muck

[ muhk ]

noun

1. moist farmyard dung, decaying vegetable matter, etc.; manure.
2. a highly organic, dark or black soil, less than 50 percent combustible, often used as a manure.
3. mire; mud.
4. filth, dirt, or slime.
5. defamatory or sullying remarks.
6. a state of chaos or confusion:

   to make a muck of things.

7. Chiefly British Informal. something of no value; trash.
8. (especially in mining) earth, rock, or other useless matter to be removed in order to get out the mineral or other substances sought.

verb (used with object)

1. to manure.
2. to make dirty; soil.
3. to remove muck from (sometimes followed by out ).
4. Informal.
   1. to ruin; bungle (often followed by up ).
   2. to put into a state of complete confusion (often followed by up ).

verb phrase

1. Informal. to idle; waste time; loiter.

muck

/ mʌk /

noun

1. farmyard dung or decaying vegetable matter
2. Also calledmuck soil an organic soil rich in humus and used as a fertilizer
3. dirt or filth
4. earth, rock material, etc, removed during mining excavations
5. slang.
   rubbish
6. See Lady Muck, Lord Muck
   See Lord Muck Lady Muck
7. make a muck of slang.
   make a muck of to ruin or spoil

verb

1. to spread manure upon (fields, gardens, etc)
2. to soil or pollute
3. often foll by out to clear muck from

Word History and Origins

Origin of muck¹

1200–50; Middle English muc, muk < Old Norse myki cow dung

Word History and Origins

Origin of muck¹

C13: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse myki dung, Norwegian myk

Example Sentences

He said he watched waste haulers back up to the pit and unleash torrents of watery muck.

From The Daily Beast

After a long day of him wading and me watching him in the muck, cocktails were required.

From The Daily Beast

How nice of Bob Dylan to demonstrate that over a lifetime of work, even perfection sometime runs amok into a muck.

From The Daily Beast

Italy, in the muck of an economic crisis, simply cannot afford to help everyone who lands on the shores.

From The Daily Beast

The cops, of course, always attend Hempfest, not to muck up the vibe but to make sure no big, important laws are being flouted.

From The Daily Beast

Roly was inclined to wait for developments, but as the call to "muck-muck" was now heard on the shore, he also withdrew.

From Project Gutenberg

Even your dirty paper, Waldemar, wouldn't rake that kind of muck up after ten years.

From Project Gutenberg

They were soon broken in; for the yard being full of muck, Pablo took them into it and mounted them.

From Project Gutenberg

And must she run, despite the tears And prayers of eighteen hundred years,A-muck in Slavery's crusade?

From Project Gutenberg

Even when put into a bag, and dragged to the muck-hill, it moved and stirred, and the next morning was nowhere to be found.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• dirt
• goo
• gunk
• manure
• mud
• slime
• sludge
• trash