muckn.1
/mʌk/, U.S. /mək/ I. Excrement, manure; dirt, waste matter.
1. † b. Any substance used as a fertilizer. Obsolete.
a. Dung, excrement, esp. the dung of farm animals used for manure (often mixed with vegetable matter, usually straw); farmyard manure. In early use also: †rotting flesh, putrescence (obsolete).The general sense ‘excrement’ is little attested between the end of the Middle English period and the 20th cent.Recorded earliest in muck-silver n. at Compounds 2.short muck: see short adj. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > dunging > dung
dungOE
muckc1268
dunging?1440
fimea1475
fulyiec1480
tath1492
soil1607
street soil1607
dung-water1608
soiling1610
mucking1611
short dung, manure, muck1618
folding1626
muck water1626
stable manure1629
long dung1658
spit-dunga1671
stercoration1694
street dirt1694
horse-litter1721
pot-dunga1722
sock1790
street manure1793
police manure1825
fold-manure1829
slurry1965
c1268 Inquisition Post Mortem (P.R.O.: C 132/36/2) m. 2 De quadam consuetudine que vocatur mucsiluer vj. s. iij. d. ob.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 2557 Summe he deden..Muc and fen ut of burges beren.
c1350 Nominale (Cambr. Ee.4.20) in Trans. Philol. Soc. (1906) 6* F[emme]. ble sye et fenz esparplie, W[oman]. scheruth corne and muk spredith.
c1390 in C. Brown Relig. Lyrics 14th Cent. (1924) 142 Þi flesc..wol rote..þou..nedes dye..For eueri mok most in-to myre.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. vi. 144 Ȝe myȝte trauaille..Diken or deluen..or bere mukke a-felde.
1429 in Norfolk Archaeol. (1904) 15 153 (MED) On ye thursday..ij carf carteful of mucke to.
a1475 Sidrak & Bokkus (Lansd.) (Ph.D. diss., Univ. of Washington) (1965) 8623 (MED) Wormes beþ yfostrid..Of þe muk of þe grettest metis Þat a man or a womman eetis.
1538 in T. Wright Three Chapters Lett. Suppression Monasteries (1843) 176 Our lond is not tylde, muke is not led, our corne lyth in the barn [etc.].
1561 in W. Mackay & H. C. Boyd Rec. Inverness (1911) I. 70 To..arreist the brig that na..man..suld carye muke our it vnder all heast pane.
1618 W. Lawson New Orchard & Garden i. ii. 4 Digge a trench halfe a yard deepe,..and fill the same with good short, hot, and tender mucke.
1650 Pittenweem Ann. 66 To collect and transport muck and war for gudding his glebe.
1725 A. Ramsay Gentle Shepherd ii. iii. 24 Is there nae Muck to lead?
1790 E. Butler Jrnl. 15 Nov. in E. M. Bell Hamwood Papers (1930) x. 267 Roses and Lilies secured from frost by Muck.
1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. vi. 264 The violent fermentation which is necessary for reducing farm-yard manure to the state in which it is called short muck.
1890 Farmer's Gaz. 4 Jan. 7/3 Want of ‘muck’ causes want of apples.
1956 G. E. Evans Ask Fellows who cut Hay xxv. 227 They were usually made wide enough so that each man could have a load o' muck taken to his yard.
1995 Independent 13 May 25/5 People..walking around with no stockings on their legs and dog muck and crisp packets everywhere.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > use of other natural fertilizers > other natural fertilizers
marl1280
pomacec1450
cod's head1545
buck-ashes1563
bucking-ashes1577
guano1604
greaves1614
rape cake1634
muck1660
wool-nipping1669
willow-earth1683
green dressing1732
bone flour1758
bone powder1758
poudrette1764
bone dust1771
green manure1785
fish-manure1788
wassal1797
lime-rubbish1805
Bude sand1808
bone1813
cancerine1840
inch-bones1846
bonemeal1849
silver sand1851
fish guano1857
food1857
terramare1866
kainite1868
fish-flour1879
soil1879
fish-scrap1881
gas lime1882
bean cake1887
inoculant1916
1660 in Watertown (Mass.) Rec. (1894) I. i. 68 He shall not cary off the p[re]mises any compost, muck or manure.
1662 W. Jackson Let. 20 Nov. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1969) VI. 322 All the ground, where Salt or Brine is spilt, is, when dugg up, excellent Muck, for Grazing Ground.
1663 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Peebles (1910) 55 Inhibites..all..persones..to cast any divoittes or faill upon the tounes propper landes or loanings..for muck or any other use.
1773 Ann. Reg. 1772 Projects 108/1 The ashes, which are called pot-ash muck, make excellent manure... The principal inducement to make pot-ash is, for the muck.
c. Agriculture and Soil Science (originally U.S.). Soil material consisting of decayed plant remains and suitable for use as manure, similar to peat and (in later use) distinguished from it by being more thoroughly decomposed and having a higher mineral content; (as a count noun) a particular kind of such material.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > kind of earth or soil > [noun] > organic soil
muck1832
muck soil1852
organic soil1886
1832 H. L. Barnum Farmer's Own Bk. 35 On tearing up some handfuls of the ground, this is well blackened of course, and little is thought of looking for the sub-soil, as those invariably do, who have once been deceived by black muck, and these soft beds of leaves.
1849 E. Chamberlain Indiana Gazetteer (ed. 3) 305 The soil is a black muck, based on clay.
1859 S. W. Johnson Ess. Peat, Muck, & Commercial Manures 63 Some intelligent farmers call the surface layers of their swamps, which are loose and light in texture, swamp muck, and to the bottom layers, which are more compact and often serviceable as fuel, they apply the term peat.
1889 Cent. Mag. Dec. 217/2 The soil proved to be a wet muck, overlaying sand with boulders.
1897 G. P. Merrill Treat. Rocks ii. ii. 149 An impure variety [of peat] containing a considerable quantity of siliceous sand, and locally known as ‘muck’, is used as a fertilizer for ‘multching’ throughout New England.
1928 Bull. Amer. Soil Survey Assoc. 9 44 Peat has been defined as containing over 65% of organic matter and Muck as containing from 25% to 65%. It does not appear desirable to place such definite limits of composition but rather to base the distinction mainly on the degree of decomposition.
1930 C. E. Thorne Maintenance Soil Fertility ii. 15 Muck and peat..may be compared to soil and subsoil.
1989 J. McPhee Control of Nature (1991) 117 Steel H-beams..reached down at various angles, as pilings, ninety feet through sands and silts, through clayey peats and organic mucks.
d. Frequently depreciative. muck and magic n. organic methods of farming or gardening (with reference to their reliance on manure rather than chemical fertilizers); also muck and mystery.
ΚΠ
1970 Jrnl. Ecol. 58 900 The economic biologist, in particular, is still rather liable to class the whole business with ‘muck and magic’, and to ignore the economic implications of so general a phenomenon.
1975 Listener 17 July 94/3 20 years ago, a comment like that would have been dismissed as belonging to the ‘muck and mysticism’ school.
1980 Good Housek. Dec. 226/6 The days of muck and mystery, when poultry were fed on ‘Tottenham Pudding’—kitchen waste from hotels and restaurants, boiled up and sterilised.
1989 Independent 3 May 3/3 An official seal of approval is now available to the ‘muck-and-magic’ farmers of Britain in the form of the UK Register of Organic Food Standards.
1991 Garden (Royal Hort. Soc.) Mar. 104 Lecture: Not just muck and magic: practical organic gardening for amateurs, by Roy Lacey.
2.
a. Mud, dirt, filth; rubbish, refuse. Also in figurative context.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirt > [noun]
gorec725
horeeOE
filthOE
foulnessOE
dirta1300
gallc1400
ordurec1400
foulinga1425
harlotry1439
muck1440
noisance1473
horeness1495
vileness1495
naughtiness1533
vility1540
bawdiness1552
vildness1597
snottery1598
soilage1598
sordidity1600
soil?1605
sluttery1607
nastiness1611
bawdry1648
sords1653
crott1657
feculence1662
nast1789
clart1808
schmutz1838
crap1925
grunge1965
gunge1969
grot1971
spooge1987
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 348 Muk, or duste.., pulvis.
1505 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1869) I. 105 For purgeing and clengeing of the hie streitt..of all maner of mwk, filth of fische and flesche, and fulzie weit and dry.
a1525 Coventry Leet Bk. 191 They ordeyne that ffrom thys tyme fforward that any muk or ffilth be Cast ther by eny person, but ȝif the Comyn seriant do execucion he schall lese his office.
1533 Presentm. of Juries in Surtees Misc. (1888) 34 That no man cast eny..mouk uppon the chanell.
1561–2 in R. Adam Edinb. Rec. (1899) I. 366 Deching of the theifis holl..and taking away of the muk thair of.
c1580 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1871) II. 265 The casting of..mwk, ballast of schippis and siclyk in the said heavin [of Leith].
