miry

American  

[mahyuhr-ee] / ˈmaɪər i /

adjective

mirier, miriest

1. of the nature of mire; swampy.

   miry ground.

2. abounding in mire; muddy.

3. covered or bespattered with mire.

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Other Word Forms

• miriness
  noun
• unmiry
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of miry

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; see origin at mire, -y ¹

Explanation

Anything soggy, soft, and a little muddy is miry. Your bright white sneakers won't look brand new anymore after you hike along the miry riverbank in them. The adjective miry, which is good for describing places that are boggy or mucky, comes from mire, "a stretch of swampy ground." Mire derives from the Old Norse word myrr, "bog or swamp," and shares a root (meaning "damp") with the word moss. Miry things are damp and squishy, like the ground around a marsh or the muddy surface of a dirt road after heavy rain.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

miry

According to the historian Edward Hasted, writing in the 1770s, Cooling was “an unfrequented place, the roads of which are deep and miry, and it is as unhealthy as it is unpleasant.”

From New York Times ● Nov. 6, 2018

Without access to the inter-stage area, which turns the miry walk between the two main stages into a comparatively short hop, the following would not be possible.

From Time ● Jul. 7, 2014

Then came misfortune Number 3, for the wheels of the Wanderer began to sink deep in the miry meadow.

From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Stables, Gordon

They splashed through miry rut and pool,— Splintered through fence and rail; But chestnut Kate switched over the gate,— I saw them droop and tail.

From In the Saddle A Collection of Poems on Horseback-Riding by Various

At one time the formidable slough received us into its cavernous depths, and as we went down, vehicle and horses and all, seemed to threaten to swallow us up in its miry embrace.

From Gleanings by the Way by Clark, John A.