muck-heapn.
/ˈmʌkhiːp/, U.S. /ˈməkˌ(h)ip/ A manure heap, a refuse heap, a midden. Also figurative.
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
a1400 (c1303) R. Mannyng Handlyng Synne (Harl.) 2300 Þogh hyt [sc. þe sunne] on þe muk hepe [v.r. mukhyl] shynes.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 83 A Mukehepp, fimarium.
?1523 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry f. xiv Leue no dong there the mucke hepe stode.
1556 J. Olde tr. R. Gwalther Antichrist f. 192 He hathe brought a confused muckeheape and burthen of ceremonies in to the churche.
1619 J. Favour Antiquitie Triumphing xx. 518 A very midden or muckheap of all the grossest errors and heresies of the Romane Church.
1662 in R. Pitcairn Criminal Trials Scotl. (1833) III. 602 [We] did put a pairt therof among the muk heapes of Breadleyes landis.
1783 J. Woodforde Diary 6 Mar. (1926) II. 62 They also took Bens Cart Whip, which they left on the Muck-heap.
1814 Mem. Philadelphia Soc. for Promoting Agric. 3 222 The strength of the ‘dung had better be applied in throwing up a crop, than wasted in the muck heap’.
1889 I. Taylor Origin Aryans iii. 182 There were muck-heaps in the palace of Priam.
1938 ‘N. Shute’ Ruined City vi. 112 One didn't finance a muck-heap of a country like Laevatia for fun.
1992 A. McConnell Quantum Leap 86 Large green flies buzzed lazily over the muck heap.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.a1400