of mankind one of the more enjoyable features of every canvass. 1958 New Statesman 22 Feb. 220/2 This latest torrent of mud-flinging was, of course, set off by the letter..from Mr A. H. Milward, Chief Executive of British European Airways. a1963 C. S. Lewis Discarded Image (1964) iv. 80 This towering vaunt, this philosophic panache which goes beyond mere indifference to mud-flinging and actually courts it, is of Cynic origin. 2001 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 4 Mar. b1 Unhappy with the unexpected mud-flinging and the tangling with city politics, Zing officials..wanted out of the expensive lease. mud fluid n. Oil Industry = sense 5. ΚΠ 1914 A. G. Heggem & J. A. Pollard Drilling Wells in Oklahoma by Mud-Laden Fluid Method (U.S. Bureau of Mines Techn. Paper No. 68) 23 The mud fluid was then bailed from the inside of the casing and drilling continued. 1946 Mod. Petroleum Technol. (Inst. Petroleum) 88 When drilling through porous sands it is often necessary to prepare a mud fluid..which leaves on the walls of the well a thin and impervious sheath which seals the pores. 1998 Oil & Gas Jrnl. (Nexis) 21 Dec. 93 Mud fluid filtration and system cleaning are critical for reducing damage. mud flush n. Oil Industry a flow of drilling mud. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > drilling for oil or gas > [noun] > flow of drilling mud mud flush1946 1946 Mod. Petroleum Technol. (Inst. Petroleum) 86 There are two main systems employed in drilling oil-wells: (1) the rotary or mud-flush system, and (2) the cable-tool or percussion system. 1990 Mining Mag. (Nexis) Mar. 180 The methods for cuttings removal from the hole have improved with increased circulation rates, larger drill pipes and the almost universal use of reverse circulation mud flush. † mud-grappler n. Obsolete slang a fist; esp. one's fist. ΚΠ 1844 ‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. II. 207 I wish to goodness my mud-grappler had been cut off close up to the wrist, afore it hit you that way. mud hoe n. an implement for scraping mud off roads, consisting of a wide blade with a straight edge at the end of a long handle. ΚΠ 1853 H. Stephens Farmer's Guide 470 Immediately after a rainy day,..the men should each take a mud hoe or harle,..and rake the loose straws and liquid mud on all the roads around the steading. mud horse n. British regional a wooden sledge used by shrimpers in the Bristol Channel to transport their catch across mudflats to the shore. ΚΠ 1892 Littell's Living Age 9 Jan. 120/1 The fisherman comes from his poles at low water mounted on his strange mud horse, or mud sleigh. 1985 Vogue July 143/1 The last of a unique species of fisherman pushes his ‘mud-horse’ over the flats at low tide to the shrimping nets. 1989 Daily Tel. 3 Jan. 12/7 A descendant of the medieval pioneers of mud horse fishing claimed yesterday that the ancient way of life was in danger of being lost to the nuclear age. mud-laden fluid n. Oil Industry = sense 5. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > earth > [noun] > mud used in drilling for oil mud-laden fluid1914 mud1922 1914 J. A. Pollard & A. G. Heggem Mud-laden Fluid Applied to Well Drilling (U.S. Bureau of Mines Techn. Paper No. 66) 7 In this paper the term ‘mud-laden fluid’ is applied to a mixture of water with any clay which will remain suspended in water for a considerable time. 1946 Mod. Petroleum Technol. 88 The circuit of this mud-laden fluid..begins at the slush-pumps. 1989 Limnol. & Oceanogr. 34 935/2 The height to which the mud-laden fluid rose in the top layer appeared to increase. mud lava n. volcanic mud. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > ejected volcanic material > [noun] > mud mud lava1804 moya1830 lahar1929 1804 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 28 Showers of rain..were magnified into mud-lavas. 1879 Encycl. Brit. X. 250/1 ‘Mud-lavas’, on account of their liquidity and swiftness of motion, are..dreaded for their destructiveness. 1953 Caribbean Q. 3 ii. 80 Components which the mud ‘lava’ has picked up from the underlying rocks. 1998 Times (Nexis) 27 Mar. Lice were infecting Herculaneum on the day in 79 AD that Vesuvius erupted and buried the city and its population under ash and steaming mud lava. mudlighter n. [ < mud n.¹ + lighter n.¹] = mud barge n. ΘΚΠ society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel of specific construction or shape > flat-bottomed boat > [noun] > barge > mud- or hopper-barge mudboata1691 hopper-barge1759 mud-scow1766 mud barge1861 mudlighter1909 1909 Cent. Dict. Suppl. Mud-lighter, an open flat-bottomed boat which receives the contents of the iron scoop or shovel operated by a mud-digger. 1915 W. B. Yeats Reveries (1916) 78 He..had nothing to do but work himself into a rage if he saw a mudlighter mismanaged. mud-logger n. Oil Industry an engineer who monitors drilling by mud logging. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > worker in oil industry > [noun] > who prepares or examines mud mudboy1958 mud engineer1970 mud-logger1972 1972 L. M. Harris Introd. Deepwater Floating Drilling Operations iii. 25 Services: mud loggers, transportation, divers, roustabout labor. 1986 Financial Times 4 Oct. 5/6 Site foremen or mudloggers (engineers who monitor the progress of drilling operations) would pay between £10 and £30 excess. mud logging n. Oil Industry examination of the drilling mud coming out of a borehole for signs of oil or gas or other indications of the strata being drilled. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > drilling for oil or gas > [noun] > other procedures jar1865 run1880 round trip1900 shooting1914 swabbing1921 underreaming1922 acidization1934 squeeze cementing1938 mud logging1960 re-entry1961 stab1972 upending1976 1960 C. Gatlin Petroleum Engin. xi. 199/1 Continuous mud logging is..an excellent exploratory tool. 1989 Sunday Tel. 10 Dec. (Appointments) p. x/3 Immediate vacancies exist for experienced mudlogging geologists. 1999 Oil & Gas Interests (Electronic ed.) 13 Dec. Directional drilling, MWD and LWD services, mud logging and survey services are included in the deal. mud lump n. U.S. a mound or cone of mud or silt formed in a river delta, esp. that of the Mississippi. ΚΠ 1853 De Bow's Rev. July 78 The ‘mud lumps’ of which we hear so much, are found generally..at the outer edge of the bars, and in water as deep as five fathoms. 1944 H. T. Kane Deep Delta Country 132 The ‘mud lumps’ of the Mississippi are a phenomenon without counterpart. 1987 New Yorker 23 Feb. 56/3 The mouth was defended by a mud-lump blockade—impenetrable masses of sediment dumped by the river as it reached the still waters of the Gulf. mud map n. Australian a sketch map giving directions, spec. one outlined on the ground. ΚΠ 1879 Queenslander 11 Jan. 43/1 Now comes in the keystone to the mutual understanding between blacks and whites—the mud-map. I..give the cue ‘Bindeaca Goondi’, by drawing a circle to represent our camp. 1919 E. S. Sorenson Chips & Splinters 14 An obscure little place that isn't marked on any map excepting always the mud maps that Phineas draws on the road with a stick when directing some unfortunate wanderer to the awful place. 1956 T. Ronan Moleskin Midas iii. 171 I want a fresh horse and some tucker and a mud map for getting to town without hitting too many roads. 1982 J. A. Sharwood Vocab. Austral. Dried Vine Fruits Industry 34 A mud map or a sand map is no longer just a diagram sketched roughly in the soil but may be a more elaborate illustration produced on paper within an office. 2000 Canberra Times (Nexis) 13 Dec. a4 Guests were handed mud maps to negotiate the tables that were set up in the gallery's outdoor garden. mud mask n. a mask made of or daubed with mud; (also) = mud-pack n.; a paste of mud applied to the face for a purpose other than cosmetic. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > [noun] > preparations for the skin or complexion > face packs face mask1754 mud mask1854 face pack1916 mud-pack1922 mask1928 pack1934 1854 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross xxxii. 249 ‘More dirt the less hurt!’ is a pleasant piece o' consolation for a friend with a mud mask. 1928 Daily Express 16 June 3/4 I suggested that I should like a mud-mask. The assistant appeared to be alarmed. 1993 Q. Wilder One Shining Summer (BNC) Mandy was still awake, reading a book in bed by the light of her kerosene bedside lamp. A green mud-mask was smeared on her face. 1995 Denver Post 30 Apr. t3/1 We visited Asaro, home of the legendary mudmen who once daubed their bodies with gray clay and wore mud masks over their heads to create ghostly apparitions that terrified their enemies. mud-mask v. rare (transitive) to treat with a mud-mask. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > beautify (the skin or complexion) [verb (transitive)] > use a face pack mud-mask1928 1928 Daily Express 22 Dec. 3/5 Faces have been massaged and mud-masked. mud-masked adj. treated with a mud-mask or having a face covered in mud. ΚΠ 1985 Christian Sci. Monitor (Nexis) 24 May 12 (caption) Mud-masked Dinka tribesmen in southern Sudan. 