1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1895) II. 462 Now thair conschiences ar compellit be force of the Edictes of the Catholikis, in thair muk to clag and fyle thame selfe.
a1616 W. Shakespeare Coriolanus (1623) ii. ii. 126 He..look'd vpon things precious, as they were The common Muck of the World. View more context for this quotation
1661 J. Glanvill Vanity of Dogmatizing xxiv. 247 The Swine may see the Pearl, which yet he values but with the ordinary muck.
1669 Bp. E. Hopkins Serm. Vanity (1685) 10 Whence is it, that we..lye here groveling in the thick clay and muck of this world?
1794 Carrier of Mass. Mag. to Every Patron 1 Jan. (single sheet) As splish splash, dashing through the mud, and muck, He onward bore his scientific truck.
1849 C. Dickens David Copperfield (1850) iii. 24 Mr. Peggotty went out to wash himself in a kettleful of hot water, remarking that ‘cold would never get his muck off’.
1861 C. S. Calverley Verses & Transl. (1862) 20 Who fled like an arrow, nor turned a hair, Through all the mire and muck.
1896 J. Lumsden Battle of Dunbar & Prestonpans 14 His colour, of the hue of fire, Was weel-toned down wi' muck an' mire.
1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 66 You have the blazing cheek to keep me lying here in the filthy muck.
1969 F. Mowat Boat who wouldn't Float (1976) xvii. 199 She was enslimed from the tops of her masts to the bottom of her keel with foul black muck that stank like a sewage farm.
1993 S. Stewart Ramlin Rose xii. 120 We laid sacks over the 'atches so we wouldn't traipse the muck back into our cabins.
b. Waste material removed during mining, quarrying, or civil engineering operations; (North American) surface material overlying a placer deposit.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > mineral material > [noun] > mining refuse or rubbish
rough1677
old man1747
small1778
stent1778
vestry1784
gobbin1811
spoil1838
stowing1860
dump1865
muck1883
spoil-heap1883
mine-dump1909
the world > the earth > minerals > mineral deposits > features of stratum or vein > [noun] > material above > above other minerals
muck1883
roof1931
1883 W. S. Gresley Gloss. Terms Coal Mining 171 Muck (Y[orkshire]), see Dirt [= ‘clay, bind, or other useless rubbish produced in mining, and which accidentally is sent out of the pit mixed with the coal’].
1897 J. W. Leonard Gold Fields Klondike 180 The top ‘muck’, as it is called by the miners, is, when thawed out, about two-thirds water and one-third sediment.
1908 J. M. Maclaren Gold ii. 484 The low-level gravels..lie on decomposed schist bed-rock, and are covered by black frozen ‘muck’ (silt, vegetable matter, and ice, the last forming 75 per cent. of the mass) of a thickness of 2 to 30 feet.
1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. 148 His..hands were white with ‘muck’, a mixture of rock-dust and water.
1959 Times 16 Nov. 8/5 About 400,000 tons of spoil (or muck as the mining engineer calls it) will be brought to the surface.
1987 Telford Jrnl. 4 June 6/2 The muck from the quarry used to silt up the stream and make it a flood.
3. colloquial. A dishevelled, sweaty, or dirty state. Chiefly in to be in a muck, to be all of a muck. Also figurative.muck of sweat: cf. muck sweat n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > [noun]
foulnessOE
uncleannessOE
filthheadc1300
foulhead1340
filtha1425
filthiness?c1425
horynessc1425
uncleanliness1502
immundicity?1541
filthhood1582
dirtiness1607
slovenliness1617
muckiness1676
turpitude1684
muck1766
dirt1774
grot1971
1766 O. Goldsmith Vicar of Wakefield I. ix. 83 She observed, that by the living jingo, she was all of a muck of sweat.
1788 M. P. Andrews Belphegor i. ii. 6 Ouf, I'm all of a muck, let's take a little breath.
1800 Sporting Mag. 16 284 ‘I'm all in such a muck’, she cried, ‘with so much dust and jolting.’
1876 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Tom Sawyer xxiii. 183 When a body's in such a muck of trouble.
1893 G. Leveson-Gower Gloss. Surrey Words (at cited word) I'm ashamed you should come in, we are all in a muck.
1933 Sun (Baltimore) 30 Aug. 10/7 Already I am in what certain excellent persons on the Eastern Shore call a muck of a sweat.
1989 Trans. Yorks. Dial. Soc. 17 45 Ah'm all i mi muck (= ‘I'm in my working clothes’).
II. A sordid or unpleasant thing or person.† 4. Worldly wealth, money, esp. regarded as sordid, corrupting, etc. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > money > [noun]
silverc825
feec870
pennieseOE
wortheOE
mintOE
scata1122
spense?c1225
spendinga1290
sumc1300
gooda1325
moneya1325
cattlec1330
muckc1330
reasona1382
pecunyc1400
gilt1497
argentc1500
gelta1529
Mammon1539
ale silver1541
scruff1559
the sinews of war1560
sterling1565
lour1567
will-do-all1583
shell1591
trasha1592
quinyie1596
brass1597
pecuniary1604
dust1607
nomisma1614
countera1616
cross and pilea1625
gingerbreada1625
rhinoa1628
cash1646
grig1657
spanker1663
cole1673
goree1699
mopus1699
quid1699
ribbin1699
bustle1763
necessary1772
stuff1775
needfula1777
iron1785
(the) Spanish1788
pecuniar1793
kelter1807
dibs1812
steven1812
pewter1814
brad1819
pogue1819
rent1823
stumpy1828
posh1830
L. S. D.1835
rivetc1835
tin1836
mint sauce1839
nobbins1846
ochre1846
dingbat1848
dough1848
cheese1850
California1851
mali1851
ducat1853
pay dirt1853
boodle?1856
dinero1856
scad1856
the shiny1856
spondulicks1857
rust1858
soap1860
sugar1862
coin1874
filthy1876
wampum1876
ooftish1877
shekel1883
oil1885
oof1885
mon1888
Jack1890
sploshc1890
bees and honey1892
spending-brass1896
stiff1897
mazuma1900
mazoom1901
cabbage1903
lettuce1903
Oscar Asche1905
jingle1906
doubloons1908
kale1912
scratch1914
green1917
oscar1917
snow1925
poke1926
oodle1930
potatos1931
bread1935
moolah1936
acker1939
moo1941
lolly1943
loot1943
poppy1943
mazoola1944
dosh1953
bickies1966
lovely jubbly1990
scrilla1994
c1330 Body & Soul (Auch.) (1889) 52 (MED) Þan hadde ich neuer..of þis warldes mok ȝerned.
?c1335 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 91 (MED) Þe wrechis wringit þe mok so fast, Up ham silf hi nul noȝt spened.
a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) v. 4855 (MED) Ther was with him non other fare Bot forto..spare, Of worldes muk to gete encress.
?c1430 (c1400) J. Wyclif Eng. Wks. (1880) 147 Ȝif þei ben pore..þei ben cursed for þei han not moche muk.
a1450 (c1412) T. Hoccleve De Regimine Principum (Harl. 4866) (1897) 1632 Þey þat marien hem for muk & good..al his lyf þei lede in heuynesse.
a1500 in PMLA (1954) 69 642 (MED) In worldely muk lyeth here confidence.
1526 Pylgrimage of Perfection (de Worde) f. 17 The drosse and mucke of this worldly Egypte.
c1568 W. Lauder Minor Poems i. 550 Grit meruell is, of ȝow that gettis this muk, Bot ȝe sould haue aboundance with gude luk.
1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene iii. x. 31 But minds of mortall men are muchell mard And mov'd amisse with massy mucks unmeet regard.
1633 Match at Mid-night i. sig. B2v I tell 'em I haue given over Brokering, moyling for mucke and trash.
1713 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. Nov. (1965) I. 201 For those that dont regard Worldly Muck there's extrodinary good Choice indeed.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) (at cited word) What's all his muck good tul?
1864 A. Trollope Can you forgive Her? I. xlv. 106 I remarked that his mind seemed to be intent on low things, and specially named the muck..‘Money's never dirty,’ she said.
5. figurative. A person or thing regarded as contemptuous, sordid, or worthless; (esp. in recent use) lewd or pornographic material.
ΚΠ
c1390 in C. Horstmann Minor Poems Vernon MS (1892) i. 270 (MED) Þou proude mon, þou art nouȝt elles But of Muk bretful a sekke.
1600 Looke about You ii. sig. B2 The youngest of King Henries stocke, would fitly serve to make a weather-cocke... Gape earth, challenge thine owne as Gloster lyes, Pitty such mucke is couer'd with the skies.
