muddlen.
/ˈmʌdl/, U.S. /ˈməd(ə)l/ 1.
a. A state of disorder or (physical or mental) confusion. Also: a mistake arising from or resulting in confusion; a bungle. to make a muddle of: to bungle, to mishandle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > confusion or disorder > [noun]
brabbling1530
confusion1530
ruffle1533
pell-mellc1586
confusedness1587
huddle1606
Babel confusion1653
promiscuity1663
hugger-mugger1674
promiscuousness1676
clutter1692
jumblement1706
muddle1808
embranglement1826
mare's nest1837
muddlement1857
muddledom1891
muddliness1891
mêlée1895
mix-up1898
huddledom1923
buggeration1962
mixed-upness1967
the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > difficulty or complexity > instance of > and confused
snarl1631
tangle1757
twaddle1785
an ill-favoured pirn1828
muddle1857
fankle1890
tie-up1906
snarl-up1960
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > unskilful action or working > a bungle
miscarriage1590
bungle1656
bumble1823
boggle1834
muff1867
car wreck1877
mismove1877
miscue1882
muddle1884
bobble1887
mess-up1902
floater1913
bollock1919
fluff1928
balls-up1929
muck-up1930
balls1938
snafu1943
foul-up1944
fuck-up1949
clusterfuck1969
car crash1992
dumpster fire2008
omnishambles2009
1808 S. T. Coleridge Notebks. (1973) III. 3384 Our slow muddle-brained ashy-faced Landlord.
1818 H. J. Todd Johnson's Dict. Eng. Lang. Muddle, a confused or turbid state: a vulgar expression.
1833 J. Constable Let. 14 Jan. (1965) III. 90 I shall be glad when these great pictures are out of doors—but still it's a good thing to be in a muddle.
1853 C. Dickens Bleak House v. 37 We both grub on in a muddle.
1857 Harper's Weekly 10 Jan. 20/4 The judges and legislators knocked their heads together and made a ‘muddle’ of prohibition.
1884 Sat. Rev. 7 June 732/1 The present Government has made an immortal muddle of the whole business.
1910 E. M. Forster Howards End viii. 65 I do love these little muddles tidied up.
1923 Times Lit. Suppl. 5 Apr. 230/4 Dr. Neville Talbot sets out to help those who are in a muddle about religion and wish to have it expressed in modern terms.
1938 D. Thomas Coll. Lett. (1987) 286 Do excuse this delay: my addresses are in a muddle, as always.
1948 Life 6 Sept. 94/2 President Roosevelt had left our policy toward Germany in an appalling muddle.
1993 Independent on Sunday 7 Nov. (Review Suppl.) 70/4 There is always a muddle in England as to which is chicory and which is endive.
b. concrete. A confused assemblage; an untidy and disorganized collection; a jumble.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > arrangement or fact of being arranged > absence of arrangement > [noun] > a disorderly collection
rabblea1398
hotchpotc1405
hotchpotchc1410
mishmashc1475
gaggle?1478
chaos?1550
humble-jumble1550
huddle1587
wilderness1594
lurry1607
hatterc1626
farragoa1637
bumble1648
higgledy-piggledy1659
jumble1661
clutter1666
hugger-mugger1674
litter1730
imbroglio1753
confusion1791
cludder1801
hurrah's nest1829
hotter1834
welter1857
muddle1863
splatter1895
shamble1926
1863 A. Trollope Rachel Ray II. viii. 152 It ain't beer... It's nasty muddle of stuff.
1864 C. Dickens Our Mutual Friend (1865) I. i. vii. 59 One dark shop-window with a tallow candle dimly burning in it, surrounded by a muddle of objects.
1891 R. Kipling Light that Failed xiii. 259 A scarred formless muddle of paint.
1900 J. Conrad Lord Jim xiii. 165 And then at the moment of taking leave he treated me to a ghastly muddle of dubious stammers and movements, to an awful display of hesitations.
1927 Dict. National Biogr. 1912–21 494/2 With Wren so with Shaw, the projects for straightening out the haphazard muddle of London were mostly blocked.
1970 N. Bawden Birds on Trees vi. 107 You didn't have to make such a muddle, this room looks like a disaster area.
1994 R. Davies Cunning Man 34 His French was a patois and when he wanted to tease or humiliate me it retreated into a muddle of French, English, Ojibwa, and a dash of Gaelic.
