mullock

American  

[muhl-uhk] / ˈmʌl ək /

noun

1. (in Australasia) refuse or rubbish, as rock or earth, from a mine; muck.

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idioms

1. poke mullock at, to ridicule.

mullock British  

/ ˈmʌlək /

noun

1. waste material from a mine

2. dialect a mess or muddle

3. informal to ridicule

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Other Word Forms

• mullocky
  adjective

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Etymology

Origin of mullock

1350–1400; originally dialectal English; Middle English mullok, equivalent to mul dust, mold, rubbish (compare Old English myl dust; vowel perhaps from Middle English mullen; see mull ⁴) + -ok -ock

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mullock

But when they saw awr Mary,    They made a mullock on it, For they thowt 'at all them flaars    Had been put on Mary's bonnet.

From Yorkshire Lyrics Poems written in the Dialect as Spoken in the West Riding of Yorkshire. To which are added a Selection of Fugitive Verses not in the Dialect by John Hartley

Aw've had nowt to do wi' th' orderation o' this mullock, an' if ther's owt lost aw'll pay for it.

From Yorksher Puddin' A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories from the Pen of John Hartley by John Hartley

It wouldn't matter to them any more whether they brought up knobbies or mullock; they'd have their wages—like bullocks have their hay.

From The Black Opal by Katharine Susannah Prichard

A slim youth had darted from behind one of the piles of mullock, and was running at full speed up the lead towards the head of the gully, followed by three foot police.

From In the Roaring Fifties by Edward Dyson

Without the quiver of a nerve I swung down their deepest shafts in the big bucket on the end of a rope attached to a rough windlass, which brought up the miners and the mullock.

From My Brilliant Career by Miles Franklin

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