1683 J. Dryden & N. Lee Duke of Guise iii. i. 23 You moving Dirt, you rank stark Muck o' th' World.
1723 S. Centlivre Artifice i. 9 If there is the least Grain of Vertue left in that Heap of Muck and Immorality, Sir Philip, I may yet prevent this hateful Match.
1888 W. E. Henley & R. L. Stevenson Deacon Brodie (rev. ed.) i. iii. 24 Newcastle Jemmy! Muck: that's my opinion of him... I'll mop the floor up with him any day.
1928 W. Ponder Clara Butt 138 All I can say is..sing 'em muck! It's all they can understand.
1967 Listener 20 Apr. 524/3 Is this the kind of muck which the National Film Theatre is going to bring to Norwich?
1980 G. Priestland At Large (1983) 21 Things would improve all round if only the merchants of muck were made to observe some rules.
1992 Herald (Glasgow) 16 Nov. 8/3 He might do well to..speak to the Commons candidly about clandestine Saddam Hussein. It is a mucky business and the muck will stick to him if he is not careful.
6. colloquial and regional. Foul weather.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > bad weather > [noun]
un-i-withereOE
weathera1122
judgement weather1796
muck1855
Liverpool weather1896
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 113 Muck, dirt. Rain and snow is commonly so called. ‘It hovers for muck,’ it threatens a change.
1943 J. L. Hunt & A. G. Pringle Service Slang 46 Muck, dirty weather.
1996 F. McCourt Angela's Ashes 174 You're drenched entirely. Who sent you out in this muck?
7. colloquial. Unpleasant or unappetizing solid or liquid matter, esp. food, drink, or medicine.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > foulness or filth > foul thing > [noun]
fouleOE
dung?c1225
carrion?1529
feculence1662
nastiness1831
muck1882
stinking fish1935
grunge1965
the mind > emotion > hatred > dislike > disgust > [noun] > something which disgusts
slime1585
ipecacuanhaa1763
nastiness1831
sickener1853
disgustant1866
muck1882
pig's breakfast1933
ick1947
yuck1966
merde1968
scuzz1968
turn-off1975
put-off1977
1882 ‘F. Anstey’ Vice Versâ xvi. 282 ‘If you think the tea worth racing like that for, I don't,’ said Coggs viciously; ‘it's muck.’
1899 E. Phillpotts Human Boy 108 There were bottles of stuff to rub bruises with..and some muck for his eye.
1943 K. Tennant Ride on Stranger iv. 34 He had a habit of greeting any new dish with a loud: ‘What's this muck?’
1950 D. Thomas Let. 12 Feb. (1987) 746 He had pneumonia as well, & though the muck on the lung has not cleared up yet, the Doctors are optimistic.
1961 J. Osborne Entertainer 26 Oooh, that's a nice drop of gin—some of the muck they give you nowadays—tastes like cheap scent.
1991 Courier-Mail (Brisbane) 8 Jan. 2/4 It was a septic-smelling red muck and there were dead fish in it.
8. R.A.F. slang (only during the Second World War (1939–45)). Hostile anti-aircraft fire.
ΚΠ
1940 A. A. Michie & W. Graebner Their Finest Hour iv. 65 I climbed to 12,000 feet, circling along the outside of the searchlights and all the muck that was coming up.
1940 Life 30 Sept. 25/2 The drone of German planes, clatter of anti-aircraft muck, the whistle and thud of bombs grew so loud that I decided it was time to drift down to the basement where we had improved a shelter in a wine cellar.
1945 in Calif. Folklore Q. (1946) 5 380 Anti-aircraft fire is muck or ack-ack, and A. A. batteries sling muck.
Phrases
P1. colloquial. as muck: used as intensifier in the sense ‘very, completely’. sick as muck: = sick as mud at mud n.1 Phrases 2b. wet as muck: very wet, thoroughly wet (cf. muck-wet adj. at Compounds 2).common as muck: see common adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > condition of being or making very wet > very wet [phrase]
like, as wet as, a drowned ratc1500
wet as muck1691
1691 J. Ray N. Country Words in Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) 50 Elsewhere Muck signifies Dung, or Straw that lies rotting, which is usually very moist. Hence those Proverbial Similies, As wet as muck, muck-wet.
1782 F. Burney Cecilia II. iii. i. 14 ‘How did you find yourself when you got home, Sir?’ ‘How? why wet as muck.’
1805 R. Anderson Ballads in Cumberland Dial. 6 Our parson he got drunk as muck.
a1817 W. Muir Poems (1818) 26 A' saft an' soaket, wet as muck.
1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xxxi. 385 In addition to this, it was ‘as thick as muck’, and the ice was all about us.
1878 Notes & Queries 26 Jan. 73/2 If a Scottish southland shepherd comes soaking wet from the hill, or a farmer from the plough..each will describe himself as being ‘wet as muck’.
1917 M. Gibson Let. in Inglorious Soldier (1968) vi. 276 Watson ‘must be as sick as muck’.
1926 E. Duthie Three Short Plays 8 Weel, they'd jist need to be, for the last were as weet's muck.
1935 J. C. Masterman Fate cannot harm Me viii. 154 He would be out any ball and poor old George would be as sick as muck.
1992 S. Gates Rag Nymph (BNC) 56 They don't take them under a shilling a week, and God knows what they charge when they live in... My God! mean as muck, they are.
P2. Chiefly English regional (northern). where there's muck, there's brass and variants: dirty or unpleasant activities can be lucrative.In this proverbial phrase, reference may be intended to any of a variety of senses of muck, depending on context.
ΚΠ
1678 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. (ed. 2) 179 Muck and money go together.]
1774 J. Bennet Poems Several Occasions 116 Alluding to a vulgar proverb, ‘Where there's muck there's money.’
1855 H. G. Bohn Handbk. Prov. 564 Where there is muck there is money.
1943 J. W. Day Farming Adventure xii. 142 ‘Where there's muck there's money’ is as true now as then. But farms today lack the muck.
1967 Punch 13 Sept. 396 ‘Where there's muck there's brass!’ synopsised for many a North-country businessman the value of dirt in the profit-making process.
1989 J. Titford Titford Family 1547–1947 142 Where there's muck, there's brass, as the saying goes—and there was plenty of brass around during the early years of the Industrial Revolution.
P3. colloquial (originally Australian).
Lady Muck n. (also Lord Muck) a self-important, pompous, or pretentious woman (or man); a woman (or man) pretending to have greater importance or status than is really the case.
ΚΠ
1877 Express & Tel. (Adelaide) 7 Nov. Have heard the boy call one of the mates ‘Spider’ after he had been annoyed by the mate, but I have not heard the stewardess call one of them ‘Lord Muck’.
1891 Katoomba Times & Blue Mountaineer (New S. Wales) 20 June He would not favor women having a property qualification for voting. Bridget should have a vote as well as Lady Muck.
1914 Bulletin (Sydney) 3 Sept. 48/1 Here, tell me, my good Lord Muck, Which one of them carries the station brand?
1936 M. Franklin All that Swagger xiv. 137 Fat old thing! Thinks she's Lady Muck, and we are the dirt beneath her feet.
1955 J. Thomas No Banners xxix. 287 Hey, Lord Muck! May we have the honour of introducing ourselves!
1957 I. Cross God Boy (1958) xxii. 190 She sat there, sipping away at her tea like Lady Muck.
1974 G. Moffat Corpse Road xvi. 213 Living in flophouses and all your luggage in a fibre suitcase and carrier bags. And look at you now: Lady Muck. Don't try and tell me you can face a third floor back again.
1993 Racing Post 20 Feb. 9/2 Merry Master is the original big fish in a small pond. He likes to be kingpin, dominant and being treated like Lord Muck.
1999 C. Tóibín Blackwater Lightship (2000) vi. 182 They were fussing with the tea things as though they were Lady Muck.
P4. colloquial.
muck and truck n. miscellaneous articles of trade.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > merchandise > [noun] > miscellaneous
muck and truck1893
1893 North-China Herald 13 Jan. 63 Some lines of Sundries, so facetiously termed ‘muck and truck’ by others, have grown to lines of importance.
1900 H. A. Giles Gloss. Subj. Far East (ed. 3) Muck-and-truck, a department of trade in the Far East, which deals with hides, bristles, bones, etc., and is much looked down upon by the ordinary British merchant.
1967 Monumenta Nipponica 22 327 The ‘Chryseis’ took 2,500 piculs of oil, 2,000 piculs of seaweed,..a few hundred piculs of ‘muck and truck’ isinglass, shrimp, mushrooms, etc.
P5. to make a muck of: to do (something) badly; to handle incompetently; to spoil or bungle. Cf. to make a mess of at mess n.1 3c.