2000 Kiplinger's Personal Finance Apr. 30/1 There was a time when the mud-masked man was a bit of a lone ranger. But now men under 35 are shedding their inhibitions like dead skin cells to buy lotions and face scrubs. mud-patten n. a board attached to a person's boot or shoe to facilitate walking on muddy ground. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boards fastened to foot > [noun] glib-board1682 mud-patten1791 mud board1824 backstay1830 splasher1859 backster1867 mud-splasher1880 1791 W. Gilpin Remarks Forest Scenery II. 193 Mud-pattens are flat pieces of board, which the fowler ties to his feet that he may not sink in the mud. 1863 Fraser's Mag. Feb. 146/2 The safest way is to assault on foot with mud-pattens. 1941 Jrnl. Animal Ecol. 10 309 These arms of the river dry out almost completely at low tide and leave flats of very soft and deep grey mud which cannot be crossed on foot without mud-pattens. mud-pipes n. gum boots; thick boots for use in muddy conditions (cf. pipe n.¹ 16). ΚΠ 1848 Sinks of London laid Open 116/1 Mud pipes, thick boots. 1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 52/1 Mud Pipes, Knee Caps, and Trotter Cases, built very low. 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 199 Mud-pipes,..bottes imperméables. 1984 P. Beale Partridge's Dict. Slang (ed. 8) 763/1 Mud-pipes, thick boots: from earlyish C.19. mud pit n. a pit containing mud; (Oil Industry) a pit which holds drilling mud. ΚΠ 1856 Harper's Mag. May 732/2 ‘The mine, then, is still in ruins?’ ‘Yes, a mere mud pit.’ 1896 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 25 202 If his wife is with child, he will not enter the mud pits. 1961 J. E. Brantly Hist. Petroleum Engin. vi. 421 (caption) Rig Layout and Mud Pits, Gulf coast, 1953. 1979 Forbes (Nexis) 14 May 24 What penalty do I suffer..if Ferdinand the Bull breaches the fence and drowns in the mud pit? 1991 Offshore Engineer Sept. 68/3 The equipment..is relatively tiny..with a 200 barrel holding tank and regular mud pit agitators. mud plunger n. a person employed to stir sediment in the manufacture of bleach (see quot. 1892). ΚΠ 1892 Labour Comm. Gloss. Mud plungers, men in the chemical industry engaged at bleach plant in stirring up the sediment from manganese and acid to extract the gas. mud pot n. chiefly U.S. a pool of bubbling mud. ΚΠ 1872 Prelim. Rep. U.S. Geol. Surv. Montana 107 A short distance south of the Fountain Geyser is one of the most remarkable mud-pots in the Fire-Hole Valley. 1943 N. Marsh Colour Scheme ix. 147 Alongside the path a mudpot no bigger than a saucepan worked industriously. 1989 Chicago Tribune 5 Feb. xii. 3/1 Mud pots that gurgle and perk and let off more steam. mudproof adj. impervious to mud. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > [adjective] > stopping up or blocking > without leak or tight > specific watertight1489 wind-tight1507 wind and water tighta1550 weatherproof1647 weather-tight1648 wind-fast1648 airtight1728 steam-tight1765 waterproofed1813 gas-tight1819 acid-proof1844 gas-proof1846 oil-tight1847 mudproof1897 pressure-tight1899 draught-proof1908 weather-stripped1908 spill-proof1920 vacuum-tight1927 splash-proof1929 vapour-proof1946 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. No. 104. 255/1 Extra Superfine, strictly rain and mud proof French serge. 1990 Birds Mag. Summer 71 (advt.) Nitrogen gas filled, waterproof, mudproof, sandproof and rubber armoured, [binoculars] are perfect for all-weather, outdoor use. mud pup n. Canadian slang a young Englishman sent to western Canada to learn farming; a student of agriculture. ΚΠ 1955 Maclean's 2 Apr. 80/2 When the war [of 1914–18] started the Mud Pups joined up to the last man and the bachelor population of Duncan vanished overnight. 1957 R. Barratt Coronets & Buckskin xviii. 164 Mudpups were unwanted younger sons whose parents gave a premium to have them taught farming. 1994 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 28 Jan. a15 For a modest fee of $60 a month, errant sons of the gentry would be sent to learn farming... We called these boys the Mud Pups. Then the war came..and..the Mud Pups all left to volunteer. † mud-quake n. Obsolete an earthquake occurring in muddy or marshy terrain.Apparently an isolated use for humorous effect. ΚΠ 1760 H. Walpole Let. to H. Mann 3 Feb. The Dutch..have lately had a mud-quake, and giving themselves terra-firma airs, call it an earthquake! mud room n. North American a small vestibule, spec. one in which wet or muddy footwear may be left as one enters a house. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > a building > parts of building > room > types of room by situation > [noun] > entrance-hall or vestibule fore-entry1535 hall1663 entrance hall1677 side entry1680 tambour1728 vestibule1730 entryway1746 entry hall1753 oeil-de-boeuf1785 voorhuis1822 voorkamer1827 atrium1864 hallway1877 wind-porch1899 mud room1950 1950 A. E. Burke et al. Archit. & Building Trades Dict. 212/1 Mud room, in building, a small room or entranceway where members of the family remove their muddy overshoes or rubbers before going into any of the other rooms. 1964 Calgary (Alberta) Herald 13 Feb. 16/5 One of the most common places of theft occurrences in the school is in the mud room. 1970 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 25 Sept. 36/4 (advt.) Necessary additions as family room with indoor barbecue,..laundry and mud room..have been architecturally added. 1995 D. Francis Come to Grief iv. 58 We passed a gun-room, flower-room and mud-room (ranks of green wellies). mud runner n. U.S. = mudder n.¹ ΚΠ 1905 Evening Sun (N.Y.) 17 Aug. All the races..were won by the product of stallions that in their day were famous mud runners. 2001 Calgary (Alberta) Herald (Nexis) 8 Feb. d6 He didn't want too much sun because Pole Position was a noted mud runner. mud rush n. = mudslide n.; also figurative. ΚΠ 1903 Science 17 698 The ‘mud-rushes’ [sc. in diamond mines] are the most serious liability. 2001 H. Wagner in P. Särkkä & P. Eloranta Rock Mechanics p. xxvii/1 In the mud rush which was initiated by the pillar failure one miner was trapped in a refuge chamber. mud-scatter n. poetic a splash of mud. ΚΠ 1919 J. Masefield Reynard the Fox 78 Mud-scatters chased him as he scudded. mud-scraper n. an implement for removing mud; spec. = scraper n. 5. ΚΠ 1788 W. Marshall Provincialisms E. Yorks. in Rural Econ. Yorks. II. 323 Cowl-rake, a mud scraper. 1885 J. Magruder Across Chasm ii. 26 ‘The mud-scraper’, she wrote her mother, in her first letter home, ‘is a thing of beauty, and the coal-scuttle a joy forever.’ 1937 J. P. Marquand Late George Apley iv. 29 At no time in the history of the world have such material changes occurred as those in John Apley's life span... Let us sum it up in a single homely detail... Let us start..with the mud-scrapers on the houses of Beacon Hill. 1997 Stuart (Florida) News (Nexis) 23 Mar. g10 Years ago we heard from a reader who recycled plastic grocery bags by braiding them into area rugs, which she then put next to the kitchen sink and used as ‘mudscrapers’ outside her entryway. mud season n. originally and chiefly U.S. a time of year when the ground is particularly muddy; spec. = mud time n. ΚΠ 1851 R. Waddington tr. F. M. von Bodenstedt Morning-land II. iii. 57 The proper mud season commences when the night-frosts and snow-storms have quite ceased. 1942 Los Angeles Times 8 Apr. 3/8 (headline) Jap Army faces rains in Burma. Mud season beginning May 14 will trap foe. 2002 High Country News 18 Mar. 2/2 The day the streets start looking squeaky clean in mud season, we'll know it's time to move on to that next last haven from the suburbanizing world. † mud-shine n. Obsolete the reflection of light on muddy stones.Apparently only in the writings of Leigh Hunt. ΚΠ 1828 L. Hunt in Companion 6 Feb. 43 The lamp-light shining in the gutters; ‘mud-shine’, as an artist of our acquaintance used to call it, with a gusto of reprobation. 1850 L. Hunt Autobiogr. I. vi. 247 A roar of hoarse voices round the door, and mud-shine on the pavement. mud show n. slang (now archaic) an exhibition, carnival, performance, etc., held in the open air. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > type of show or spectacle > [noun] > in open air mud show1909 1909 J. R. Ware Passing Eng. Victorian Era 178/2 Mud show, an agricultural, or other out-door show. 1943 J. Mitchell McSorley's Wonderful Saloon 88 She started out with a tramp circus or ‘mud show’, whose rickety, louse-infested wagons were pulled by oxen. 1997 B. Morrow Giovanni's Gift iii. 203 They might go to the county-fair mudshow, ride the transient, rickety carousel trucked in one week along with the convoy of other circus machinery. mud showman n. a person who participates in a mud show. ΘΚΠ society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > a public show or spectacle > [noun] > show-people > showman exhibitera1616 exhibitor1654 showman1728 traveller1762 slang cove1789 exhibitioner1791 sideshowman1858 mud showman1927 1927 K. Nicholson Barker 150 Mud showman, a carnival man. mud side n. a muddy bank, shore, etc. ΚΠ 1923 G. B. Shaw Let. 5 Apr. in To a Young Actress (1960) 42 I am here at the mudside (the Bristol channel can hardly be called sea) to recuperate. 