2. U.S. regional (esp. North Carolina) and Caribbean. A stew, esp. one made with fish.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > meat dishes > [noun] > stewed meat
stewpot1542
estew1566
fricassee1568
ragout1652
pepperpot1698
grenade1706
haricot1706
pupton1706
lobscouse1707
stew1756
puchero1802
granada1806
bredie1815
muddle1833
scouse1840
slum1847
hashmagandy1851
ropa vieja1855
chilli con carne1857
sorpotel1863
goulash1866
daube1877
paprikash1877
chilli1886
pot-pie1890
slumgullion1902
cholent1903
cracker-hash1904
cracker-stew1909
gippo1914
waterzooi1915
Fanny Adams1921
adobo1938
cassoulet1940
feijoada1941
coddle1942
stifado1950
rancho1957
tinga1964
1833 Amer. Turf Reg. Apr. 403 Some years since, on my way to the post office at Weldon, I was overtaken by seven gentlemen, who insisted I should join them in a muddle, on the beach.
1833 Amer. Turf Reg. Apr. 404 To make a Muddle.—Take a shad, pike or rock... Take sundry slices of pork [etc.].
1939 B. K. Harris Purslane 122 She used to cook coon muddles by the potful.
1953 G. Lamming In Castle of my Skin xiv. 273 A vegetable muddle called callalloo cooked with crab.
1975 E. Jones Amer. Food 278 On the coast of the Carolinas fish stews have colloquial names. Along Albemarle Sound people get together outdoors to cook a kind of chowder famous in those parts as a ‘muddle’.
1985 B. Neal Southern Cooking (1989) ii 19 A muddle is a very thick fish stew celebrated in eastern Virginia and North Carolina, particularly on the long barrier islands known as the Outer Banks.
Compounds
C1. Chiefly parasynthetic with the sense ‘muddled’.
a.
muddle-mindedness n.
ΚΠ
1929 I. A. Richards Pract. Criticism iii. i. 187 A complete stalemate of muddle-mindedness.
1989 Amer. Lit. Forum 23 626 The fragmented, pessimistic muddle mindedness returns.
b.
muddle-brained adj.
ΚΠ
1808Muddle-brained [see sense 1a].
1895 W. Morris in J. W. Mackail Life W. Morris (1899) II. 310 Coleridge was a muddle-brained metaphysician.
1999 Sunday Times (Nexis) 20 June Prince Charles is no longer regarded as cold, selfish and muddle-brained.
muddle-minded adj.
ΚΠ
1862 H. Marryat One Year in Sweden II. 8 The house keeper—a muddle-minded woman.
1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling xxvi. 354 Aunt Moll was a muddle-minded kind o' woman.
2001 Washington Post (Nexis) 11 Jan. a10 The hopes for peace embodied by the Oslo agreements—hopes widely regarded by the Likud as starry-eyed and muddle-minded—are relegated to history.
muddle-thoughted adj.
ΚΠ
1905 E. Phillpotts Secret Woman iii. v. 250 What a muddle-thoughted man you be—all in a maze!
c.
muddle-mindedly adv.
ΚΠ
1965 Punch 19 May 744/1 The union leaders who agreed to go along with it, he believes, were either consciously or muddle-mindedly dishonest.
C2.
muddle-room n. rare a room set apart for untidy work.
ΚΠ
1886 E. Lynn Linton Paston Carew v, in Temple Bar Feb. 276 A..room on the ground-floor, which the Clinton girls had made their ‘muddle-room’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
muddlev.
/ˈmʌdl/, U.S. /ˈməd(ə)l/ I. Senses relating to mud.† 2. transitive. Perhaps: to throw into the mud, to knock down. Obsolete. rare.
1. † b. intransitive. To occupy oneself in dirty or messy activities; to rummage among distasteful matters. Obsolete.
a. intransitive. To bathe or wallow in mud or muddy water; to grub or root in the soil. Of ducks, etc.: to dabble or feed in mud or muddy water. Also in figurative context. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in specific manner > irregular movement or agitation > move irregularly or be agitated [verb (intransitive)] > roll or tumble about > of persons or animals > wallow
wallowc900
swolderc1200
slabc1315
rolla1398
muddlea1450
welter1530
swetter1536
topple1542
swelt1575
swelter1595
sludder1874
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > dirtiness or soiling with specific kinds of dirt > be or become dirty or soiled with specific kinds of dirt [verb (intransitive)] > be dirty by being trailed in mud > wallow or dabble in mud
muddlea1450
moila1566
soss1575
spuddle1630
mudlark1870
the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > [verb (intransitive)] > rout around with the bill
muddle1623
a1450 (?1348) R. Rolle Form of Living (Cambr.) in Eng. Writings (1931) 94 (MED) Þi thoght, þat was ay donward, modeland [v.r. moldand] in þe erth, whils þou was in þe worlde, now be ay upwarde.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 714 Paulus Venetus saith, that..they [sc. unicorns] muddle in the durt like Swine.