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
1903 Judy 18 Mar. 123/1 Lawdlummy! You ain't 'arf made a muck o' this 'ere affair, you ain't.
1908 A. M. N. Lyons Arthur's ix. 83 I'm afraid 'e 'as made a bit of a muck of things.
1936 R. Lehmann Weather in Streets iii. i. 265 I would like to paint her, but..would make a muck of it.
1995 J. Collins Booing Bishop 33 She looked as if she knew what she was doing, but in fact she was making a muck of things.
Compounds
C1. † muck-hearted adj. Obsolete rare† muck-sprung adj. Obsolete rare
muck-headed adj.
ΚΠ
1909 H. G. Wells Ann Veronica xiii. 272 ‘Ass!’ he went on, still warming. ‘Muck-headed moral ass! I ought to have done anything.’
ΚΠ
1820 London Mag. Jan. 14/2 An incurably wretched, grovelling, muck-hearted creature.
ΚΠ
1647 H. More Philos. Poems 308 The muck-sprung learning cannot long endure.
C2. † muck-coup n. Obsolete = muck-cart n.† muck crook n. Obsolete = muck-crome n.† muck-hook n. Obsolete = muck-crome n.† muck-silver n. Obsolete rare (perhaps) a fee paid to the lord of a manor in place of dung owed.† mucksled n. Obsolete = muck-cart n.† muck-snipe n. Obsolete slang a person who is down on his or her luck.† muck water n. Obsolete liquid manure drained from a dunghill; cf. dung-water n. at dung n.1 Compounds 2.
muck-bar n. a piece of iron ready for further industrial processing (cf. bloom n.2).
ΚΠ
1866 C. N. Emerson Internal Revenue Guide 104 On Steel made directly from muck-bar, blooms, slabs, or loops a tax of three dollars per ton.
1894 Harper's Mag. Feb. 421/3 The ‘muck-bar’ is broken up, bunched together, raised to a welding heat, and again and again carried through the rolls.
1914 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 22 34 (table) Muck bars, bar iron, etc.
muck bed n. a bed of muck soil; material from such a bed.
ΚΠ
1855 Rep. Explor. & Surv. Route Railroad VIII. i. 364 The specimen..was found about eight feet below the surface in a muck bed about four feet thick, resting on sand with shells of Planorbis, Cyclas, &c.
1872 A. De Morgan Budget of Paradoxes 163 I certainly think the words would never have come together except in this way:—I, quart pyx, who fling muck beds.
1874 2nd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1873–4 553 Do not wantonly destroy a good muck bed.
1918 Science 12 Apr. 370/2 Dr. Berry's paper deals especially with the fossil plants found in the muck bed.
1940 Q. Rev. Biol. 15 32/2 They [sc. star-nosed moles] feed from muck beds and stream bottoms on aquatic insects and worms.
muck-cart n. a cart for carrying dung.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > manure cart
muck-cart1412
muck-coup1446
muck wain1446
mucksled1560
1412 in Norfolk Archaeol. 15 (1903) 126 In postyng & spyte makyng of yo mok carte, iij d.
1694 in M. P. Brown Suppl. Dict. Decisions Court of Session (1826) IV. 217 Seeing it was the custom to have the same horses in the plough in the forenoon, and in the muck-cart in the afternoon.
1809 R. Kerr Agric. Surv. Berwick xv. 420 What is called out-work, as helping to fill muck-carts, [etc.].
1907 M. C. F. Morris Nunburnholme 267 An ordinary agricultural cart, vulgarly called a muck-cart.
ΚΠ
1446 Inventory in H. Fishwick Hist. Parish Lytham (1907) 81 (MED) ij Mukcrokes for Mukcowpes.
1703 R. Thoresby Let. 27 Apr. in J. Ray Corr. (1848) 420 Caup, as a muck caup.
ΚΠ
1446 Inventory in H. Fishwick Hist. Parish Lytham (1907) 81 (MED) ij Mukcrokes for Mukcowpes.
1573 in J. P. Rylands Lancs. & Cheshire Wills (1897) 61 One muckecrooke and thre wymble bitts.
muck-drag n. English regional = muck-crome n.
ΚΠ
1545 in P. A. Kennedy Notts. Househ. Inventories (1512–62) (1962) 15 A hayhocke a mucke drage a mucke forke & pycke forkes.
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven (ed. 2) Muck-drag, a kind of fork with two or three prongs fixed at the right angles to the handle, for pulling manure out of a cart.
1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby Muckdrag, an iron fork as a rake for the manure.
1928 A. E. Pease Dict. Dial. N. Riding Yorks. 84/2 Muckdrag, a three, or four, pronged rake for dragging manure out of a cart or wagon.
muck-hack n. = muck-crome n.; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > fork > dung-fork
muck-hook1300
muck-forkc1350
muck-hack1362
dung pick1381
dung fork1397
muck crook1446
graip1459
muck-crome1501
muck-drag1545
shed-spade1559
pluck1825
1362 in J. Raine Inventories & Acct. Rolls Benedictine Houses Jarrow & Monk-Wearmouth (1854) 159 (MED) In curia..j mukhak.
1570 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 342 One muck hacke, a grape, and iij forkes viijd.
1889 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. (ed. 2) (at cited word) I'm noht bud a muck-hack noo, whativer I maay hev been.
1931 J. Lorimer Red Sergeant v. 62 Would ye fyle the name of the Borders, ye muck-hacks?
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > fork > dung-fork
muck-hook1300
muck-forkc1350
muck-hack1362
dung pick1381
dung fork1397
muck crook1446
graip1459
muck-crome1501
muck-drag1545
shed-spade1559
pluck1825
1300 in D. Yaxley Researcher's Gloss. Hist. Documents E. Anglia (2003) 134 [Making] j muchok jd.
1577 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 420 ij mocke hoockes one old sleade, and twoo olde ropes.
1766 Compl. Farmer at Fallow-Cleansing A man must be ready with a muck-hook to clear them backward.
muck iron n. iron ready to be passed through rollers.
ΚΠ
a1884 E. H. Knight Pract. Dict. Mech. Suppl. 621/2 Muck iron, crude puddled iron ready for the squeezer or rollers.
1915 Amer. Econ. Rev. 5 558 When the iron-boilers and puddlers went on strike, the heaters and rollers were kept at work by supplying them with muck iron made by non-unionists in other places.
muckland n. U.S. land consisting of muck soil.
ΚΠ
1847 W. Bacon Let. 24 Nov. in Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1847 (1848) 358 in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (30th Congr., 1st Sess.: House of Representatives Executive Doc. No. 54) VI They have been planted the present year, on deep muck lands.
1936 Sun (Baltimore) 17 Jan. 3/4 Shattered remnants of the transcontinental airliner which plunged seventeen persons to death in a nearby muckland.
1991 Economist 5 Jan. 39/2 A 25-mile strip of rich muckland south of the lake was designated for sugar-cane plantations, to be drained and flooded by huge pumps.
muck midden n. a dunghill.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirty place > [noun] > dunghill
mixenOE
dung heap?a1300
miskinc1300
muckhilla1325
dunghillc1330
muck-heapa1400
middena1425
modyngstretea1500
dung mixenc1500
laystowa1513
mixhill1552
muck midden1552
laystall1553
middenstead1583
layheap1624
dung pile1658
midden lair1692
thurrock1708
stercorary1759
midden stance1844
1552 in A. Maxwell Old Dundee (1891) 194 That all muck middens upon the hiegait be had away.
1689 in J. Raine Depos. Castle of York (1861) 291 Josias Swallow and one John Walker..buried him in the muck-midding.
1852 Househ. Words 9 Oct. 82/1 The self-styled cock of the village—..knocking him from his cockish eminence..to the very bottom..of a muck-midden.
1898 B. Kirkby Lakeland Words 127 Sew, mig hole, sewer, muck midden.
muck pit n. a cesspit; cf. dung pit n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > sanitation > provision of sewers > sewage treatment > [noun] > use of cesspools or lagoons > cesspool or pit
sink1413
midden pita1425
sinkhole1456
suspiralc1512
sentine1537
dung pit1598
muck pit1598
sinker1623
bumby1632
sump1680
sump hole1754
jaw-hole1760
recess1764
cesspool1783
dead-hole1856
soil-tank1861
cesspit1864
lagoon1909
sewage lagoon1930
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie iii. x. sig. H7 Brothell rime, That stincks like Aiax froth, or muck-pit slime.
1889 Harper's Mag. Feb. 371/1 The contents of fresh-water bogs and of muck pits are nothing but vegetable mould.
muck pot n. †(a) a chamber pot (obsolete); (b) a degraded or degenerate person; cf. muck-spout n.Sense (b) apparently represents an isolated use by Thomas.
ΚΠ
1557 in M. A. Havinden Househ. & Farm Inventories Oxfordshire (1965) 45 On mucke pott 30.
1938 D. Thomas Let. 6 July in Sel. Lett. (1966) 205 It's a crack at young Georgians,..intellectual muckpots leaning on a theory, post-surrealists and orgasmists.
muck roll n. the first set of rollers in a rolling mill.