1998 G. Stern This Time 96 It is a poem I am able to write after..watching them [sc. ducks] slip down the mud sides and float into the current. mud-splasher n. (a) = mud-patten n.; (b) a mudguard or mudflap; esp. one used on a bicycle. ΘΚΠ the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > footwear > shoe or boot > boards fastened to foot > [noun] glib-board1682 mud-patten1791 mud board1824 backstay1830 splasher1859 backster1867 mud-splasher1880 1880 S. Baring-Gould Mehalah II. viii. 145 What do you mean coming to a house of worship in mud-splashers? 1891 Cent. Mag. June 260/1 Here's a splendid pair of brand-new boots..made for your mud-splashers alone. 1975 S. Heaney New Sel. Poems (1990) 85 His bicycle stood at the window-sill, The rubber cowl of a mud-splasher Skirting the front mudguard. mud stick n. a pole for punting in muddy rivers, having a forked or widened tip. ΚΠ 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl Shooting 142 Now, you see this mud-stick or setting pole..[Note] Pole with a forked or widened end to prevent its sinking in mud. 1931 Amer. Mercury Jan. 50/1 We both carried ‘mud sticks’ to be rammed down and held by the upper ends while we raked off the heavy accumulations. mudstone n. Geology any sedimentary rock derived from clay or silt; esp. one lacking the laminations of shale. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > rock > sedimentary rock > [noun] > other argillaceous tough-stonea1641 waxen vein1681 mudstone1736 marlstone1766 marlite1794 pelite1879 lutite1904 1736 R. Ainsworth Thes. Linguæ Latinæ A mud stone, Saxum limosum. 1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 50 In some places they are called clunch and mudstone. 1876 A. H. Green Geol. for Students: Physical Geol. ii. §6. 72 Mudstone is a convenient name for clayey rocks that have the appearance of partially hardened masses of sandy mud. 1957 H. S. Zim & P. R. Shaffer Rocks & Minerals 124 Shales or mudstones are mainly clays which have hardened into rock. 1991 New Civil Engineers 3 Oct. 25/2 Each beacon is founded on a 1.6m diameter steel pile which was inserted into a hole bored through sandstone and mercia mudstone. mud student n. colloquial a student of agriculture. ΚΠ 1845 R. S. Surtees Hillingdon Hall III. xxxii. 22 Have what they call mud students... Some of the great farmers i' the north have them, and they pay well whether they larn ought or not. 1856 Notes & Queries 6 Sept. 198/1 With whom a young friend of mine was ‘a mud student’, that is, was a farming pupil. 1904 M. Cradock Sport in N.Z. 149 At the homestead when we had fossicked out a bit of mutton..I found a confounded ‘jackaroo’ (Anglicé ‘mud student’) who had only arrived from the Old Country today, ‘dossed’ down on my bed. 1995 Scotsman (Nexis) 19 June 28 A spell as a ‘mud student’ at Seale Hayne [Agricultural College], Devon. mud tank n. (a) a pit or tank containing mud; (Oil Industry) a portable metal tank used to hold drilling fluid; (b) an earth dam. ΚΠ 1884 Littell's Living Age 25 Oct. 240/1 Not less comforting is the evening bath by moonlight in the mud-tank, which by daylight looks so very unattractive. 1898 Bulletin (Sydney) 1 Jan. 3/2 The weak are falling back; Closely guarded by the mud-tank just abreast the western wing. 1939 M. Franklin & D. Cusack Pioneers on Parade 7 Her face was..criss-crossed with lines like a mud tank in drought. 1992 B. Davenport Horizontal & Vertical Drilling vi. 57 In hard rock areas, a small spud unit drills a spud hole into the ground..and a Flow line is welded to the conductor and run to the mud tanks. mud-throwing n. (literal) the throwing of mud; (usually) (figurative) = mud-slinging n. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > disrepute > damage to reputation > slander or calumny > [noun] teleeOE folk-leasinga1000 tolec1000 wrayingc1000 missaw?c1225 slanderc1290 disclanderc1300 famationc1325 noisec1325 skander1338 missaying1340 misspeecha1375 slanderingc1380 biting1382 defaminga1400 filtha1400 missaya1400 obloquya1438 oblocution?a1439 juroryc1440 defamationa1450 defamea1450 forspeaking1483 depravinga1500 defamya1513 injury?1518 depravation1526 maledictiona1530 abusion?1530 blasphemation1533 infamation1533 insectationa1535 calumning1541 calumniation?1549 abuse1559 calumnying1563 calumny1564 belying?1565 illingc1575 scandalizing1575 misparlance?1577 blot1587 libelling1587 scandal1596 traducement1597 injurying1604 deprave1610 vilifying1611 noisec1613 disfame1620 sycophancy1622 aspersion1633 disreport1640 medisance1648 bollocking1653 vilification1653 sugillation1654 blasphemya1656 traduction1656 calumniating1660 blaspheming1677 aspersing1702 blowing1710 infamizing1827 malignation1836 mud-slinging1858 mud-throwing1864 denigration1868 mud-flinging1876 dénigrement1883 malignment1885 injurious falsehood1907 mud-sling1919 bad-mouthing1939 bad mouth1947 trash-talking1974 1864 O. W. Holmes Our Progressive Independence 507/2 In the interval between the cudgel-stroke of Johnson and the mud-throwing of Carlyle, America had grown strong. 1873 Appletons' Jrnl. 19 July 79/3 This mud-throwing on a gigantic scale alarmed the Almighty, who feared the whole universe would be torn to pieces. 1895 Thistleton's Illustr. Jolly Giant 29 Aug. 98/3 It is one of those dirty, mud-throwing affairs that no respectable person cares about taking part in. 1988 Seahorse Sept.–Oct. 27/3 The resulting mud throwing between race officials and the police with threats of prosecution and counter libel action is an unsightly distraction from the sport. mud time n. U.S. regional (north-eastern) the period in early spring before the ground is completely thawed, when the ground is particularly muddy. ΚΠ 1867 F. G. Johnson Nicolson Pavement 28 The cobble is much like a country road frozen stone hard in mud-time, on which country people think it quite dangerous to drive faster than a walk. 1902 Portsmouth (New Hampsh.) Herald 22 Mar. As soon as spring opens the people trot out their old shoes and have them patched up to wear through mud time. 1994 P. R. Craig Off Season (1996) i. 1 In mud time she exchanged her skirts and sandals for rubber boots and oversized jeans. mud-trap n. any device for straining or screening mud. ΚΠ 1970 Motoring Which? July 93/2 Both cars had areas which may well give trouble in a couple of years' time—mud traps around the headlamp cowls of the 3-litre, [etc.]. 1994 Canal & Riverboat Feb. 59/4 On the raw-water type there will probably be a filter and mud-trap in the water inlet pipe. † mud valve n. Obsolete a valve at the bottom of a boiler through which sediment is removed. ΚΠ 1860 Sci. Amer. 26 May 352/1 The lower parts of the shafts..may be provided with mud valves for blowing off the deposite [sic] as it accumulates. 1878 Manufacturer & Builder June 124 (caption) The sediment is allowed to accumulate until it rises to a level with the outlet, then mud valves, suitably arranged in the bottom of the tanks, are opened and the sediment washed out. mud wagon n. North American (now historical) a type of carriage, less elaborate and comfortable than a stagecoach, and usually of lighter construction; cf. mud-cart n. 2. ΚΠ 1835 C. J. Latrobe Rambler in N. Amer. II. 259 We had to put up with an open ‘mud-waggon’, with spring seats. 1872 ‘M. Twain’ Roughing It vii. 60 We had to change our stage (for a less sumptuous affair, called a ‘mud-wagon’). 1955 W. Foster-Harris Old West vi. 173 A mud wagon..was either a lighter, smaller, simpler version of the big Concord stage, or, more often, a wagonette. 1993 Western Horseman Apr. 38/2 The mudwagon was a kind of low-class stagecoach and hardly an example of the traditional stage. mudwing n. a mudguard, a mudflap. ΘΚΠ society > travel > means of travel > a conveyance > vehicle > vehicles according to means of motion > vehicle moving on wheels > [noun] > parts of vehicle moving on wheels > mudguard wing1783 mudguard1850 splashguard1917 mudwing1927 1927 Daily Express 9 Sept. 11/3 All the six 1928 models are of improved appearance, with..mudwings which not only look better, but also keep off the mud more efficiently. 1959 Times 27 Apr. (Rubber Industry Suppl.) p. vi/1 On many goods and passenger vehicles rubber mud-wings are used. 1988 Pract. Motorist Mar. 4/3 The one shown here..isn't..difficult to fit..so long as you can follow American terminology such as..‘fender’ (mudwing). 1998 Transport News Aug. 69/2 (advt.) Distributors for:—Borg & Beck..Featherwing Mudwing & anti-spray accessories. b. In the names of animals. mud bass n. U.S. (a) = mud sunfish n. a; (b) the largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides; (c) the warmouth, Lepomis gulosus; cf. mud sunfish n. b. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > family Centrarchidae (sun-fish) > [noun] > member of genus Pomotis sunfish1685 sun perch1804 sunny1835 mud bass1884 sun1896 1884 G. B. Goode in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 405 The Mud Bass..is found only in the coastwise streams of the lowlands from New Jersey to North Carolina. 