puddle

[puhd-l]

noun

1. a small pool of water, as of rainwater on the ground.

2. a small pool of any liquid.

3. clay or the like mixed with water and tempered, used as a waterproof lining for the walls of canals, ditches, etc.

verb (used with object)

puddled, puddling 

1. to mark or scatter with puddles.

2. to wet with dirty water, mud, etc.

3. to make (water) muddy or dirty.

4. to muddle or confuse.

5. to make (clay or the like) into puddle.

6. to cover with pasty clay or puddle.

7. Metallurgy.,  to subject (molten iron) to the process of puddling.

8. to destroy the granular structure of (soil) by agricultural operations on it when it is too wet.

9. Horticulture.,  to dip the roots of (a tree, shrub, etc.) into a thin mixture of loam and water to retard drying out during transplanting.

verb (used without object)

puddled, puddling 

1. to wade in a puddle.

   The children were puddling.

2. to be or become puddled.

   The backyard was puddling.

puddle

/ ˈpʌdəl /

noun

1. a small pool of water, esp of rain

2. a small pool of any liquid

3. a worked mixture of wet clay and sand that is impervious to water and is used to line a pond or canal

4. rowing the patch of eddying water left by the blade of an oar after completion of a stroke

verb

1. (tr) to make (clay, etc) into puddle

2. (tr) to subject (iron) to puddling

3. (intr) to dabble or wade in puddles, mud, or shallow water

4. (intr) to mess about

Other Word Forms

• puddler noun
• puddly adjective
• unpuddled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of puddle¹

1300–50; (noun) Middle English puddel, podel, pothel, apparently diminutive of Old English pudd ditch, furrow (akin to Low German pudel puddle); (v.) late Middle English pothelen, derivative of the noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of puddle¹

C14 podel, diminutive of Old English pudd ditch, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

Most of the thirteen-man crew were already overboard, paddling between floating puddles of burning fuel.

Read more on Literature

Crownpoint, the buck, stepped out from the trees as Crag, the turtle, crawled out from a puddle.

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The limbs, the torso, the head, everything melted, and in a flash, our robot was reduced to a puddle.

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In all, the Blue Jays used 12 different position players who all refused to surrender at the plate, battling the Dodger pitchers into a puddle.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Yet hearing news of others’ deliveries left me wallowing in a puddle of jealousy.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• pond