ΚΠ
1858 De Bow's Rev. May 465 That work is now done by the puddling furnaces, squeezers, and muck rolls of the rolling-mills.
1870 Pittsburgh; Industry & Commerce 24 The Sligo mill was the first in Pittsburgh to use the squeezer for reducing and shaping the balls from the puddling furnaces, preparatory to entering the muck rolls.
muck-shifter n. (a) a miner; a navvy; (b) a vehicle or machine designed to excavate large quantities of soil and rock; an earth mover.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > worker > workers according to type of work > manual or industrial worker > earth-movers, etc. > [noun] > one who digs other structures
hill-digger1521
sinker1584
pondcaster1602
navigator1775
dammer1816
navvy1829
muck-shifter1856
society > occupation and work > equipment > earth-moving and excavating equipment > [noun]
scraper1815
JCB1960
muck-shifter1961
1856 Househ. Words 13 544 Miners from Cornwall,..Muckshifters, Pickmen [etc.].
1880 D. W. Barrett Life & Work among Navvies ii. ii. 43 Navvies themselves speak of one another as muck-shifters, or thick-legs.
1961 Engineering 9 June 797 Designed to work under rugged off-highway conditions as a muck-shifter.
1983 D. Sullivan Navvyman vii. 54 Navvies of the kind called getters or pickmen worked right down at the muck-face, bringing it down into heaps suitable for shovelling away by other navvies called muckshifters, wagon-fillers, fitters, or runners-out.
muck-shifting n. the process of moving large quantities of soil and rock during civil engineering work; earth moving; the work of a muck-shifter.
ΚΠ
1939 Muck Shifter Sept. 5/1 The Muck-Shifting Industry is carrying a full share of the work imposed by the War.
1967 G. F. Fiennes I tried to run Railway vi. 63 Muck shifting is easy nowadays.
1970 Daily Tel. 5 Nov. 13/6 The whole ‘muck-shifting’ industry changing the shape of the landscape is experimenting all the time with bigger, and sometimes better, machines.
1980 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts Mar. 173/2 All those Stone Age hill forts must have been splendid muck-shifting contracts in their time!
1983 D. Sullivan Navvyman vii. 55 Some navies seem to have switched from tiger-work, to pick-work, to muck-shifting without damaging their pride too much.
muck-shoveller n. (a) Australian slang, a tin miner (rare); (b) a farmhand employed in menial tasks.Sense (a) is apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > dunging > muck-shoveller
muck-shoveller1945
1945 S. J. Baker Austral. Lang. v. 101 Muck-shoveller, a tin miner.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 23 Feb. 105/3 Of these 32 [farmers], 21 simply wanted a muck-shoveller.
muck-shovelling n. rare the work of a muck-shoveller.Apparently only attested in dictionaries or glossaries.
ΚΠ
1976 O.E.D. Suppl. at Muck sb.1 Muck-shovelling.
ΚΠ
c1268Mucsilver [see sense 1a].
ΚΠ
1560 in R. Renwick Extracts Rec. Stirling (1887) I. 72 Ane mwksled, ane hand towall [etc.].
1572 Burgh Court Bk. 20 Dec. in W. Cramond Rec. Elgin (1903) I. 134 Alexander hed in his possessioun the tyme of his deceis..ane kart, ane muksled, ane varstay.
ΚΠ
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 259/2 A muck-snipe, sir, is a man regularly done up, coopered, and humped altogether.
muck soil n. Soil Science a soil composed of muck (sense 1c).
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > structure of the earth > constituent materials > earth or soil > kind of earth or soil > [noun] > organic soil
muck1832
muck soil1852
organic soil1886
1852 Sci. Amer. 1 May 264/1 Every clay soil, every muck soil, and every soil in which vegetable fibre does not readily decay.
1918 Q. Jrnl. Econ. 32 2320 On the muck soils and many of the sandy soils, especially where potatoes are grown, potash is more or less of a necessity still.
1970 Jrnl. Econ. Entomol. 63 1283/1 Studies were made to determine the fate of 14C-labeled aldicarb in sand, loam, clay, and muck soils.
1989 BioFactors 2 18/1 This observation suggests that organic matter per se does not bind to the glyphosate but that some constituents in the soil or muck soil were responsible for the binding.
muck-spout n. regional and slang a person who uses obscene or foul language.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > [noun] > one who swears or abuses
curser1303
ribalda1325
warier1382
swearerc1386
reviler1517
reproacher?1532
scogginist1593
damme1618
foulmoutha1640
God damn me1640
damner1647
juror1653
comminator1682
muck-spouta1825
guttermouth1965
potty mouth1969
a1825 R. Forby Vocab. E. Anglia (1830) II. 223 Muck-spout, one who is at once very loquacious and very foul-mouthed.
1889 J. Nicholson Folk Speech E. Yorks. 4 A person who uses filthy language is a ‘muck-spoot’.
1916 D. H. Lawrence Let. c15 Dec. (1962) 492 And Murry..is a little muck-spout.
muck stick n. U.S. regional (esp. western) a shovel.
ΚΠ
1908 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 7 Nov. 27/2 Get me another ‘muck stick’.
1942 Calif. Folklore Q. 1 228 He contemptuously reminds ‘Okies’, ‘Native Sons’, and ‘farmers’ of their inferior position behind the ‘muck stick’.
1997 Esquire Oct. 58/2 I threw my muckstick so hard at the rock wall that sparks flew.
muck-swamp n. a bed of boggy muck soil; material from such a bed.
ΚΠ
1854 Putnam's Monthly Mag. Sept. 269/1 Beds of peat, or as they are sometimes called, muck-swamps, are occasionally found, being beds of former lakes that consist of masses of decayed vegetable matter.
1870 Rep. Comm. Agric. 1869 (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 270 The soil was..black mud or muck swamp, five feet deep, containing a mixture of sand.
1927 Ecology 8 135 Amblystegium swamp, [pH] 5.3–6.7..; muck swamp, 4.1–6.3.
1956 Jrnl. Ecol. 44 368 Swampy areas in the mountain meadow are often muck swamps with deep wet black soil.
muck wain n. now historical = muck-cart n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > tools and implements > [noun] > manure cart
muck-cart1412
muck-coup1446
muck wain1446
mucksled1560
1446 Inventory in H. Fishwick Hist. Parish Lytham (1907) 80 (MED) iij Muk waynes.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. l It is a wyues ocupacyon..to helpe her husbande to fyll the mucke wayne or dong cart.
1618 Edinb. Test. L. f. 161, in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at (Muk-,) Muke-, Muck-waine Ane cornewaine and ane muck waine, price of baith fourtie schillingis.
1961 M. W. Barley Eng. Farmhouse & Cottage iii. v. 173 He called himself a yeoman, and had corn and hay in the barn, and ploughs, harrows, a cart and a ‘muck wain’.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > [noun] > dunging > dung
dungOE
muckc1268
dunging?1440
fimea1475
fulyiec1480
tath1492
soil1607
street soil1607
dung-water1608
soiling1610
mucking1611
short dung, manure, muck1618
folding1626
muck water1626
stable manure1629
long dung1658
spit-dunga1671
stercoration1694
street dirt1694
horse-litter1721
pot-dunga1722
sock1790
street manure1793
police manure1825
fold-manure1829
slurry1965
1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §405 To water it with Muck water..is not practised.
1780 Farmer's Mag. June 170 The quantity of muck water used was twenty-four wine pipes full.
muckweed n. English regional (a) a goosefoot, Chenopodium album, which grows on manure heaps; (b) a plant of muddy water, perhaps curled pondweed, Potamogeton crispus.
ΚΠ
1787 W. Marshall Provincialisms in Rural Econ. Norfolk II. 384 Muck-weed, or Fat-hen, Chenopodium album; common goose-foot.
1854 A. E. Baker Gloss. Northants. Words II. 38 Muck-weed, pond-weed. Potamogeton crispum?
1935 Ann. Missouri Bot. Garden 22 455 Potamogeton crispus L. Curly Muck-weed.
1992 Nat. World Spring 28/4 Often the names reveal those aspects of a plant that have touched people's imaginations:..[for example] an attachment to one particular habitat (muckweed—an old Gloucestershire tag for fat-hen).
