mud1
/mʌd
/noun
1 [mass noun] Soft, sticky matter resulting from the mixing of earth and water: ankle deep in mud, we squelched across a meadow [as modifier]: mud huts...
- It is sadly the case that deep ruts filled with mud and water make such journeys very hazardous.
- Looking around, he seemed to be in a mud brick hut.
- Clumps of dried mud caked his legs to above the knee.
Synonyms
mire, sludge, slush, ooze, silt, clay, gumbo, dirt, soil;
Scottish & Northern English clart;
Irish slob
2Information or allegations regarded as damaging or scandalous: the two sides took over the local media to throw mud at each other...
- "She wanted to get back at the Japanese companies who had slung mud on her face.
- Far easier to sling mud from a distance as some seem content to do.
- There are too many critics who revel in slinging mud and inflicting verbal pain.
Phrases
drag someone/thing through the mud
here's mud in your eye!
mud sticks
someone's name is mud
up to mud
Origin
Late Middle English: probably from Middle Low German mudde.
German probably gave mud to English, in the Middle Ages. The expression someone's name is mud, ‘someone is in disgrace or unpopular’, draws on an 18th- and 19th-century slang use of mud meaning ‘a stupid or foolish person’. As clear as mud is found from the early 19th century; drag through the mud arose in the mid 19th century, and mud sticks is recorded from the late 19th century. Here's mud in your eye, said before drinking, dates from the 1920s. Muddle (Late Middle English) originally meant ‘wallow in mud’.
Rhymes
MUD2
/mʌd/noun (plural MUDs)
A computer-based text or virtual reality game which several players play at the same time, interacting with each other as well as with characters controlled by the computer.
Origin
1980s: from multi-user dungeon or multi-user dimension.