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mud(1) (iou)



mud noun1. LME.
[Prob. from Middle Low German mudde (Low German mudde, mod, mode, mude: cf. Dutch modden dabble in mud), Middle High German mot (German dial. Mott) bog, peat.]
Soft wet soil, sand, dust, or other earthy matter; mire, sludge. Also, hard ground produced by the drying of an area of this; colloq. soil. LME.
b. In pl. Tracts of mud on the margin of a tidal river. L19.
c. spec. in Geology. A semi-liquid or soft and plastic mixture of finely comminuted rock particles with water; a kind of this. L19.
T. H. Huxley Herculaneum was sealed up by a crust of volcanic mud.
d. A liquid (freq. a suspension of clay etc. in water) that is pumped down inside a drill pipe and up outside it during the drilling of an oil or gas well, to remove drill cuttings, cool and lubricate the bit, and prevent the collapse of the sides of the hole or leakage through them. E20.
fig.
a. Something regarded as worthless or polluting. M16.
b. The lowest or worst part of anything; the dregs. L16-M19.
c. Coffee, esp. when strong and bitter; US opium. slang. E20.
Phrases: as clear as mud: see CLEAR adjective. drag through the mud: see DRAG verb. drilling mud = sense 1d above. fling mud = sling mud below. here's mud in your eye! cheers! good health! mud and stud posts and laths filled in with mud, as a building-material for walls of cottages etc. mud in your eye! = here's mud in your eye! above. one's name is mud one is in disgrace or temporarily unpopular. red mud: see RED adjective. sling mud make disparaging or slanderous allegations, criticize someone maliciously. stick in the mud: see STICK verb1. throw mud = sling mud above.
Comb.: mud balance: for measuring the density of drilling mud; mudbank a bank of mud in the bed of a river or on the bottom of the sea; mud-bath (a) a medicinal bath of heated mud, used esp. to relieve rheumatism etc.; (b) a muddy place or occasion; mud box Nautical a box containing a coarse filter used to trap sediment in bilge-water; mud-brick brick made with mud; mudbug N. Amer. a freshwater crayfish; mudcat US (a) any of several N. American catfish of muddy rivers, esp. in the Mississippi valley; (b) colloq. a native or inhabitant of Mississippi; mud-crab Austral. a large edible swimming crab, Scylla serrata, of Indo-Pacific mangrove swamps; mud dab N. Amer. (a) = winter flounder s.v. WINTER noun; (b) = YELLOWFIN sole; mud-dauber (a) any of various sphecid wasps that deposit their eggs, together with live prey, in cells made of mud; (b) US = CLIFF swallow (cf. mud swallow below); fig. a travelling workman; mud eel an elongate creature of muddy water; esp. (a) a larval lamprey; (b) a salamander, Siren lacertina, of the south-eastern US; mud engineer a person responsible for the quality and supply of drilling mud; mud fever Veterinary Medicine erythema of a horse's feet; mudflap a piece of rubber, metal, etc., hung behind a vehicle wheel to catch mud, stones, etc., thrown up from the road; mud-flat (a) a stretch of muddy land left uncovered at low tide; (b) a mudbank in a non-tidal river; mud-flinger, mud-flinging = mud-slinger, mud-slinging below; mud-flow a fluid or hardened stream or avalanche of mud; the flow or motion of such a stream; mud fluid = sense 1d above; mud flush a flow of drilling mud; mudguard a curved strip or cover over a cycle or other vehicle wheel to reduce the splashing of mud etc. from the ground; mudguarded adjective fitted with mudguards; mudhead (a) slang a stupid person; (b) a ceremonial clown among the Zu?i and Hopi peoples who wears a mud-daubed mask; mud-hen (chiefly N. Amer.) any of various rails or coots; mud hog = mud pump below; mudhole (a) a hole containing mud, esp. as forming a defect in a road; a water-hole dried so as to become mud; (b) a hole at the base of a boiler, condenser, etc., through which sediment can be removed; mudhook slang (a) an anchor; (b) a foot; a hand; mud-hopper = mudskipper below; mud-laden adjective laden with mud; mud-laden fluid, = sense 1d above; mud-lava volcanic mud; mud-line the limit of wave action on a coastal seabed below which mud will settle permanently on the bottom; mud-logger an engineer who monitors drilling by mud-logging; mud-logging examination of the drilling mud coming out of a borehole for signs of oil or gas or other indications of the strata being drilled; mud-lump US a mound or cone of mud or silt formed in a river delta; mud-mask = mud-pack below; mud minnow a small carnivorous fish of muddy water in N. America; mud-pack a face-pack containing fuller's earth or some similar material; mud pie (a) a mass of mud formed into the shape of a pie, esp. by a child; (b) a rich mousse-like chocolate cake; mud pilot a pilot who works in shallow water; mudpout N. Amer. = mudcat (a) above; mud pump: for circulating mud fluid; mud puppy US any of various large neotenous aquatic salamanders, esp. of the genus Necturus; an axolotl, a hellbender; mud room N. Amer. a cloakroom, spec. one in which wet or muddy footwear may be left; mud-sill (a) the lowest sill of a structure, usu. embedded in soil; (b) US the lowest class of society; a person of this class; mudskipper any of various small gobies of the genus Periophthalmus and related genera, of tropical Asian, Australasian, and African coasts, which are able to scramble over mud, along tree roots, etc., by means of stout pectoral fins; mudslide an avalanche of mud, rock, etc.; earthy material deposited by such an avalanche; mud-slinger a person given to abuse, slander, or malevolent criticism; mud-slinging (the employment of) abuse, slander, or malevolent criticism; mud snail either of two European pond snails of the genus Lymnaea, the slender-shelled L. glabra and (occas.) L. trunculata; mud snake a non-venomous black and red colubrid snake of the southern US, Farancia abacura; also called hoop-snake, horn-snake; mudstone Geology any clayey or silty rock, usu. formed by hardening of mud, esp. a mixed clay and silt rock lacking the laminations of shale; mud-sucker an American goby, Gillichthys mirabilis, often used as bait; mud swallow US = CLIFF swallow; mud-thrower = mud-slinger above; mud-throwing = mud-slinging above; mud trout = brook trout (b) s.v. BROOK noun; mud-turtle any small turtle of the American family Kinosternidae, of mud or muddy water; mud volcano (a) a crack or fissure discharging mud and freq. forming a hardened mound or cone; (b) = mud-lump above; mud wall a wall built of earth or clay or having clay as a substitute for mortar; mud wasp US = mud dauber (a) above; mud wing a mudguard, a mudflap; mud-worm a worm that lives in mud; fig. a contemptible person; mudwort any of several dwarf creeping plants of the genus Limosella, of the figwort family, esp. L. aquatica, growing in mud at the edge of ponds; mud-wrestler an exponent of mud-wrestling; mud-wrestling a kind of entertainment in which usu. female contestants wrestle in a mud-filled ring.
muddish adjective somewhat muddy M17.
mudless adjective E17.