sludge

[sluhj]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR sludge ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

mud, mire, or ooze; slush.

a deposit of ooze at the bottom of a body of water.

any of various more or less mudlike deposits or mixtures.

the sediment in a steam boiler or water tank.

broken ice, as on the sea.

a mixture of some finely powdered substance and water.

sediment deposited during the treatment of sewage.

Also called activated sludge. Bacteriology. sewage sediment that contains a heavy growth of microorganisms, resulting from vigorous aeration.

a fine, mudlike powder produced by a mining drill.

Origin of sludge

1640–50; variant of dial. slutch, slitch, Middle English slich slime, wet mud (compare its derivative slucched muddy); apparently of expressive orig.

Related formsde-sludge, verb (used with object), de-sludged, de-sludg·ing.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for sludge

goo, grease, silt, slime, muck, sediment, gunk, oil, slop, mire, ooze, scum, glop, goop

Examples from the Web for sludge

Contemporary Examples of sludge

Forensic tests showed the birds died after becoming coated in sludge, Hubbard said.
Two Texas Regulators Tried to Enforce the Rules. They Were Fired.
David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News
December 9, 2014
Rain had fallen heavily overnight and the streets were caked in sludge.
Inside a Russian-Occupied Police Station in Ukraine
David Patrikarakos
April 13, 2014
The sludge was sent by rail and spread around on a defunct resort ranch near Sierra Blanca.
U.S. Drug and Immigration Checkpoints Take Toll on Border Towns
Andrew Becker, G. W. Schulz
June 18, 2013
In 1992 the EPA removed 97,000 tons of liquid waste, and 60 tons of sludge from the site.
Our Most Polluted States
The Daily Beast
May 19, 2010

Historical Examples of sludge

They are quite accustomed there to dealing with the precipitation of sludge.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 103, December 10, 1892
Various
It is found at Birmingham that one ton of sludge with 90 per cent.
Scientific American Supplement, No. 467, December 13, 1884
Various
One who has noticed it in the Teviot says, that the inhabitants there call it "sludge."
Notes and Queries, Vol. V, Number 129, April 17, 1852
Various
No sea-weed, no fishy particles, no sludge, no beards of oysters.
Erema
R. D. Blackmore
The mud or sludge would form into scale if allowed to remain.
Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II
Joshua Rose

British Dictionary definitions for sludge

sludge

noun

soft mud, snow, etc

any deposit or sediment

a surface layer of ice that has a slushy appearance

(in sewage disposal) the solid constituents of sewage that precipitate during treatment and are removed for subsequent purification

Word Origin for sludge

C17: probably related to slush

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sludge

"mud, mire, ooze," 1640s, of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Middle English slutch "mud, mire," or a variant of slush (n.).