1623 W. Lisle in tr. Ælfric Saxon Treat. Old & New Test. To Rdr. 20 As duckes who delight euer to leaue the cleere spring, and muddle in waters of their owne fouling.
1727 R. Bradley Chomel's Dictionaire Oeconomique (Dublin ed.) at Approaching They will quit the Middle of the Stream, and muddle along the Sides.
a1745 J. Swift Dick's Variety 15 He never muddles in the Dirt Nor scowers the Street without a Shirt.
1845 S. Judd Margaret ii. iii. 241 The tree..with more ease than a duck, muddles for nourishment with its roots.
1900 F. M. Ford Aldington Knoll in Sel. Poems (1997) 12 He digged till ten and he muddled on Till he'd digged up a sword and a skilliton.
ΚΠ
1649 J. Burroughes Heavenly Conversation in Two Treat. vi. 111 While thou art mudling in the world, and plodding for thy self in the things of this world.
1756 F. Greville & F. Greville Maxims, Characters, & Refl. 221 His summum bonum is muddling in parchments, in the offals of dulness and tastlessness.
1822 J. Galt Sir Andrew Wylie II. ii. 21 I'll..muddle about the root o' this affair till I get at it.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus iii. ix. 97/2 Dyers, washers, and wringers, that puddle and muddle in their dark recesses.
ΚΠ
1568 Christis Kirk on Grene in W. T. Ritchie Bannatyne MS (1928) II. 266 He mudlet thame [v.rr. mudlit thame, muddled] doun lyk ony myss.
3. transitive. To make (a liquid) muddy or turbid, to cloud.
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
1676 A. Marvell Mr. Smirke sig. K3 Where they mudled the Water and Fished after.
1692 R. L'Estrange Fables iii. 2 Villain (says he) how dare you lye muddling the Water that I'm a drinking?
1832 D. Brewster Lett. Nat. Magic xi. 268 It muddled the water which it drank with its bill.
1899 A. M. Fairbairn Catholicism ii. 61 The churches that do nothing to reach and purify the source only help to muddle the stream.
1989 P. Genega Striking Water 40 One hour alone she allowed herself sea-side, muddling the tide pools.
II. Senses relating to mixing.
4. transitive. To mar the clearness or sharpness of (colours); to mix (colours) together (also in); also figurative. †to muddle over: to variegate, mottle (obsolete).In quot. 1596 the verbs seem to be comic alterations of Dutch terms of painting; but the passage is obscure.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > colour > quality of colour > [verb (transitive)] > make impure or unclear
muddle1596
muddy1811
the world > matter > colour > variegation > patch of colour > mark with patches [verb (transitive)] > mottle
to muddle over1596
mottle1602
spattle1611
1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. F4 I haue..ouzled, gidumbled, muddled, and drizled it [sc. the ‘picture’ of Gabriel Harvey] so finely, that [etc.].
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Evangelists & Acts (Mark ii. 12) He cares not to gild gold, or muddle over a topaz.
1687 C. Sedley Bellamira v. i, in Wks. (1778) II. 178 This drinking does so muddle one's complexion and take off one's mettle.
a1807 J. Opie Lect. on Painting (1809) iv. 142 Colours..little muddled by vehicles, and subsequent attempts to mend the first touches.
1863 E. V. Neale Analogy Thought & Nature 259 The transparent freshness of water-color drawings, when the washes are not muddled.
1976 D. Francis In Frame xiv. 203 And you get grey..by muddling together red, white and blue.
1978 J. Updike Coup (1979) i. 37 The premature gray and show-me squint of these Yankees is muddled in with their something eternally puerile, awkward, winning, and hopeful.