1999 R. Malster Mardler's Compan. 53/2 Muckweed, fat hen (Chenopodium album), a member of the goosefoot family which is an abundant weed of cultivated land.
muck-wet adj. now English regional very wet, thoroughly wet; = wet as muck at Phrases 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > liquid > condition of being or making wet > condition of being or making very wet > [adjective]
thorough wetOE
drunk1382
drunkenc1420
uliginosec1440
dung wetc1450
drookeda1522
wet through, to the skin1526
sogginga1552
washed1557
washy1566
muck-wet1567
wringing wet1570
drenched1589
dropsy1605
ydrenched1610
sobby1611
dropsieda1616
slocken1643
uliginous1650
dabbling1661
sodded1661
sobbing1664
sobbed1693
flashy1702
saturated1728
saturate1785
livereda1796
sappy1806
laving1812
sodden1820
sopped1822
soppy1823
soaked1829
dropsical1845
soddened1845
soaking wet1847
soggya1852
sogged1860
soaking1864
sopping1866
soaken1898
astream1929
1567 T. Drant tr. Horace Pistles in tr. Horace Arte of Poetrie sig. Ejv Mucke weete with myer.
1676 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 11 712 They rose up, finding their Horses muck-wet all over.
1862 C. C. Robinson Dial. Leeds & Neighbourhood 363 Come an' lowse my boits a bit, an' let me goa up stāars to chāange me things, fur am muck-weet.
1900 W. Dickinson & E. W. Prevost Gloss. Dial. Cumberland (rev. ed.) 219/1 Muck wet, very wet from any cause.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
† muckn.2
Obsolete.
A murderous frenzy; a rage, fit, rampage. Chiefly in variants on to run (also occasionally go) amok at amok adv. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > violent behaviour > [noun] > reckless or riotous > running amok
amok1665
muck1665
1665 R. Head Eng. Rogue I. xlix. 116 A great crew of Indians and Chineses..fell upon them, killing whom they could, not directing their revenge upon any particular person, (which they call a Muck).
1687 J. Dryden Hind & Panther iii. 139 Frontless, and Satyr-proof he scow'rs the streets, And runs an Indian muck at all he meets.
1783 W. Marsden Hist. Sumatra 241 Those desperate acts of indiscriminate murder, called by us, mucks and by the natives mongamo.
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto X lxix. 87 Thy waiters running mucks at every bell.
1848 J. R. Lowell Biglow Papers 1st Ser. viii. 116 I confess that the late muck which the country has been running has materially changed my views.
1861 F. B. Goodrich Flirtation ii. 33 It does surprise me to see a man capable of winning a woman by his talents, his acquirements, his position, condescend to run a money-muck for a prize not worth the getting or the keeping!
1880 C. E. L. Riddell Myst. Palace Gardens II. ix. 179 She would run the pecuniary muck on which she had evidently started.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
muckn.3
/mʌk/, U.S. /mək/ euphemistic.
= fuck n. Cf. muck v.2Often a literary device to avoid the need to print the word fuck, rather than reproducing an actual usage.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > malediction > oaths > [noun] > euphemisms for stronger oaths
minced oath?1654
blank1854
adjective1888
bee1926
muck1952
F-word1956
C-word1979
N-word1985
XXXX1985
F-bomb1987
1952 M. Tripp Faith is Windsock iii. 55 ‘I went on a seven-day drunk.’ ‘Like muck you did.’
1974 R. Adams Shardik li. 422 Shouter was yelling, ‘What the muck's happened?’
1985 R. W. Holder Dict. Amer. & Brit. Euphemisms 147/2 Muck, a mild oath. Used for ‘fuck’ fig. in all declensions.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
muckv.1
/mʌk/, U.S. /mək/ 1. transitive. To hoard (money, wealth, etc.). Cf. muck n.1 4, mucker v.1 1. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > possession > retaining > niggardliness or meanness > be niggardly of [verb (transitive)] > hoard up as miser
mucka1413
muckera1425
miser1715
rathole1948
a1413 (c1385) G. Chaucer Troilus & Criseyde (Pierpont Morgan) iii. 1375 Lord, trowe ye a coueytous or a wrecche. That blameth loue and holt of it despit. That of þe pens þat he kan moke & kecche. was euere yet y-yeue hym swyche delyt?
a1627 W. Fowler tr. Petrarch Triumphs in Wks. (1914) I. 81 To muk and gather gold and so your handis defyle.
1894 E. Slow Wilts. Rhymes 5th Ser. 90 He as's ever muckin goold, An wunt a varden gie.
II. To deal with or give rise to muck, mess, confusion, etc.† 4. intransitive. To dig in the ground. Obsolete. rare. † 6. transitive (reflexive). To overwork or strain oneself. Cf. to muck about 2 at Phrasal verbs. Obsolete. rare.
2.
a. transitive. To free from muck, to clean; spec. to remove dung and dirt from (a stable or other shelter for an animal). Also with adverbs, as off, up, etc. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > clean [verb (transitive)]
yclense971
cleansea1000
farmOE
fayc1220
fowc1350
absterse?a1425
mundify?a1425
muck1429
to cast clean1522
absterge1526
sprinkle1526
reconcile1535
net1536
clengec1540
neat?1575
snuff?1575
rinse1595
deterge1623
scavengea1644
scavenger1645
decrott1653
reform1675
clean1681
deterse1684
fluxa1763
to clean away, offa1839
to clean down1839
scavage1851
untaint1855
to sand and canvas1912
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > go away [verb (intransitive)]
wendeOE
i-wite971
ashakec975
shakeOE
to go awayOE
witea1000
afareOE
agoOE
atwendOE
awayOE
to wend awayOE
awendOE
gangOE
rimeOE
flitc1175
to fare forthc1200
depart?c1225
part?c1225
partc1230
to-partc1275
biwitec1300
atwitea1325
withdrawa1325
to draw awayc1330
passc1330
to turn one's (also the) backc1330
lenda1350
begonec1370
remuea1375
voidc1374
removec1380
to long awaya1382
twinc1386
to pass one's wayc1390
trussc1390
waive1390
to pass out ofa1398
avoida1400
to pass awaya1400
to turn awaya1400
slakec1400
wagc1400
returnc1405
to be gonea1425
muck1429
packc1450
recede1450
roomc1450
to show (a person) the feetc1450
to come offc1475
to take one's licence1475
issue1484
devoidc1485
rebatea1500
walka1500
to go adieua1522
pikea1529
to go one's ways1530
retire?1543
avaunt1549
to make out1558
trudge1562
vade?1570
fly1581
leave1593
wag1594
to get off1595
to go off1600
to put off1600
shog1600
troop1600
to forsake patch1602
exit1607
hence1614
to give offa1616
to take off1657
to move off1692
to cut (also slip) the painter1699
sheera1704
to go about one's business1749
mizzle1772
to move out1792
transit1797–1803
stump it1803
to run away1809
quit1811
to clear off1816
to clear out1816
nash1819
fuff1822
to make (take) tracks (for)1824
mosey1829
slope1830
to tail out1830
to walk one's chalks1835
to take away1838
shove1844
trot1847
fade1848
evacuate1849
shag1851
to get up and get1854
to pull out1855
to cut (the) cable(s)1859
to light out1859
to pick up1872
to sling one's Daniel or hook1873
to sling (also take) one's hook1874
smoke1893
screw1896
shoot1897
voetsak1897
to tootle off1902
to ship out1908
to take a (run-out, walk-out, etc.) powder1909
to push off1918
to bugger off1922
biff1923
to fuck off1929
to hit, split or take the breeze1931
to jack off1931
to piss offa1935
to do a mick1937
to take a walk1937
to head off1941
to take a hike1944
moulder1945
to chuff off1947
to get lost1947
to shoot through1947
skidoo1949
to sod off1950
peel1951
bug1952
split1954
poop1961
mugger1962
frig1965
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > animal keeping practices general > [verb (transitive)] > muck out
muck1429
to dung out1874
1429 in Norfolk Archaeol. (1904) 15 144 (MED) The fryday..at after none, mokyd our hors.
c1480 (a1400) St. Julian 131 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 462 Þe patyl his hand clewyt to þe muldebred, quhen he suld mvk.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 68 Sa far abowe him set at tabell, That vont was for to muk the stabell.
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. xix. vi. 181 He..wssit all thingis at..thair consall quho..was not worthie to be in that rowme to haue gevin ane prince counsall bot rather to haue haldin the pleugh..or, witht ȝour reverence, had mokit clossitis.
1604 in H. Paton Dundonald Parish Rec. (1936) 54 Kaithrein Makteir helping hir to muk the hous.
1657 G. Thornley tr. Longus Daphnis & Chloe 170 He muckt the Cottage, lest the dung should offend him with the smell.
1700 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Glasgow (1908) IV. 298 To cleang, muck and keep clean the saids haill wells, for the space of five years.
1773 R. Fergusson Poems 86 An' now sin Jock's gane hame the byres to muck.
1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 21 Her bordel-house maun down be plucket, Her huge Augean stable muckit.
1876 C. C. Robinson Gloss. Words Dial. Mid-Yorks. 86 To ‘muck up,’ is to clean up.
1899 R. Wallace Country Schoolmaster 339 Clarty..work is mucking byres.
1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §499 Cleaner, cleaner-up (pianos); scrapes (mucks off) and rubs veneered parts of piano with sandpaper or glasspaper.
