> as lemmas

1862 J. G. Holland Lessons in Life 206 An honestly-loving heart and an ordinarily clear brain, that nobody has been allowed to meddle with and muddle, will tell a man where he belongs and what he ought to do.]

1864 Ld. Derby in Parl. Deb. 3rd Ser. 173 28 The foreign policy of the noble Earl [sc. Ld. John Russell],..may be summed up in two short homely but expressive words—‘meddle and muddle’.

1880 Catholic World Jan. 562/1 Nations great as well as small have abundant occupation in strictly attending to their own business..without going abroad to watch over other interests, or, as a distinguished statesman once put it, to ‘meddle and muddle’.

1892 N. Amer. Rev. Feb. 175 With the transference of India to the Crown came advantages and disadvantages... Among the latter [was] the mischief of getting India ‘meddled and muddled’ by entanglement with the House of Commons debates.

1966 Times 4 Aug. 7/6 The right hon. gentleman (he said) is a meddler and a muddler... Part IV of this Bill and Parts II and III will increase his powers to meddle and muddle.

2001 Scotsman (Nexis) 8 Oct. 9 The Conservative leader, Iain Duncan Smith, claimed Labour had ‘meddled and muddled’ with the railways since coming to power in 1997.