5. transitive. U.S. To make (a drink) by mixing ingredients; to add (an ingredient) to a drink. Cf. muddler n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > preparation of drinks > [verb (transitive)] > mix
balderdash1674
muddle1879
1879 Atlantic Monthly May 662/2 Drink was in a like manner muddled by a multitudinous compounding.
1890 Cent. Dict. Muddle, to mix, stir: as, to muddle chocolate or drinks.
1946 New Yorker 11 May 70/2 The several Hoffritz shops around town have a solid-bronze bottle opener..which will crush or chip ice, muddle drinks, and..lift caps.
1948 Sun (Baltimore) 1 Jan. 15/1 ‘A man who would muddle a sprig of mint,’ Cobb used to say, ‘would snatch a babe from its cradle and bash its brains out.’
1958 A. L. Simon Dict. Wines 147/2 Whisky smash. Muddle one lump of sugar with a half jigger of water.
III. Senses relating to confusion.
6.
a. transitive. To bungle or mismanage (an undertaking, etc.); to deal ineptly or incompetently with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > be unskilled in [verb (transitive)] > bungle
botch1530
bungle1530
mumble1588
muddle1605
mash1642
bumble?1719
to fall through ——1726
fuck1776
blunder1805
to make a mull of1821
bitch1823
mess1823
to make a mess of1834
smudge1864
to muck up1875
boss1887
to make balls of1889
duff1890
foozle1892
bollocks1901
fluff1902
to make a muck of1903
bobble1908
to ball up1911
jazz1914
boob1915
to make a hash of1920
muff1922
flub1924
to make a hat of1925
to ass up1932
louse1934
screw1938
blow1943
to foul up1943
eff1945
balls1947
to make a hames of1947
to arse up1951
to fuck up1967
dork1969
sheg1981
bodge1984
1605 J. Sylvester in tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. Lectoribus sig. B2 Not daring to meddle with Apelles Table; This haue I muddled as my Mvse was able.
1885 National Rev. July 675 It was only when all services had been muddled, and when the whole Governmental machinery had come to a standstill, that Nubar Pasha put down his foot.
1905 G. K. Chesterton Heretics 18 Now our affairs are hopelessly muddled by strong silent men.
1985 M. Gordon Men & Angels xii. 210 Hamlet wasn't a very good model. He had certainly muddled things.
b. transitive. To confuse (two things); to confuse (one thing) with another; to mix together mentally.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > misjudgement > indiscriminateness > fail to distinguish or confuse [verb (transitive)]
confound1581
muddy1604
blunder1676
blend1780
to mix upa1806
muddle1836
confuse1862
1836 S. R. Maitland Remarks 57 To muddle the Valdesii..with the Cathari.
1900 Westm. Gaz. 22 Mar. 3/2 It is childish nonsense to muddle good and bad schools together and strike an average.
1983 M. Bloch Marxism & Anthropology (BNC) 76 Writers..have muddled the words ‘matriliny’—descent through the female line—and ‘matriarchy’—rule by women.
c. transitive. To make confused; to disorder, to put in disarray.
ΚΠ
1864 J. H. Newman Apologia App. 43 My Critic has muddled it together in a most extraordinary manner.
1939 D. Thomas Let. 2 Nov. (1987) 426 Is it any worse to receive a good salary for muddling information, censoring news, licking official stamps, etc. than it is to kill?
1943 P. Larkin Let. 19 Oct. in Sel. Lett. (1992) 78 Tuesday night is Amis night, as well as Brains Trust night... The men are speaking out of the radio set now, and muddling the way I think.
1986 Dædalus Spring 195 The anti-Vietnam War movement muddles the issue, because it is possible to see the period as primarily concerned with the war.
1998 Independent on Sunday 22 Nov. (Review Suppl.) 38/1 The same trend of far-flung human travel that gave biogeographers their data also began to muddle and nullify that data.
d. transitive. to muddle up: to fail to distinguish correctly between, to identify wrongly; to mix up in the mind; (also) to bring into a disordered state. Frequently in passive.
ΚΠ
1870 W. S. Gilbert Medical Man 33 Books, papers of all kinds, all muddled up together.
1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn ii. 27 Do you want to go to doing different from what's in the books, and get things all muddled up?
1934 L. Charteris Boodle xii. 261 The psychological problem..muddled itself up with a litter of brown paper and a cardboard box, a wooden plate of pecking chickens, [etc.].
1942 J. Cary To be a Pilgrim xix. 36 All the things you silly geese have muddled up till you don't know your etc. from an etc.
