puddle

American  

[puhd-l] / ˈpʌd 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.

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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 British  

/ 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

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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

Etymology

Origin of puddle

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

Example Sentences

Melt-in-your-mouth meringue floats in a puddle of decadent crème anglaise, topped with caramel and toasted almonds.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 27, 2026

Those roles sometimes conflict — as they did at Lake Mendocino, which dried to a mud puddle during the 2012–16 drought.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 21, 2026

You want something that sits up in the spoon, not something that sighs into a puddle.

From Salon • Mar. 17, 2026

In the nearby Lallays reservoir, dozens of camels graze on wild plants, but not a single puddle remains.

From Barron's • Feb. 23, 2026

Then the piano music would start to play, and she’d clap to the beat for us as we would each skip, skip, skip, and leap across the imaginary puddle.

From "The Sea in Winter" by Christine Day

Related Words

• pond