1987 New Yorker 26 Jan. 30/1 Roma wound up mucking the stalls and packing sandwiches for city cowboys who came for one-day thrills.
b. intransitive. Mining (chiefly Canadian). To remove surface soil or other waste material. Cf. muck n.1 2b.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > fuel > coal or types of coal > search for coal [verb (intransitive)]
muck1959
1910 R. W. Service Trail of '98 238 One..got a job..down de shaft muckin up' and fillin' de buckets.
1959 Ottawa Citizen 15 Jan. 21/4 The miners were ‘mucking’ (taking out blasted rock) from the floor of the vertical shaft.
1964 North (Ottawa) May–June 7 Mining in the pits will constitute..mucking with two 3½ cu.yd. shovels.
3.
a. transitive. To dress (land) with muck, to manure. Also figurative. Now chiefly British regional.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > cultivation or tillage > preparation of land or soil > fertilizing or manuring > fertilize or manure [verb (transitive)] > dung
dungOE
muck1440
stercorate1623
pot-dunga1722
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 341 Moke vynys, pastino.
Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 341/2 Mokke londe wythe donge, fimo, infimo.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 83 To Muke, eruderare, fimare, pastinare, [etc.].
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 641/2 If this land be well mucked, it wyll beare corne ynough the nexte yere.
a1555 J. Bradford in M. Coverdale Certain Lett. Martyrs (1564) 462 Yf god..beginne to mucke and marle you: to poure hys showers vpon you [etc.].
1598 J. Marston Scourge of Villanie ii. vii. sig. F3v O Canaans dread curse To liue in peoples sinnes. Nay farre more worse To muck ranke hate.
a1669 Skene Agric. MS The owtfeild land is land that is never muckitt.
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. vi. iii. 172 We transport our rotten Dung to those places we design to muck.
1762 J. Mills New Syst. Pract. Husbandry I. 102 Ground mucked with horse-dung is always the most infected of any.
1794 W. Anderson Piper of Peebles 5 To muck the riggs in ilka field.
1813 E. Picken Misc. Poems II. 40 Rake the gotts frae paddock ride To muck the lan'.
1890 Farmer's Gaz. 4 Jan. 7/2 You always muck your orchard, do you not?
1922 J. Inkster Mansie's Röd 4 It wid 'a set him better if he'd gaen an' helpit his wife..ta muck an' dell da kail yard.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 117/1 Half of the farm is mucked every year, and about 15 to 20 acres..get a good dressing of liquid manure.
b. intransitive. To spread manure on land. Now rare.
ΚΠ
c1450 (?a1400) Parl. Thre Ages (BL Add. 31042) 279 (MED) Than I mukkede and marlede and made vp my howses.
1568 in W. Mackay & H. C. Boyd Rec. Inverness (1911) I. 171 [They] refuys..to fyll thair awin horsis that is mukkand and wayrand in Eister Drakye.
1608 Inverurie Burgh Court 1 Nov. And quha that refussis ane hors ane day to muk to the said George [etc.].
1750 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman IV. ii. 81 They plow well and muck well.
1766 P. Fea Diary 14 Mar. in Sc. National Dict. (1965) VI. 345/1 6 Horses mucking upon the half penny Lands.
1817 W. Pitt Topogr. Hist. Staffs. ii. 36 It would be a good plan to muck for the vetches, and lime the fallow for wheat.
1855 Jrnl. Royal Agric. Soc. 16 i. 135 If you clay heavily..you must muck heavily.
1899 Shetland News 4 Mar. 7/5 Saw doo no what da Johnson breider did ta der toon wi' muckin' wi' waar?
ΚΠ
a1500 (c1400) St. Erkenwald (1977) 43 (MED) And as þai makkyde [read mukkyde] and mynyde, a mervayle þai founden.
5. transitive. To make dirty, to soil; to spoil, to ruin, to bungle.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > dirty [verb (transitive)]
uncleanseOE
horyc1200
befoulc1320
behorewe1340
file1340
flobber1377
smatterc1386
foulc1400
slurryc1440
filtha1450
sowla1450
sollc1480
bawdy1495
squagea1500
arrayc1525
ray1526
bawdc1529
beray1530
filthify1545
belime1555
soss1557
embroyn1566
dirt1570
filthy1581
turpifya1586
dirty1591
muck1618
bedirt1622
bedirty1623
smooch1631
dight1632
fewma1637
snuddle1661
bepaw1684
puddle1698
nasty1707
muddify1739
scavenger1806
mucky1828
squalidize1837
mullock1861
muddy1893
1618 Kirkcudbright Town Council Rec. (1939) I. 225 To make the vell cleine and muckna vnder the pane of v lib.
1831 C. Lamb Let. 3 Feb. (1935) III. 301 'Tis like a dirty pocket handkerchief muck'd with tears.
1877 L. J. Jennings Field Paths & Green Lanes vii. 98 The reaping machine do gather up all the stoäns, and mucks the carn all over the plaäce.
1899 R. Kipling Stalky & Co. 190 I shall muck it. I know I shall.
1908 Westm. Gaz. 15 Oct. 2/1 Another..wished that ‘religion would teach Gwendoline not to muck her pinny’.
1976 J. I. M. Stewart Memorial Service ix. 148 One of our last year's scholars, a most promising man, mucked his Mods.
1991 Daily Tel. 28 May 9/7 The Holy Grail for landscapers was the perfect tree: pleasing symmetry, no blossom to muck cars, [etc.].
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > sleeping and waking > weariness or exhaustion > weary or exhaust [verb (reflexive)]
strain1377
overwork1530
overtire1558
toil1560
spend1594
overtask1628
waste1630
unbowel1647
to run off one's legs (also feet)1666
overexert1817
muck1819
tew1825
overdo1858
to burn out, forth1955
1819 W. Cobbett Year's Resid. U.S.A. ii. ix. 227 They..toil and muck themselves half to death to dig as much ground in a day as a Surry man would dig in about an hour of hard work.
7.
a. intransitive. To spoil by interfering or meddling with; to tinker or tamper with. Occasionally transitive: to interfere with.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > misuse > [verb (transitive)] > interfere with so as to
tamper1610
muck1928
gimmick1952
to cock around1990
to cock about2009
1928 D. L. Sayers Lord Peter views Body 276 His art..[is] the one thing a genuine artist won't muck about with.
1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) xi. 171 This is a real good stove... She isn't mucked about and cleaned, and that's what makes her a good stove.
1951 M. McLuhan Let. 5 Jan. (1987) 217 Vanguard Press have now been 6 years mucking about with my book.
1966 Listener 17 Nov. 719/2 I was delighted to see Mr Bernard Levin..heading a review..‘Much Ado About Nothing, by William Shakespeare, the text mucked about by Robert Graves’.
1986 J. Gloag Only Yesterday (1988) 21 ‘Who's been mucking about with the fire?’ ‘I asked Rupert to give it a poke.’
b. transitive. To create unnecessary problems for (a person); to waste the time of, esp. by disrupting plans or activities.
ΚΠ
1951 N. Monsarrat Cruel Sea (1953) vii. ii. 487 They can't muck me about any more.
1986 Photogr. Nov. 58/1 (advt.) They already had girlfriends, or they just mucked me around.
1991 D. Adams Mostly Harmless v. ix. 107 He realized that the man was, somehow or other, mucking him about.
8. intransitive. Ice Hockey. To play in an aggressive, physical manner, esp. when trying to gain or keep possession of the puck in the corners of the rink. Also transitive: to gain possession of (the puck) in this fashion.
ΚΠ
1977 Washington Post (Nexis) 9 Oct. d2 A guy who isn't a goal-scoring winger has to adapt, muck in the corners and fight for the puck.
1991 Sports Illustr. 18 Mar. 27/1 Could he backcheck? Muck along the boards?
1999 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 17 Oct. b3 Talbot mucked the puck out of the corner and back to Zion on the point.
Phrasal verbs
With adverbs and prepositions in specialized senses of Branch II. to muck about to muck around to muck for to muck in to muck out to muck up
1. intransitive. colloquial. To behave in an aimless or desultory way (with); to act with no definite purpose or result; to act frivolously or teasingly.In quot. 1856 about is a preposition rather than an adverb.
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
1856 H. Phillips Jrnl. 26 Sept. (typescript) 41 Cutting firewood and mucking about the house.
1896 R. Kipling Seven Seas 188 Our Colonel..mucks about in 'orspital where nothing does no good.
1918 H. G. Wells Joan & Peter xiii. 659 He would be climbing trees with Joan, ‘mucking about’ in the boats with Joan.
1946 K. Tennant Lost Haven (1947) x. 152 We been mucking about and mucking about, and got nowhere.
1962 in K. Lorenz King Solomon's Ring Pref. p. xii Lorenz is a member of what is sometimes condescendingly called the ‘mucking about with minnows’ school of scientific inquiry.