1944 R. Lehmann Ballad & Source 104 Sometimes she doesn't remember our names and muddles us up.
1986 P. Grosskurth Melanie Klein i. 16 When she muddled up her Latin conjugations he would exclaim sharply, ‘You a scholar!’
1991 Parents (BNC) Mar. A roomy, padded bag..is worth its weight in gold. Bottles and nappies don't get muddled up.
7.
a. transitive. To intoxicate with alcoholic drink; to make (speech) blurred or garbled, to befuddle. Frequently in passive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > drink > thirst > excess in drinking > [verb (transitive)] > make drunk
fordrenchc1000
indrunkena1300
mazec1390
distemper1491
whittle1530
swill1548
inebriate1555
disguise1560
intoxicatea1566
tipple1566
overtake1577
betipple1581
seethe1599
fuddlec1600
fox1611
wound1613
cupa1616
fuzzle1621
to gild overa1625
sousea1625
tip1637
tosticate1650
drunkify1664
muddle1668
tipsy1673
sop1682
fuzz1685
confound1705
mellowa1761
prime1788
lush1821
soak1826
touch1833
rosin1877
befuddle1887
slew1888
lush1927
wipe1972
1668 Duchess of Newcastle Sociable Compan. ii. iv. 37 in Plays The brain is only muddl'd with the vapour of drink.
1692 R. Bentley Boyle Lect. ii. 33 Their old Master..seems to have had his Brains so muddled.
1718 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 25 Sept. (1965) I. 435 A head muddled with Spleen.
1737 B. Franklin in Pennsylvania Gaz. 13 Jan. 2/1 He is Addled..He's in Liquor..Merry..Muddled.
a1822 P. B. Shelley Peter Bell III iv, in Poet. Wks. (?1840) 242/1 A toad-like lump of limb and feature, With mind, and heart, and fancy muddled.
1834 S. Cooper Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 691 The stupor is increased, and the speech muddled.
1863 E. C. Gaskell Sylvia's Lovers I. xii. 254 Philip had..a weak head, and disliked muddling himself with drink.
1886 G. Allen For Maimie's Sake xvii The liquor was muddling her.
b. intransitive. To become befuddled with drink. †to muddle on: to continue drinking when intoxicated (obsolete). rare.
ΚΠ
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew To Muddle on, tho' so [sc. half drunk], yet to Drink on.
1890 Cent. Dict. Muddle, to become confused, esp. from drink.
c. transitive. To bewilder, to make (a person) unable to think clearly; to confuse (a person's mind).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > inattention > mental wandering > confuse, bewilder [verb (transitive)]
bewhapec1320
mara1350
blunder?a1400
mada1425
to turn a person's brainc1440
astonish1530
maskc1540
dare1547
bemud1599
bedazea1605
dizzy1604
bemist1609
muddify1647
lose1649
bafflea1657
bewildera1680
bother?1718
bemuse1734
muddlea1748
flurrya1757
muzz1786
muzzle1796
flusker1841
haze1858
bemuddle1862
jitter1932
giggle-
a1748 T. Brerewood Galfred & Juetta (1772) ii. 36 Being, then, exceeding fuddled, And, now, his Brain by Vision muddled, It turn'd him topsiturvy quite.
1873 J. G. Holland Arthur Bonnicastle xvi Mullens ran on in this way, muddled by his unexpected good fortune and his greed.
1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 127 Ferrars..got regularly muddled over a potty question about Jacob.
1971 Nature 7 May 65/3 Let us not muck up our language, lest we also muddle our minds.
1993 R. Ash Calypso's Island (BNC) She felt..as if she were screaming silently inside. Confusion was muddling her responses.
8.
a. intransitive. to muddle on (now rare), to muddle along: to progress or live one's life in a haphazard or unplanned way; to attempt to cope despite lack of expertise or proper means.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > recourse > have recourse [verb (intransitive)] > get by in haphazard way
to rub out1570
to muddle on1701
the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > succeed or be a success [verb (intransitive)] > achieve success (of persons) > in spite of lack of skill or foresight
to muddle throughc1864
to muddle along1899
1701 J. Norris Ess. Ideal World I. viii. 437 Mudling on in the little affairs of a lower and more innocent, perhaps, but not less ingaged life.
1802 H. Martin Helen of Glenross II. 226 We never could muddle on at Invermay.
1852 C. M. Yonge Two Guardians xv. 294 What does she do but let me go muddling on with that old woman Wells!
1879 J. McCarthy Hist. our Own Times II. xx. 98 To ask the ministers who had resigned to resume their places and muddle on as they best could.