1909 Webster's New Internat. Dict. Eng. Lang. Mud bass, the large-mouthed black bass. 1949 L. S. Caine N. Amer. Fresh Water Sport Fish ii. 47 The warmouth is commonly called ‘mud bass’ because it prefers lakes and streams with mud bottoms. 1983 G. C. Becker Fishes Wisonsin 817 Warmouth... Other common names..mud bass. † mud-borer n. Obsolete rare a small marine burrowing shrimp, Upogebia stellata (infraorder Thalassinidea), which lives in long deep burrows excavated in sand or mud. ΚΠ 1850 A. White Crustacea in List Specimens Brit. Mus. IV. 33 Gebia stellata. Mud-borer. † mud-burrower n. Obsolete rare a marine burrowing shrimp, Callianassa subterranea (infraorder Thalassinidea), which lives in long deep burrows excavated in sand or mud. ΚΠ 1850 A. White Crustacea in List Specimens Brit. Mus. IV. 32 Callianassa subterranea. Mud-burrower. mud catfish n. U.S. a mudcat, esp. the brown bullhead, Ictalurus nebulosus. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Scorpaeniformes (scorpion-fish) > [noun] > family Cottidae (sculpins) > member of genus Cottus (bull-head) sea-dragon1551 gull-head1611 sculpin1672 bullhead1674 mud catfish1818 sea-toad1884 1818 Amer. Monthly Mag. & Crit. Rev. 3 354 Silurus punctatus... Mud Cat-fish. 1842 J. E. De Kay Zool. N.-Y. iv. 187 The Mud Catfish..[is] recognized by the scarified and clouded appearance of its skin. 1870 Amer. Naturalist 4 386 [The] Mud cat-fish (Amiurus DeKayi) [is found in the Delaware near Trenton, New Jersey.]. 1964 H. T. Walden Familiar Freshwater Fishes Amer. xiv. 201 The flathead catfish has acquired several local names, such as mud catfish, goujon, shovelhead, and yellow cat. mud coot n. U.S. (now rare) the American coot, Fulica americana. ΚΠ 1890 Cent. Dict. Mud-coot, the common American coot, Fulica americana. 1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. I. 214 Coot. Fulica americana... [Also called] Pond Hen; Mud Coot; Ivory-billed Coot. mud crab n. (a) a crab of the brachyuran genus Panopeus; (b) a large edible swimming crab, Scylla serrata, of Indo-Pacific mangrove swamps (also called mangrove crab). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Brachyura (crab) > member of genus Panopaeus (mud crab) mud crab1713 1713 J. Petiver Aquatilium Animalium Amboinæ 1 Squilla Lutaria Rum... Mud-Crab. 1884 R. Rathbun in G. B. Goode et al. Fisheries U.S.: Sect. I 772 The Mud Crabs—Panopeus Herbstii [etc.]. 1966 T. C. Roughley Fish & Fisheries Austral. (ed. 7) 127 Mud or Mangrove crab... This large crab has a powerful pair of nippers which can easily crush a finger carelessly placed. 1994 New Scientist 21 May 7/1 Thailand, for example, is the world's largest producer of barramundi, a coastal fish, and mud crab, both natives of Australia. mud dab n. chiefly U.S. (a) the winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus; (b) any of several righteye flounders of the genus Limanda; esp. the yellowfin sole, L. aspera, of the northern Pacific. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superorder Acanthopterygii (spiny fins) > order Perciformes (perches) > order Pleuronectiformes (flat-fish) > [noun] > family Pleuronectidae > pseudopleuronectes americanus (winter flounder) winter flounder1814 mud dab1873 niggerfish1876 1873 T. Gill Catal. Fishes East Coast N. Amer. 16 Pseudopleuronectes americanus... Common flounder; winter-flounder; mud dab. 1898 Bull. U.S. National Mus. No. 27. 2644 Limanda... Mud Dabs. 1960 List Common & Sci. Names Fishes U.S. & Canada (Amer. Fisheries Soc. Special Publ. No. 2) (ed. 2) Index to Common Names 55/1 Mud dab, see yellowfin sole. † mud-devil n. U.S. Obsolete the hellbender, Cryptobranchus (formerly Menopoma) alleganiensis. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > amphibians > order Urodela or Caudata > [noun] > family Cryptobranchidae > cryptobranchus alleghaniensis (hellbender) land pike1687 hellbender1812 mud-devil1825 water-puppy1832 Menopoma1835 menopome1842 man-eater1859 ground-puppy1863 mud puppy1877 1825 Amer. Jrnl. Sci. 11 278 Menopoma Alleghaniensis... Hell-bender. Mud-devil. 1861 Atlantic Monthly May 588/2 We have among the Lizards the Mud-Devil, (Menopoma Alleghaniensis,) which grows in the sluggish streams to the length of two feet. 1878 Johnson's New Universal Cycl. (new ed.) III. 414/1 The commonest species, M[enopoma] Alleghaniense, known as hell-bender, mud-devil, ground-puppy, young alligator, or tweeg, abounds in the waters of the Ohio. mud-dipper n. U.S. regional the ruddy duck, Oxyura jamaicensis. ΚΠ 1888 G. Trumbull Names & Portraits Birds 110 [The ruddy duck, Erismatura rubida, is known] at Eastville, Va., [as] Mud Dipper. 1944 L. A. Hausman Illustr. Encycl. Amer. Birds 520 Mud-dipper—see Duck, ruddy. mud duck n. U.S. = mud hen n. 1; esp. the American coot, Fulica americana. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [noun] > domestic mallard1314 puddle duck1841 mud duck1857 puddler1945 1857 Porter's Spirit of Times 26 Sept. 54/2 There is duck of every quality, canvas-back, wood, mud, and various other species. 1903 Forest & Stream 27 Feb. 150 They are a cross between the mallard and ordinary mud duck. 1920 E. Pound Let. 11 Sept. (1971) 158 If you weren't stupider than a mud-duck you would know that every kick to bad writing is by that much a help for the good. 1985 J. Adams Good Intentions xxiii. 168 They watched mallards and teal and canvasbacks and mud ducks and a zillion other waterfowl. mud dweller n. an animal living in a muddy habitat, spec. a water beetle of the genus Ilybius (family Dytiscidae). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > by habitat > [noun] > aquatic animal > that lives in mud mud dweller1881 the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Adephaga (carnivorous beetles) > Hydradephaga (aquatic) > member of family Dytiscidae (mud-dweller) water tiger1774 mud dweller1881 1881 Amer. Naturalist 15 545 The Artiodactyla..long continued as mud dwellers. 1952 J. Clegg Freshwater Life Brit. Isles xiv. 221 The Mud Dweller, Ilybius fuliginosus, [is] a bronze-coloured beetle with yellow margins to its wing-cases. 1963 Times 19 Jan. 10/6 It [sc. the Dublin Bay Prawn] feeds, somewhat indiscriminately like all its kind, on its fellow mud-dwellers. 1992 New Brunswick Outdoor Adventure Guide 2/2 One of the more important mud dwellers is a tiny mud shrimp known as Corophium Voluater. mud eel n. an elongate creature inhabiting muddy water; esp. (a) a salamander, Siren lacertina (family Sirenidae), of the south-eastern United States; (b) a larval lamprey. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superclass Agnatha > [noun] > suborder Petromyzontoidei or genus Petromyzon > member of (lamprey) > at certain stage of growth lampret1656 mud iguana1767 mud eel1774 ammocœte1859 1774 J. R. Forster Resol. Jrnl. (1982) IV. 604 Very fine Mud-Eel..were caught this morning. 1823 Charleston (S. Carolina) Courier 7 Mar. 2/4 The British..fairly chased our militiamen across Broad River, to the huge amazement of the mud eels and cats. 1840 Boston Jrnl. Nat. Hist. 3 473 Ammocoetes concolor Kirtland. The Mud-eel. 1895 Proc. U.S. National Mus. 1894 17 337 Amphiuma means..is known under the name of ‘mud eel’. 1938 R. Schrenkeisen Field Bk. Fresh-water Fishes N. Amer. 5 The young [of Petromyzon marinus]..are called ‘mud-eels’. 1948 V. Palmer Golconda xxi. 177 This big trollop of a woman, he was thinking. She had no more decent feeling than a mud-eel. 1994 Buzzworm (Nexis) Jan. 26 You might try first on mud eels in Korea, which are plentiful, rather than experiment with an animal that's got its back against the wall. mud-eye n. Australian a dragonfly larva. ΚΠ 1911 D. A. Macdonald Bush Boys Bk. 95 They live on the yabbie, the shrimp, and the mud-eye—which is the water form of the dragon-fly. 1951 T. C. Roughley Fish & Fisheries Austral. 296 The sluggish dragonfly larvae, popularly known as ‘mud-eyes’, which are found in the mud of streams, are..relished by the fish. 1985 Canberra Chron. 10 July 19/4 When they cleaned the fish they found it had 26 mudeyes in its stomach. mud goose n. a Canada goose of the subspecies Branta canadensis hutchinsii; also called Hutchins's goose. ΚΠ 1844 J. P. Giraud Birds Long Island 292 Anser hutchinsii. Hutchins's goose..is known by the name of ‘Mud Goose’. 1859 S. G. Goodrich Illustr. Nat. Hist. Animal Kingdom II. 315 Hutchins's Goose, A. Hutchinsi—called Mud Goose on Long Island. 1925 E. H. Forbush Birds of Mass. I. 295 Branta canadensis húchinsi (Richardson). Hutchins's Goose. Other names: short-necked goose; little goose; mud goose. † mud iguana n. U.S. Obsolete = mud eel n. (a). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > superclass Agnatha > [noun] > suborder Petromyzontoidei or genus Petromyzon > member of (lamprey) > at certain stage of growth lampret1656 mud iguana1767 mud eel1774 ammocœte1859 1767 Philos. Trans. 1766 (Royal Soc.) 56 189 The natives call it Mud-Inguana [sic]. 1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 224 The Siren or Mud-iguana, a fish of the order Branchio-stegi. 