1985 D. Lucie Progress i. ii, in Fashion, Progress, Hard Feelings, Doing the Business (1991) 103 Listen, I ain't got time to muck about. Get your stuff.
2. intransitive. English regional (chiefly south-eastern). To work hard; to work up a sweat. Now rare.Cf. muck sweat n.
ΚΠ
1875 W. D. Parish Dict. Sussex Dial. (at cited word) She's mucking about from morning to night.
1887 W. D. Parish & W. F. Shaw Kentish Dial. 105 He's most times mucking about somewhere's or another.
intransitive. colloquial = to muck about at Phrasal verbs.In quot. 1935, around is a preposition rather than an adverb.
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
1935 N. Marsh Enter Murderer vii. 90 'E was a-mucking arahnd Trixie.
1957 P. Mansfield Final Exposure ix. 121 Why don't you haul him in instead of mucking around asking me bloody silly questions?
1973 Times 12 Dec. 2/8 The other girls..wanted to muck around with boys.
intransitive. To scavenge for. rare.
ΚΠ
1935 A. J. Cronin Stars look Down i. ii. 22 ‘It's my duff,’ Softley kept whimpering... ‘Aw mucked for it, aw did, for my man to hev a fire.’
intransitive. colloquial. Originally: to share rations. Later: to share food, facilities, etc. (with); to tuck in to food; to participate or cooperate on equal terms with others in a task, hardship, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eat [verb (intransitive)]
eatc825
to break breadeOE
baitc1386
feeda1387
to take one's repast?1490
to take repast1517
repast1520
peck?1536
diet1566
meat1573
victual1577
graze1579
manger1609
to craw it1708
grub1725
scoff1798
browse1818
provender1819
muckamuck1853
to put on the nosebag1874
refect1882
restaurate1882
nosh1892
tucker1903
to muck in1919
scarf1960
snack1972
society > society and the community > social relations > association, fellowship, or companionship > associate together or with [verb (intransitive)] > participate
common1357
to take partc1384
communea1393
participe1511
participate1531
join1560
share1570
to bear a part1596
intercommon1626
to join in1785
to be in it1819
to stand in1858
to get into (also in on) the act1947
(to be) in on the act1951
to muck in1952
to opt in1966
the world > action or operation > easiness > aid, help, or assistance > types of help > [verb (intransitive)] > assist conjointly
coadjuvate1601
coadjute1612
co-assista1774
to pitch in1932
to muck in1952
1919 Athenæum 1 Aug. 695/2 ‘To muck in’ with anyone is to share rations with him.
1929 F. Manning Middle Parts of Fortune I. v. 105 Martlow and I have mucked in together, since you've been in the orderly-room.
a1935 T. E. Lawrence Mint (1955) i. viii. 30 ‘Muck in.’ We did, yet still looked lean.
1936 F. Richards Old-Soldier Sahib xiii. 223 For nine months he had been mucking-in with a youngster who had only arrived in the country the previous winter.
1952 M. Laski Village vi. 112 We all muck in together and the jobs get done in no time.
1966 F. Shaw et al. Lern Yerself Scouse 42 Muck in, yer at yer granny's! Bon Appetit!
1974 J. Pope-Hennessy Robert Louis Stevenson vi. 128 His readiness to muck in with any of his working-class fellows on boat or train.
1996 Voice 25 June 47/2 (advt.) You will need to be flexible, capable of using your own initiative everyday and be prepared to muck in with a small team of committed staff.
1. transitive. To clean out; spec. to clean out (a stable or other shelter for an animal) by removing dung, soiled straw, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > cleaning > clean [verb (transitive)] > by emptying
to clean out1844
to muck out1851
1851 Beck's Florist 157 He would not half muck his stables out, for he said he wanted his horses to lay warm.
1886 R. E. G. Cole Gloss. Words S.-W. Lincs. 94 I've mucked out the pig-stye mysen.
1914 R. Kipling Diversity of Creatures (1917) 52 I was obligin' Jim that evenin' muckin' out his pig-pen.
1958 J. Betjeman Coll. Poems 252 She can muck out the stables and clean Her snaffle and saddle and bridle.
1966 ‘M. Torrie’ Heavy as Lead xiv. 169 Sir G. had told me special to muck out the pigs.
1973 J. Burrows Like Evening Gone ii. 30 I've mucked out the henhouses.
1984 P. Barker Blow your House Down xi. 68 When I was mucking his room out I found this letter from the school.
1991 R. Ferguson Henry Miller xiv. 306 He puts up the tent and mucks out the animals.
2. intransitive. To remove such matter from a stable, etc.
ΚΠ
1950 Landfall 4 16 They always want one [sc. a cup of tea] after they've finished mucking out.
1967 C. Watson Lonelyheart 4122 ix. 91 He would have to be strong, energetic, used to stud work and willing to muck out.
1982 G. Murphy Pony Club Ann. 30/1 I would have to muck out at seven o'clock each morning.
1993 Pigeon Sport 19 Aug. 8/1 Wayne is thinking of retiring from the sport due to Pigeon Fanciers Lung, but we hope he changes his mind and can find someone to muck out for him.
transitive. To spoil the appearance, quality, etc., of; to make untidy or disordered, to make a mess of; to spoil, to ruin, to bungle. In quot. 1909: to mix.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > order > disorder > [verb (transitive)]
perturbc1385
disarraya1387
disordain1398
disjointc1420
disorder1477
mistemperc1485
commovec1500
deraign?a1513
distempera1513
misordera1513
bring1523
turmoil1542
unframe1574
disrank1602
discompose1611
luxate1623
disframec1629
disjoin1630
disconcert1632
untune1638
un-nacka1657
dislocatea1661
unhinge1664
deconcert1715
disarrange1744
derange1777
unadjust1785
mess1823
discombobulate1825
tevel1825
malagruze1864
to muck up1875
untrim1884
unbalance1892
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
1875 W. D. Parish in H. Hall Dict. Sussex Dial. 77 I dȯȧnt know as you'll find a seat, for we be all so mucked-up this morning.
1894 R. D. Blackmore Perlycross xi. 83 The poor Colonel had..even let him muck up their liveries.
1909 H. G. Wells Tono-Bungay (U.K. ed.) iii. i. 279 It's a festering mass of earths and heavy metals... There they are, mucked up together in a sort of rotting sand.
1916 ‘B. Cable’ Action Front 109 If it [sc. a shell] had fell in the trench, now, and mucked up half a dozen men, there'd have been something to squeal about.
1922 ‘R. Crompton’ Just—William viii. 161 You seem to have pretty well mucked it up.
1949 ‘J. Tey’ Brat Farrar xi. 85 You don't want that dazzling outfit of yours to be mucked up.
1996 T. Koppel & K. Gibson Nightline vi. 138 Nothing..can muck up a broadcast more thoroughly than a technological glitch.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
muckv.2
/mʌk/, U.S. /mək/ euphemistic.
= fuck v.Often a literary device to avoid the need to print the word fuck (esp. when this was forbidden by law), rather than reproducing an actual usage.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going away > causing to go away > command to go away [verb (intransitive)]
scud1602
go scrape!1611
to push off (also along)1740
to go it1797
to walk one's chalks1835
morris1838
scat1838
go 'long1859
to take a walk1881
shoot1897
skidoo1905
to beat it1906
to go to the dickens1910
to jump (or go (and) jump) in the lake1912
scram1928
to piss offa1935
to bugger off1937
to fuck off1940
go and have a roll1941
eff1945
to feck off?1945
to get lost1947
to sod off1950
bug1956
to hit, split or take the breeze1959
naff1959
frig1965
muck1974
to rack off1975
1929 R. Aldington Death of Hero iii. x. 376 Spree be mukked—one of you * * fired his rifle and muckin' near copped me.
1940 E. Hemingway For whom Bell Tolls xxxv. 369 Muck my grandfather and muck this whole treacherous muck-faced mucking country.
1959 P. Yunnie Warriors on Wheels iii. 54 I watched the last truck disappear... ‘Oh, muck it,’ I groaned, ‘after waiting all this time, to see them go past like that.’
1974 R. Adams Shardik xxxvi. 300 Come on, now,..you'll get nothing here, so just muck off, there's a good lad.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1c1268
n.21665
n.31952v.1a1413v.21929- to take at a why-not
- to take at a whynot
- to take at advantage
- to take at advantages
- to take at etc reputation
- to take at face value
- to take at great reputation
- to take at no reputation
- to take at or in scorn
- to take at rebound
- to take at the bound
- to take at the first bound
- to take at the rebound
- to take at worst
- to take at worth
- to take au grand sérieux
- to take away
- to take away every knot in the bulrush
- to take aworth
- to take back
- to take bad
- to take before the bound
- to take beginning
- to take benefit of
- to take block