1899 J. E. Taylor Let. 22 Dec. in D. Ayerst Guardian (1971) xviii. 245 I suppose we shall muddle along and suffer the natural results.
1901 Scotsman 28 Feb. 8/2 They would muddle on in the old slipshod way of trusting to chance.
1915 C. P. S. Gilman Herland vii Do you really think it's to our credit that we have muddled along with all our poverty and disease?
1931 Economist 21 Mar. 599/1 It reveals us as indolent, complacent, mentally lazy, hide-bound by tradition, content to ‘muddle along’, neglectful of self-help.
1989 C. R. Legg Issues in Psychobiol. 38 Given our present level of ignorance there is a good case for muddling along as best we can until the theory catches up with the data.
1995 M. Haslam Whole Bauble 246 Abandoned punters muddle on.
b. intransitive. Without following adverb: to busy oneself in a confused, unmethodical, and ineffective manner. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity
trifle?a1400
loiterc1400
tiffc1440
tifflec1440
to pick a salad1520
to play the wanton1529
fiddle1530
dauntc1540
piddle1545
dally?1548
pittlea1568
pingle1574
puddle1591
to thrum caps1594
maginate1623
meecha1625
pudder1624
dabble1631
fanfreluche1653
dawdlea1656
taigle17..
niff-naff1728
tiddle1747
peddle1755
gammer1788
quiddle1789
muddle1791
browse1803
niddle1808
poke1811
fal-lal1818
potter1824
footer1825
putter1827
shaffle1828
to fool about1838
mike1838
piffle1847
mess1853
to muck about1856
tinker1856
bohemianize1857
to fool around1860
frivol1866
june1869
muss1876
to muddle about (also around)1877
slummock1877
dicker1888
moodle1893
to fart about1899
to fart about (or around)1899
plouter1899
futz1907
monkey1916
to arse around1919
to play around1929
to fuck around1931
tool1932
frig1933
boondoggle1935
to muck around1935
to screw around1935
to bugger about1937
to bugger around1939
to piss about1943
to dick around1948
to jerk around1953
fart-arse1954
to fanny around1969
slop1973
dork1982
to twat around (or about)1992
to dick about1996
1791 J. Byng Diary 11 July in Torrington Diaries (1935) II. 387 We sat muddling over the fire.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary II. ix. 232 If I had gone but two or dree feet deeper down in the earth—mein himmel! it had been all mine own—so much more as I have been muddling about to get from this fool's man.
1849 W. Irving Oliver Goldsmith (rev. ed.) vii. 87 He meddled or rather muddled with literature.
1882 M. E. Braddon Mt. Royal I. i. 3 We were muddling hopelessly in an endeavour to make good sensible rules.
1895 G. B. Shaw Let. 1 Mar. (1965) I. 491 I should muddle at it until I got it right.
1906 Outlook 26 May 710/2 He spends much of his time..in muddling with his flowers and vegetables.
1907 E. M. Forster Longest Journey iv. 63 He muddles all day with poetry and old dead people, and then tries to bring it into life.
c. intransitive. to muddle through: to attain one's object by good fortune rather than good management.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > succeed [verb (passive)] > succeed in spite of lack of skill
to muddle throughc1864
the world > action or operation > prosperity > success > succeed or be a success [verb (intransitive)] > achieve success (of persons) > in spite of lack of skill or foresight
to muddle throughc1864
to muddle along1899
c1864 J. Bright in J. McCarthy Reminisc. (1899) I. 85 My opinion is that the Northern States will manage somehow to muddle through.
1910 H. Belloc Verses 86 A gentleman who cannot jest Remarked that we should muddle through.
1920 F. Crane Business of Living 173 It is said of the British that they muddle through. They do. But they muddle—through. That is, when they make mistakes, they go on, for they know how to make mistakes.
1948 D. B. Hawkins in R. O'Sullivan King's Good Servant viii. 92 You can muddle through only with the aid of sound instincts; without them you make the muddle but you do not get through.
1972 Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 9/5 In the absence of a national program, America muddles through to produce its energy.