1874 Amer. Cycl. VII. 619/2 He published accounts of..the mud iguana, or siren of South Carolina, an amphibious animal. mudminnow n. any of several small freshwater fishes of the genus Umbra (family Umbridae), found in North America and Eurasia and able to survive low oxygen concentrations and very low temperatures. ΚΠ 1838 J. P. Kirtland in 2nd Ann. Rep. Geol. Surv. Ohio 169 Mud Minnow. 1897 N.Y. Forest, Fish & Game Comm. 2d Rep. 229 Umbra limi... A number of mud minnows were shipped in wet moss from Caledonia, N.Y. 1973 Nature 5 Oct. 261/2 Male and female specimens of the central mudminnow, U. limi (Kirtland) were collected from two populations. 1982 D. Sternberg Fishing with Live Bait 22 Mudminnows..live in swamps and sluggish streams in many eastern states. mud oyster n. a large oyster, Ostrea angasi, native to south-eastern Australia. ΚΠ 1770 J. Cook Jrnl. 23 Aug. (1955) I. 394 The Shell-fish are Oysters of 3 or 4 sorts, viz. Rock oysters and Mangrove Oysters..Pearl Oysters, and Mud Oysters. 1855 I. Boyd in A. H. Hume Lake George to Port Phillip 25 We came upon a black-fellow's camp, with the mud-oyster shells lying about it. 1994 Trans. Royal Soc. S. Austral. 118 253 The aquaculture of the Pacific oyster has filled the market niche left by the loss of the mud oyster fishery. mud plover n. British regional and U.S. the grey plover, Pluvialis squatarola. ΚΠ 1885 C. Swainson Provinc. Names Brit. Birds 181 Grey Plover... Its habit of frequenting the sea-shore has obtained for it the names Sea plover, Sea cock... Strand plover... Mud plover. 1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. I. 256 Black-bellied plover... Other names... Mud plover. 1946 L. A. Hausman Field Bk. Eastern Birds 258 Mud plover... Very shy birds, running about on the flats in great numbers. mudpoke n. U.S. (now rare) = shitepoke n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Ciconiiformes (storks, etc.) > [noun] > family Ardeidae (herons and bitterns) > genus Nycticorax (night-heron) Nycticorax1688 shitepoke1775 Quaker1776 night heron1785 qua-bird1792 mudpoke1809 quawk1844 nankeen crane1872 squawk1872 1809 W. Irving Hist. N.Y. II. vi. ii. 86 That notable bird ycleped the Mud-poke. 1919 F. L. Burns Ornithol. Chester County, Pennsylvania 39 Butorides virescens virescens..‘mudpoke’. 1919 F. L. Burns Ornithol. Chester County, Pennsylvania 40 Nycticorax nycticorax nycticorax..‘mudpoke’. mudpout n. North American = mudcat n. 1. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Siluriformes (catfish) > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous member of sea-cat1601 gaff-topsail1794 mudpout1804 mudcat1819 blue cat1826 channel cat-fish1838 channel cat1847 sea-catfish1882 goujon1883 scorpion fish1883 bashaw1888 ground spearing1896 1804 T. G. Fessenden Orig. Poems 27 Like an otter that paddles the creek, In quest of a mud pout, or sucker. 1872 M. S. De Vere Americanisms 382 A species [of Cat-fish] is known also as Mudpout. 1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 May 41/6 I've been fishing for mudpout ever since I was six years old. mudprawn n. a South African estuarine prawn of the genus Upogebia, esp. U. africana. ΚΠ 1957 Jrnl. Ecol. 45 368 The investigation..was a direct result of reading..newspaper accounts mentioning the wholesale death and destruction of the mud-prawn Upogebia africana. 1969 A. Fugard Boesman & Lena i. 7 Digging for bait. Mudprawns and worms in an old jam tin. 1991 S. Afr. Jrnl. Sci. 87 519 Larvae of the estuarine mudprawn, Upogebia africana, undergo an obligatory phase of marine development before returning to estuaries as post-larvae to settle. mud shad n. U.S. (a) the moon-eye, Hiodon tergisus; (b) the gizzard shad, Dorosoma cepedianum, a freshwater fish of eastern North America, which is silver-coloured with dark stripes along its upper side. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > subclass Actinopterygii > order Clupeiformes > [noun] > family Clupeidae and herrings > doromosa cepedianum (hickory shad) hickory shada1816 shad-herring1845 mud shad1876 gizzard shad1884 stink-shad1884 white-eyed shad1884 winter shad1884 thread-herring1888 1876 G. B. Goode Classif. Coll. Illustr. Animal Resources U.S. 63 Fish, (eastern coast:)..Mud shad, (Dorosoma cepedianum.) 1883 Bull. U.S. National Mus. No. 27. 455 Gizzard Shad; Mud Shad; Hickory Shad... The species has no commercial value. 1907 Amer. Naturalist 41 7 Dorosoma cepedianum (Le Sueur). Mud Shad.—Delaware River at Torresdale, [etc.] 1983 G. C. Becker Fishes Wisconsin 273 Gizzard Shad... Other names..mud shad. mud shark n. (a) U.S. regional (Alaska), the burbot, Lota lota; (b) North American any of various benthic sharks, esp. of the family Hexanchidae. ΚΠ 1936 Alaska Sportsman Aug. 17 Then there are such undesirable varieties as mud sharks, dog-fish, devil fish, turbot, and a variety of red cod. 1948 List Names Fishes U.S. & Canada (Amer. Fisheries Soc.) 5 Atlantic mud shark..Hexanchus griseus. 1988 P. Wayburn Adventuring in Alaska (rev. ed.) iv. 329 These people still travel the river to Kotzebue Sound and on to the Chukchi Sea to exchange their inland products—furs and the liver of mud sharks. mud shrimp n. any of various marine shrimps of the superfamily Thalassinoidea, which inhabit burrows dug in mud or sand. ΚΠ 1930 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 6 36 (title) The natural history of the mud shrimp Upogebia pugellensis. 1978 Biol. Bull. 154 241 (title) Larval development of the rare burrowing mud shrimp Naushonia Crangonoides Kingsley. 1994 E. E. Ruppert & R. D. Barnes Invertebr. Zool. (ed. 6) xiv. 703/1 Burrowing shrimps or mud shrimps (Callianassa, Upogebia, and Thalassina) are shallow-water or intertidal decapods that live in long, deep burrows excavated in sand or mud. mud snake n. a non-venomous black and red colubrid snake of the southern United States, Farancia abacura; also called hoop snake. ΚΠ 1907 R. L. Ditmars Reptile Bk. xxxviii. 367 Farancia abacura... Also called the Rainbow Snake, Mud Snake, Horn Snake and Hoop Snake. 1937 C. H. Curran & C. Kauffield Snakes & their Ways xv. 212 Farancia abacura, or mud snake, which uses its caudal spine to jab an enemy and distract attention from its more vulnerable parts. 1998 Orlando Sentinel (Nexis) 19 Sept. c11 The Florida Mud Snake is a large burrowing snake that is usually found in swampy areas. mud swallow n. any of several birds of the swallow family that build nests of mud; esp. (U.S.) the American cliff swallow, Hirundo pyrrhonota. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > non-arboreal (larks, etc.) > [noun] > family Hirundinidae > genus Petrochelidan > species Pyrrhonota (cliff swallow) republican swallow1824 mud swallow1868 cliff swallow1870 mud-dauber1899 1868 Putnam's Mag. Nov. 562/2 He..found, in the doves about the barn, the mud-swallows' nests under the eaves,..such suggestions of peace, and home-like hospitality. 1873 C. G. Leland Egyptian Sketch-bk. 42 Those curious mud-swallow nests of little villages. 1917 T. G. Pearson Birds Amer. III. 84 Cliff Swallow... Barn Swallow; Mud Swallow; Republican Swallow. 1953 S. G. Jewett et al. Birds Washington State 449 Oregon Cliff Swallow, other names..Mud swallow. † mud terrapin n. U.S. Obsolete = mud turtle n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > suborder Cryptodira > member of family Trionychidae (soft-shell) mud turtle1756 softshell turtle1804 soft tortoise1821 mud terrapin1829 softshell1830 softback1832 Trionyx1835 potamian1851 1829 Ann. Lyceum Nat. Hist. N.Y. 3 120 Terrapene pensylvanica... Mud tarapin of the southern states. 1842 Nat. Hist. N.Y., Zool. iii. 23 The Musk Tortoise or Mud Turtle, Mud Terrapin or Stink-pot. 1892 Harper's Mag. Sept. 590/1 Everywhere dotting the sand..are rough misshapen tracks of mud-terrapins. † mud tortoise n. Obsolete = mud turtle n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > turtles or sea-tortoises > that lives in mud mud tortoise1668 mud turkle1858 1668 W. Charleton Onomasticon Zoicon 28 Testudo Lutaria..the Mud Tortoise. 1841 Boston Jrnl. Nat. Hist. 3 7 Sternothaerus odoratus. The mud Tortoise. 1854 R. Owen Struct. Skeleton & Teeth in Orr's Circle Sci.: Org. Nature I. 213 The soft or mud-tortoises (trionyx and sphargis). 1888 Philos. Trans. 1887 (Royal Soc.) B. 178 22 In most Mud Tortoises (Trionychidæ) they [sc. paired anal pouches] seem likewise to be absent. mud trout n. Newfoundland the brook trout, Salvelinus fontinalis. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Salmoniformes (salmon or trout) > family Salmonidae (salmon) > [noun] > genus Salvelinus > salvelinus fontinalis (brook trout) mud trout1842 brook trout1869 speckled trout1869 speckle-belly1874 1842 R. H. Bonnycastle Newfoundland in 1842 I. 269 The..salmon trout, and..common trout, with a variety called mud trout, are..plentiful in rivers and ponds. 1916 Dial. Notes 4 332 Mud-trout, the brook-trout. 1969 H. Horwood Newfoundland 224 Newfoundland's only native trout..is the speckled brook trout (known locally..as a ‘mud trout’). 1993 Newfoundland Sportsman Winter 2/2 That three-pound mud trout your son landed last summer. mud turkle n. U.S. regional = mud turtle n. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > turtles or sea-tortoises > that lives in mud mud tortoise1668 mud turkle1858 1858 Southern Literary Messenger 26 388/1 All I cood doo I coodin taik no mo ingziety in it then the mud turkils afosed. 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn viii. 70 And so you ain't had no meat nor bread to eat all this time? Why didn't you get mud-turkles? 1909 Dial. Notes 3 351 Mud-turkle, the mud-turtle: chiefly among the negroes. 1946 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. vi. 21 Mud turkle, a small turtle found in muddy bottoms, in either fresh or salt water. Pamlico. Mainly among Negroes. mud turtle n. a freshwater turtle that frequently climbs out on to muddy banks; esp. any of several small turtles of the American family Kinosternidae, which have scent glands that produce an unpleasant smell; also figurative. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > reptiles > order Chelonia (turtles and tortoises) > [noun] > suborder Cryptodira > member of family Trionychidae (soft-shell) mud turtle1756 softshell turtle1804 soft tortoise1821 mud terrapin1829 softshell1830 softback1832 Trionyx1835 potamian1851 1756 P. Collinson Let. 20 Jan. in W. D. Darlington Memorials J. Bartram & H. Marshall (1849) 201 The great Mud Turtle..is really a formidable animal. He bit very fierce at a stick. He had near bit my finger. 1796 Aurora (Philadelphia) 17 May The crocodile throats of the gentle snappers or mud tortles in the Jersey market. 1857 D. H. Strother Virginia Illustr. (1871) i. i. 32 ‘Looks more like he was embalmed,’ cried another. ‘A mummy! or a mud-turtle lying on his back!’ 1873 ‘M. Twain’ & C. D. Warner Gilded Age 48 He's in that pilot-house now, showing those mud-turtles how to hunt for easy water. 1915 J. Conrad Victory vii. 135 Fancy a mud-turtle like you trying to pass an opinion on a gentleman! 1990 T. C. Boyle East is East i. 140 He..saw the cooters and mud turtles line up like dominoes on a log beneath him. mud-turtle-shaped adj. shaped like a mud turtle. ΚΠ 1871 ‘M. Twain’ Screamers 132 A pickininny, mud-turtle-shaped craft of a schooner. mud wasp n. (a) U.S. = mud-dauber n. 1; (b) Australian = mason wasp n. at mason n.¹ Compounds 2. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > the wasps > super family Sphecoidea or family Sphecidae > member of genus Sceliphron (mud-dauber) mud wasp1824 mud-dauber1856 1824 Old Colony Memorial (Plymouth, Mass.) 6 Mar. A sort of would-be dandy; having the bottom of his waist pinched up to the size of a quart pot, and thus resembling in shape what we call a mud wasp. 1861 Trans. Illinois State Agric. Soc. 1859–60 4 338 The common black and yellow mud wasp (Pelopæus lunatus) belongs to this group. 1894 Proc. Linn. Soc. New S. Wales 9 29 Abispa splendida... Among our ‘mason or mud wasps’ this takes the palm for being one of the largest and handsomest. 1925 Bulletin (Sydney) 14 May 22/2 In Queensland mud-wasps build everywhere. 1995 Boston Globe (Nexis) 17 Sept. (N. Weekly section) 23 Mud wasps have homesteaded behind and on my shutters. c. In the names of plants. mud horsetail n. rare a horsetail that grows in wet mud; †great mud horsetail, great horsetail, E. telmateia (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > ferns > [noun] > horse-tail and allies padpipe?a1300 paddock-pipec1300 holy-water strinklec1440 shavegrassc1450 shavewortc1450 horsetail1538 shaving-grass1538 cat's tail1552 toad-pipe1578 pewterwort1597 horse-willow1611 prêle1661 shave-weed1691 water horsetail1710 horse-pipe1785 rush1804 shave-rush1821 equisetum1830 pipeweed1837 scouring rush1845 mud horsetail1855 jointweed1879 bottlebrush1883 1855 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. (1861) VI. 297 Great Mud Horsetail. 1945 A. B. Jackson Step's Wayside & Woodland Ferns (new. ed.) 122 The Mud or Smooth Horsetail..is certainly the commonest of the British species. † mud knotweed n. U.S. Obsolete amphibious bistort, Persicaria amphibia. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Polygonaceae (dock and allies) > [noun] > bistort and allies adderwortOE arsesmarta1300 persicarya1400 persicaria?a1450 polygonya1500 buckwheat1548 polygonum1562 passions1568 bistort1578 oysterloit1578 goat's wheat1597 peachwort1597 plumbago1597 redshank1597 snake-weed1597 dragonwort1656 smartweed1787 patience dock1796 red-legs1820 passion dock1828 smartgrass1837 mud knotweed1845 jointweed1866 tear-thumb1866 pinch-weed1883 knotweed1884 sachaline1901 1845–50 A. H. Lincoln Familiar Lect. Bot. (new ed.) App. 145/2 Polygonium amphibium (mud knotweed). 1856 Trans. Michigan Agric. Soc. 7 415 Polygonum amphibium, Linn. Mud knot-weed. mud purslane n. rare a North American waterwort, Elatine americana. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > aquatic, marsh, and sea-shore plants > [noun] > waterwort waterwort1762 water pepper1771 mud purslane1845 1845 A. Wood Class-bk. Bot. ii. 69 E. americana... Mud Purslane. 1921 Amer. Midland Naturalist 7 57 Elatine triandra Schk. Mud purslane. Mud in dried up ponds. 1957 Amer. Midland Naturalist 58 45 Elatine triandra Schk. (E. americana of western authors, not Arn.).—Mud Purslane. Bottom of shallow pools. mud rush n. (a) a rush, Juncus gerardii, that grows in salt marshes in north temperate regions; also called saltmarsh rush; (b) any of several clubrushes belonging or formerly belonging to the genus Scirpus. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > sedges starc1300 carexa1398 float-grassc1440 red sedge1480 sag1531 pry grassa1600 flea-grass1670 star-grass1782 sedge1785 sea sedge1796 sharp-pry-grass1803 blue star grass1807 whip-grass1814 flea-sedge1816 saw-grass1822 mud rush1824 tight-locka1825 nut grass1830 razor grass1834 twig-rush1836 nut rush1843 sand grass1856 mud sedge1859 niggerhead1859 nutsedge1861 pingao1867 sword-rush1875 tupak-grass1884 tussock-sedge1884 sennegrass1897 nigger's-head1921 1824 J. E. Smith Eng. Flora II. 166 J[uncus] cœnosus. Mud Rush. 1855 W. J. Hooker & G. A. W. Arnott Brit. Flora (ed. 7) 493 Isolepis R. Brown. Isolepis. Mud-rush. 1880 T. R. A. Briggs Flora of Plymouth 341 J[uncus] Gerardi, Lois. Mud Rush. Native; in marshes and damp spots about salt water inlets and tidal rivers. Very common. 1899 Edinb. Rev. Apr. 318 The work was done by mud-rushes transporting upwards miscellaneous subterranean débris. 1961 R. W. Butcher New Illustr. Brit. Flora II. 789 Scirpus (Schœnoplectus) triquetrus... The Triangular-stemmed Mud-rush is a stout, glabrous, perennial. 1964 V. J. Chapman Coastal Vegetation iv. 96 The lower Festucetum often contains abundant Armeria, and at higher levels Fiorin (Agrostis stolonifera), Mud rush (Juncus gerardi), Buck's-horn plantain (Plantago coronopus) are common. mud sedge n. a sedge, Carex limosa, of spongy bogs in north temperate regions. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > a grass or grasses > reedy or aquatic grasses > [noun] > sedges starc1300 carexa1398 float-grassc1440 red sedge1480 sag1531 pry grassa1600 flea-grass1670 star-grass1782 sedge1785 sea sedge1796 sharp-pry-grass1803 blue star grass1807 whip-grass1814 flea-sedge1816 saw-grass1822 mud rush1824 tight-locka1825 nut grass1830 razor grass1834 twig-rush1836 nut rush1843 sand grass1856 mud sedge1859 niggerhead1859 nutsedge1861 pingao1867 sword-rush1875 tupak-grass1884 tussock-sedge1884 sennegrass1897 nigger's-head1921 1859 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. VI. 37 Carex limosa (Mud Sedge). 1917 Bot. Gaz. 55 200 The sedge mat is composed almost entirely of Carex limosa L. (mud sedge). 1995 New Scientist 28 Nov. 13/2 If a bog is disrupted..nutrients begin to run in from dying vegetation... Sensitive species, including long-leaved sundew and mud sedge soon disappear. mud-weed n. rare (a) mudwort, Limosella aquatica; †(b) lesser marshwort, Apium inundatum (obsolete). ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > aquatic, marsh, and sea-shore plants > [noun] > other aquatic plants sea-purslane1548 frog-bit1578 heartwort1578 milkwort1578 water dragon1578 water-liverwort1578 water milfoil1578 water milfoil1578 water radish1578 arrowhead1597 saltwort1597 water archer1597 calla1601 water-rocket1605 sea rocket1611 water archer1617 water chickweed1633 water purslane1633 arsesmart1640 water hyssop1653 water thyme1655 water serpent1659 Myriophyllum1754 least water plantain1756 mud-weed1756 Thalia1756 water-leaf1756 marsh liverwort1760 bastard plantain1762 wool-weed1765 Ruppia1770 goat's foot1773 pipewort1776 blinking chickweed1777 mudwort1789 arrowleaf1805 water-target1814 water willow1814 felwort1816 water shield1817 mermaid weed1822 mud plantain1822 hydrilla1824 blinks1835 crystalwort1846 naiad1846 waterwort1846 arrow weed1848 willow-thorn1857 lattice leaf1866 marsh flower1866 bonnet1869 lattice plant1877 sea-ash1884 alligator weed1887 water parsley1891 water hyacinth1897 lirio1926 neverwet1927 1756 J. Hill Brit. Herbal 84 Mudweed. Plantaginella. 1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 557 Bastard Plantain, or Plantain Mudweed. 1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 762/1 Mudweed, Heliosciadium inundatum. 