1994 C. Grant X-Files: Goblins xiii. 158 Oh, I think we'll manage. We'll muddle through somehow.
d. intransitive. to muddle about (also around): to behave in an aimless way, to act with no definite purpose.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > inaction > idleness, lack of occupation or activity > be idle or unoccupied [verb (intransitive)] > potter or waste time in trifling activity
trifle?a1400
loiterc1400
tiffc1440
tifflec1440
to pick a salad1520
to play the wanton1529
fiddle1530
dauntc1540
piddle1545
dally?1548
pittlea1568
pingle1574
puddle1591
to thrum caps1594
maginate1623
meecha1625
pudder1624
dabble1631
fanfreluche1653
dawdlea1656
taigle17..
niff-naff1728
tiddle1747
peddle1755
gammer1788
quiddle1789
muddle1791
browse1803
niddle1808
poke1811
fal-lal1818
potter1824
footer1825
putter1827
shaffle1828
to fool about1838
mike1838
piffle1847
mess1853
to muck about1856
tinker1856
bohemianize1857
to fool around1860
frivol1866
june1869
muss1876
to muddle about (also around)1877
slummock1877
dicker1888
moodle1893
to fart about1899
to fart about (or around)1899
plouter1899
futz1907
monkey1916
to arse around1919
to play around1929
to fuck around1931
tool1932
frig1933
boondoggle1935
to muck around1935
to screw around1935
to bugger about1937
to bugger around1939
to piss about1943
to dick around1948
to jerk around1953
fart-arse1954
to fanny around1969
slop1973
dork1982
to twat around (or about)1992
to dick about1996
1877 Littell's Living Age Mar. 621/2 A man that has to muddle about in the hypocrisies of politics.
1888 Mrs. H. Ward Robert Elsmere II. ii. xviii. 95 I suppose you muddle about among the poor like other people.
1955 R. M. Adams Ikon: Milton & Mod. Critics 120 A faculty for muddling around in interesting places.
1981 D. W. Goodwin Alcoholism xv. 114 I could have muddled around in depression and self-pity for the rest of my life.
e. intransitive. to muddle into: to enter or involve oneself in haphazardly. rare.
ΚΠ
1900 Harper's Weekly 24 Mar. 264/2 The government ‘muddled’ into the war, and has made a muddle of it ever since.
1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Feb. 27/1 Maple Leafs can muddle into the slum area of fifth place and there are few hoots of derision.
f. intransitive. to muddle by: = to muddle along at sense 8a.
ΚΠ
1985 Chicago Tribune 6 Oct. iii. 4/6 When people are technophobics, they usually just muddle by... Only when it gets more pronounced, when it interferes with life, do they seek help.
1989 Guardian 21 July ii. 16/2 Sadly, I cannot afford the counsel of perfection and for the time being will continue to muddle by on my current favourites.
1995 Guardian 13 Sept. i. 15/8 Cabinet ministers usually muddled by on £5,000 a year or so.
9. transitive. to muddle away: to spend (money, time, etc.) without purpose or result; to fritter away.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > waste
spilla1000
scatter1154
aspilla1250
rospa1325
waste1340
spend1390
consumec1425
waste1474
miswenda1500
forsumea1510
to cast away1530
to throw away1561
embezzle1578
squander1593
palter1595
profuse1611
squander1611
ravel1614
sport1622
to fool away1628
to stream out1628
to fribble away1633
sweal1655
frisk1665
to fiddle away1667
wantonize1673
slattera1681
swattle1681
drivel1686
swatter1690
to muddle away1707
squander1717
sot1746
slattern1747
meisle1808
fritter1820
waster1821
slobber1837
to cut to waste1863
fringe1863
potter1883
putter1911
profligate1938
to piddle away1942
haemorrhage1978
spaff2002
1707 C. Cibber Double Gallant III. 28 Prodigious! how some Women can muddle away their Money upon Houswifry.
1827 W. Scott Jrnl. 10 Dec. (1941) 149 I muddled away the evening over my Sheriff-Court processes.
1853 E. Bulwer-Lytton My Novel I. ii. v. 114 The elder son..had muddled and sotted away much of his share in the Leslie property.
1875 L. Stephen Let. 29 Apr. in N. Annan Leslie Stephen (1984) ii. 74 You throw away your money so recklessly that you don't in the least know how much you have spent nor on what you have spent it. It is simply muddled away.
1912 E. Martyn Grangecolman III. 40 A wealthy and steady man..would have prevented you from muddling away your life.
1992 Economist 21 Nov. 37/1 No sooner was the franchise extended than they muddled away the great Empire, the inheritance which rugged centuries had gathered together for them.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1808v.a1450