1936 N. L. Britton & A. Brown Illustr. Flora Northern U.S., Canada, & Brit. Possessions (ed. 2) III. 198 Limosella aquatica L. Mudweed. Mudwort... On muddy shores and in brooks, Labrador and Hudson Bay to the Northwest Territory. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022). † mudn.² Forms: late Middle English 1700s mudde, 1700s–1800s mud, 1800s mudd, 1800s mudden (plural). Origin: A borrowing from Dutch. Etymons: Dutch mud, mudde. Etymology: < Middle Dutch, Dutch mud (also in Middle Dutch as mudde) < the West Germanic base of Old Saxon muddi (Middle Low German mudde ), Old High German mutti (Middle High German mut , müt , mutte , mütte , German (archaic) Mutt ) < classical Latin modius modius n. With later use in a South African context compare muid n.²Compare Old English mydd measure (one isolated attestation), either < the same Germanic base, or directly < classical Latin modius (which it translates):eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) iv. ix. 101 Æfter þæm Hannibal sende ham to Cartaina þrio mydd gyldenra hringa his sige to tacne. N.E.D. (1908) gives the pronunciation as (mɒd) /mʌd/. Obsolete. An old Dutch and (in later use) South African dry measure of capacity, varying in amount but usually equivalent to about three bushels (approx. 109 litres). Cf. muid n.¹ 1a. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > measurement > the scientific measurement of volume > measure(s) of capacity > [noun] > specific liquid or dry units > Dutch unit mud1483 1483 W. Caxton tr. J. de Voragine Golden Legende f. 148^v Two hondred muddes [Fr. deux cens muitz] of mele. 1795 C. R. Hopson tr. C. P. Thunberg Trav. (ed. 2) I. 232 A freight contains ten muddes [Ger. Mudd, Mudden, Sw. mutt], or about 20 bushels. 1798 S. H. Wilcocke tr. J. S. Stavorinus Voy. E.-Indies I. 567 A mud [Du. mud] of wheat amounted to about four gilders. [Note] A mud is equal to about three bushels. 1800 Cape Town Gaz. 16 Aug. 1 On this Estate are 60 acres of Land, sowed with 50 muds of Corn, 13 muds of Barley and 7 muds of Oats. 1819 G. Barker Jrnl. 18 Sept. in Dict. S. Afr. Eng. on Hist. Princ. (1996) 482/1 Finished sowing 2 mudden of wheat. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting 30 I..bought a mud of mealies for the horse. 1899 Natal Agric. Jrnl. 31 Mar. 3 ‘Mud’ (muid in South African Dutch) is a very elastic measurement of quantity, and is gradually being superseded by weight measurement. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022). MUDn.³ Brit. /mʌd/, U.S. /məd/ Forms: 1900s– MUD, 1900s– mud. Origin: Formed within English, as an acronym. Etymon: English multi-user dungeon. Etymology: Acronym < the initial letters of multi-user dungeon.Early multi-user games were typically set in dungeons, mazes, castles, and the like. The term is now applied more generally to multi-user adventure games with a wide variety of scenarios, and is hence sometimes reanalysed more neutrally as < the initial letters of multi-user dimension or multi-user domain. Computing. A computer-based adventure game in which multiple players (connected by a network or the internet) move around a simulated environment, interacting with each other and with characters controlled by the computer. ΚΠ 1983 Pract. Computing Dec. 126/1 Multi-User Dungeon is the first and..only large-scale up-and-running multi-player Adventure. It is written for the DEC System 10 mainframe... Mud originated at Essex University, where its kernel was written in 1979 by a then undergraduate. Roy Trubshaw. 1985 Economist (Nexis) 23 Feb. 88 ‘Interacting can mean anything from kissing to killing or stealing.’ Thus begins the instructions for Mud, the multi-user-dungeon game housed in a DEC mainframe computer at Britain's Essex University. 1991 M. Benedikt Cyberspace (1993) i. 6 The young programmers of on-line ‘MUDS’ (Multi-User Dungeons) and their slightly older cousins hacking networked videogames after midnight in the laboratories of MIT's Media Lab..and a hundred tiny software companies are..creating cyberspace. 1997 J. Seabrook Deeper vii. 222 My son was hospitalized for depression as a result of trying to pull himself off of IRC chats and MUDs. This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022). mudv.¹ Brit. /mʌd/, U.S. /məd/ Forms: 1500s–1600s mudde, 1600s mudd, 1600s– mud. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: mud n.¹ Etymology: < mud n.¹In most varieties of English mud v.¹ is largely superseded by muddy v., from which it is often phonetically indistinguishable in the past tense. †1. transitive. To make obscure, confused, etc.; to spoil, disturb, tarnish. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > matter > constitution of matter > density or solidity > viscosity > make viscous or thicken [verb (transitive)] engleima1387 inviscatec1400 treaclec1500 mud1593 incrassate1601 inspissate1626 glutinize1750 syrup1847 1593 T. Nashe Christs Teares 13 The fount of my teares (troubled and mudded with the Toade-like stirring and long-breathed vexation of thy venimous enormities). a1617 S. Hieron Penance for Sinne in Wks. (1620) II. 219 Thus had it, I may so speake, mudded his heart, and made his corruption worke more strongly in him. 1669 W. Simpson Hydrologia Chymica 123 A steam ariseth which..muds the animal spirits. 1698 J. Collier Short View Immorality Eng. Stage i. 29 Enough to mud their Fancy, to tarnish their Quality, and make their Passion Scandalous. 1717 Entertainer No. 5. 27 When Justice flows in her proper Channels, and is not mudded or soiled with Partiality [etc.]. 1774 Westm. Mag. 2 450 The very fountain-head is mudded by these false teachers. 2. a. transitive. To cloud (water) by stirring up mud or sediment at the bottom, esp. for the purpose of catching fish. Also in extended use. Also 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 1594 W. Shakespeare Lucrece sig. E2^v Mudde not the fountaine that gaue drinke to thee. View more context for this quotation 1615 W. Smith Hector of Germany (1906) 90 Yee dauncing Porpusses caper aloft, And mud the white foame with your ietty backs. 1662 R. Venables Experienc'd Angler ix. 89 When a sudden violent shower hath a little mudded and raised the river..you will have sport to your own desire. 1686 J. Goad Astro-meteorologica ii. xiv. 341 'Tis a great Stone which upon injection mudds the Water. a1701 H. Maundrell Journey Aleppo to Jerusalem (1703) 122 The bough is dragg'd all along the Chanel, and serves..to mud, and fatten the water for the greater benefit of the Gardens. a1798 T. Pennant Tour on Continent (1948) 88 Its entrance into the lake..is..so mudded..by the melting of the snow as to discolor the lake. 1876 Ld. Tennyson Harold v. i. 124 The wolf Mudded the brook. 1938 in G. P. Rawick Amer. Slave (1977) I. 73 I allus like ter go muddin for fish, 'twas easern hook 'n' bait. 1981 L. A. Pederson et al. Ling. Atlas Gulf States 0561/093 [Mississippi] Mud it or seine it—methods of fishing. b. transitive. to mud the waters = to muddy the water(s) at muddy v. 3b. rare. ΚΠ 1980 Jrnl. Higher Educ. 51 354 Couching rules and precepts in the guise of suggestion only succeeds in mudding the waters. 1999 Asbury Park Press (Neptune, New Jersey) (Nexis) 17 Jan. c2 The doctors have gone to court, further mudding the waters. 3. intransitive. Of fish or other aquatic animals: to lie dormant, burrow, or hide in the mud. Also transitive (reflexive). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > fish > [verb (intransitive)] > lie dormant in mud mud1606 1606 S. Gardiner Bk. Angling 21 Besides that, the fishes there mudding themselves, they cannot be got out. 1650 Acad. Complements 125 Or like a Carp that is lost in mudding. 1895 P. H. Emerson Birds, Beasts, & Fishes Norfolk Broadland ii. x. 365 Should a bream catch sight of you, if in a shallow, he will dart off, and ‘mud’, reappearing later on. 1937 A. R. Cahn Turtles of Illinois 40 A majority of the snappers go down into the mud at the bottom of the pond or slough.., where they ‘mud up’ for the winter. 1979 Angling July 53/1 There were about six large fish mudding and whelming as they worked over the bottom. †4. a. transitive (in passive). To be buried in mud. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > cover [verb (transitive)] > cover over or up > under the ground or bury > specific inditch1597 immud1611 muda1616 sand1632 a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) iii. iii. 102 I'le seeke him deeper then ere plummet sounded, And with him there lye mudded . View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) v. i. 153 I wish My selfe were mudded in that oo-zie bed Where my sonne lies. View more context for this quotation b. transitive (in passive). To become stuck in mud. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > movement > absence of movement > be rendered immobile [verb (passive)] > be stuck in mud, bog, or sand stalla1500 gravel1582 swamp1790 mud1854 stog1855 stodge1873 quicksand1875 1854 A. West Recoll. (1899) I. iv. 146 We were mudded and slipped and slithered about a quarter of a mile. 1873 C. G. Leland Egyptian Sketch-bk. 151 Sometimes they got sanded or mudded. 5. a. transitive. To cover, splash, plaster, or treat with mud. Occasionally with up. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > building or constructing > surfacing or cladding > clad or cover [verb (transitive)] > clad or cover with other materials pitcheOE lute1495 loam1600 bitume1609 wainscota1631 mud1632 putty1719 compo1809 belute1837 smear1839 puddle1844 plash1864 canvas1865 cement1886 TP1962 toilet-paper1964 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 1632 R. Sherwood Dict. in R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues (new ed.) To mudde, beray or bedash with mudde, sticke in mudde, embourber, enfanger, embouër. 1649 W. Blith Eng. Improver xxv. 157 Lime it well, or Mud it well, and afterward Muck it over with good Cow or House [sic] Dung. 1769 Trinculo's Trip 46 Being so mudded, splash'd and wash'd. 1818 M. Birkbeck Lett. from Illinois 30 This cabin is built of round straight logs,..the intervals between the logs ‘chunked’,..and ‘mudded’, that is, daubed with a plaister of mud. 1822 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 10 Aug. 1/4 Exasperated at such conduct, I ran into the street, and getting my paws mudded, began to frisk fondly round her. 1883 C. J. Wills In Land of Lion & Sun 57 A roof some six feet thick, being painted wood mudded over a yard deep. 1914 G. M. Douglas Lands Forlorn 151 It was thoroughly well mudded inside and out. 1930 J. Rolyat Fort Garry 199 Better they was muddin up their 'ouses afore a frost. Las' year they leaves them unmudded and nigh froze. 1992 Inuktitut No. 75. 24/2 (caption) Bernard Iquvaqtuq muds his qamutiq runners before returning to Arvilikjuak after a trip to Naujaat in 1941. b. Oil Industry. (a) transitive. In drilling for oil or gas: to seal (porous or unstable strata) by causing a layer of mud to be deposited on the sides of a borehole. Usually with off or up. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > drilling for oil or gas > drill for oil or gas [verb (transitive)] > seal (well, etc.) mud1916 to plug off (also back)1924 1916 R. H. Johnson & L. G. Huntley Princ. Oil & Gas Production xii. 123 In drilling by the rotary system, usually there is but one size of hole and but one string of casing used, as the sides of the hole are ‘mudded up’ as drilling proceeds, and caving beds and minor gas and water sands are shut off in this way. 1921 W. H. Jeffery Deep Well Drilling xii. 350 The mud fluid under pump pressure has a tendency to ‘mud off’ an oil or gas producing formation before its paying possibilities may be discovered by the driller. 1924 L. C. Uren Textbk. Petroleum Production Engin. ix. 299 It is not always easy to mud an exhausted oil sand, so that it does not continue to absorb fluid. 1926 E. R. Lilley Oil Industry vi. 129 Mud fluid is introduced into the hole. This is primarily for the purpose of mudding up the walls of the hole to prevent caving. 1935 Jrnl. Inst. Petroleum Technologists 21 659 In America it is suggested that sands can be mudded off almost simultaneously, but this is a debatable point. 1985 F. K. North Petroleum Geol. xxiii. 464/1 The drilling mud itself is responsible for much of the damage done to the hole, through ‘mudding off’ the weak formations. (b) intransitive. to mud up: (of strata during drilling) to become clogged with mud. rare. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > industry > drilling for oil or gas > drill for oil or gas [verb (intransitive)] > seal off well > of borehole: become sealed by mud to mud up1921 1921 W. H. Jeffery Deep Well Drilling iii. 117 The wire drilling cable now is almost universally used for drilling in deep wet holes and in soft or shale formations that ‘mud up’. †6. transitive. To throw mud at (a person). Obsolete. rare. ΚΠ 1832 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. Jan. 120 Gentlemen dislike being hissed, hooted,..threatened, mudded, maimed, murdered. †7. transitive. To supply with mud. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > the earth > water > lake > pond > [verb (transitive)] > supply mud to bottom of mud1864 1864 Q. Rev. 115 183 A pond, the owner of which informed us that several years ago he had mudded it, and then put a few eels into it. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022). mudv.² Brit. /məd/, /mʊd/, U.S. /məd/, /mʊd/ Forms: 1700s– mid, 1700s– mud, 1800s– med, 1800s– meed (rare), 1800s– met, 1800s– mit, 1800s– mod (rare), 1800s– moud (rare), 1800s– mut. With negative particle affixed 1700s– middent, 1800s med'nt, 1800s muddent, 1800s– medn't, 1800s– metna, 1800s– metnad, 1800s– midden, 1800s– midn't, 1800s– muddant, 1800s– mudn't, 1800s– mutn't, 1900s– modden. Origin: Apparently a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymons: English might , mought , may v.¹. Etymology: Apparently < might, mought, past tense of may v.¹, probably representing a colloquial pronunciation.The form mud is recorded in Eng. Dial. Dict. from many parts of England, as well as from southern Scotland and from Pembrokeshire in Wales; the form med is also recorded widely in a broad band stretching from southern Scotland through the north-west of England to the south and west; the form mid is recorded chiefly from the south-west of England. Of the less common forms met is recorded chiefly from the north-west and the west midlands, mit chiefly from the west midlands, mut chiefly from the north and the east midlands, mod and moud from the north, and meed only from Leicestershire. The word was considered obsolescent in Scotland by J. A. H. Murray Dial. S. Counties Scotl. (1873) 217, who records it only in sense 2. British regional. 1. May, might (see may v.¹). ΚΠ 1789 C. Smith Ethelinde III. iv. 80 To have a little item of where I mid look for her frinds. 1796 C. Smith Marchmont I. 235 I thought perhaps it middent be too late. 1844 W. Barnes Poems Rural Life in Dorset Dial. 57 An' oh! mid never ax nar hook Be brote to spwile his stiately look. 1889 ‘M. Gray’ Reproach of Annesley (ed. 5) vi. iii. 276 'Tis fine and loo here,..and you med set down and hrest. 1890 J. Hartley Halifax Clock Almanack 29 (E.D.D.) He mud as weel ha' tried to climb up a hill side o' slubber. 1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles I. iii. 34 You mid last ten years; you mid go off in ten months, or ten days. 1911 J. Masefield Everlasting Mercy 20 Whether I mid do or I midn't. 1928 A. E. Pease Dict. Dial. N. Riding Yorks. 84/1 He moud ha putten in twea i'steead o' yan. 1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 197/1 'E mud a shifted them coggles while 'e were at it. 2. Must (see must v.¹). ΚΠ a1794 S. Blamire Poet. Wks. (1842) 215 He thought that he mud treat ye. 1801 W. Seward Attempt illustr. Dial. Burton 6 in Tour Yordes Cave Its good anuf at a nune, bat an huz Wimmen muddent hev a sup a Te we mud be hungard. 1886 R. E. G. Cole Gloss. Words S.-W. Lincs. 94 Spring weather in January, we mut fear March. a1903 L. C. Musters in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 191/1 [Nottinghamshire] 'A felt a mut go when he war dying. 1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 197/1 A mud git on wi' me wokk. 1995 J. M. Sims-Kimbrey Wodds & Doggerybaw: Lincs. Dial. Dict. 197/1 A mut git them 'ens in afooãre it gits dark. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022). mudv.³ Brit. /mʌd/, U.S. /məd/ Origin: Of unknown origin. Etymology: Origin unknown. Eng. Dial. Dict. records also a longer form muddle from Hampshire in the late 19th cent. (compare -le suffix 3). English regional (southern). transitive. To bring up (a child, an animal) by hand. Also: to spoil, pamper. ΘΚΠ society > education > upbringing > [verb (transitive)] i-teon975 forthbringc1000 forthwiseOE nourishc1300 nurshc1325 feedc1330 updraw1390 uprearc1400 educate1445 norrya1450 nurturea1450 to bring up1484 endue1526 nuzzle1558 rear1558 nurse1584 to breed up1611 cradle1613 breed1650 raise1744 rare1798 mud1814 to fetch up1841 rise1843 the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > rear animals [verb (transitive)] > hand-rear to bring up (also rear) (an animal) on the finger1607 hob1793 mud1814 hand-rear1846 poddy1896 the mind > emotion > love > tenderness > foolish affection, excessive love or fondness > be infatuatedly fond or love to excess [verb (transitive)] > pet, indulge, or pamper daunt1303 cocker1440 cherisha1450 pomper1483 daut?a1513 to cocker up1530 pamper1530 pimper1537 tiddle1560 cockle1570 dandlea1577 cotchel1578 cockney1582 fondle1582 coax1589 to coax up1592 to flatter up1598 dainty1622 pet1629 cosset1659 caudle1662 faddle1688 pettle1719 coddle1786 sugar-plum1788 twattle1790 to make a fuss of or over (with)1814 mud1814 pamperizea1845 mollycoddle1851 pompey1860 cosher1861 pussy1889 molly1907 1814 Monthly Mag. Sept. 114 [S. Wiltshire] Mud the child up, dooke. a1854 C. A. Southey Poet. Wks. (1867) 76 Miss will mud it [sc. a lamb] up I know. 1891 ‘M. Gray’ In Heart of Storm Prol. iii Not that she'll ever come to good spoiled and mudded up as she is. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.¹c1400n.²1483n.³1983v.¹1593v.²1789v.³1814
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mudn.1

Phrases

Compounds

† mudn.2

MUDn.3

mudv.1

mudv.2

mudv.3

mudn.¹

† mudn.²

MUDn.³

mudv.¹

mudv.²

mudv.³