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Muddy

//ˈmʌdi// adj, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Adjective

1
Covered or splashed with, or full of, mud (“wet soil”).
"He slogged across the muddy field."
2
Of water or some other liquid: containing mud or (by extension) other sediment in suspension; cloudy, turbid.
"The previously limpid water was now muddy as a result of the struggle between the alligator and the wild boar."
3
Of or relating to mud; also, having the characteristics of mud, especially in colour or taste.
"[H]er garments, heauy vvith her drinke, / Pul'd the poore vvretch from her melodious buy^([sic – meaning lay]), / To muddy death."
4
Soiled with feces. euphemistic
5
Of an animal or plant: growing or living in mud. archaic
"There is a point of strand / Near Vada's tower and town; and on one side / The treacherous marsh divides it from the land, / Shadowed by pine and ilex forests wide, / And on the other creeps eternally, / Through muddy weeds, the shallow, sullen sea."

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6
Dirty, filthy. figuratively
"There's not the ſmalleſt orbe [in the sky] vvhich thou beholdſt, / But in his motion like an Angell ſings, / Still quiring to the young eide Cherubins; / Such harmony is in immortall ſoules, / But vvhilſt this muddy veſture of decay [i.e., the human body] / Doth groſſely cloſe in it, vve cannot heare it."
7
Not clear. figuratively
"To vvhat, my loue, ſhall I compare thine eyne? / Chriſtall is muddy."
8
Not clear.; Of a colour: not bright: dirty, dull. figuratively
9
Not clear.; Of an image: blurry or dim. figuratively
10
Not clear.; Of light: cloudy, opaque. figuratively
11
Not clear.; Of sound (especially during performance, recording, or playback): indistinct, muffled. figuratively
"The television picture is decent, but the sound is muddy."
12
Not clear.; Of speech, thinking, or writing: ambiguous or vague; or confused, incoherent, or mixed-up; also, poorly expressed. figuratively
"Do'ſt thinke I am ſo muddy, ſo vnſettled, / To appoint my ſelfe in this vexation?"
13
Not clear.; Of the air: not fresh; impure, polluted. figuratively, literary, poetic
"Our ovvn muddy atmoſphere, that vvraps us round in obſcurity, though it fails to gild our proſpects vvith ſun-ſhine, or our groves vvith fruitage, nevertheleſs anſvvers the calls of industry."
14
Originally, morally or religiously wrong; corrupt, sinful; now, morally or legally dubious; shady, sketchy. figuratively
"[B]y the vvill of God the Heavenly Principle (though it be in it ſelf inviſible and undiſcernible) in due time becomes a Spirit of ſavoury and affectionate diſcernment betvvixt the evil and the good; betvvixt the pure vvaters that flovv from the holy Spirit, and the muddy and tumultuous ſuggeſtions of the Fleſh."
15
Of a person or their facial expression: angry, sad, or sulky. archaic, figuratively
16
Slightly drunk; tipsy. figuratively, obsolete
"[N]ot that he gets drunk, for he is a very pious man, but he is always muddy."

Adjective

1
dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck wordnet
2
(of liquids) clouded as with sediment wordnet
3
(of color) discolored by impurities; not bright and clear; ‘dirty’ is often used in combination wordnet
4
(of soil) soft and watery wordnet

Noun

1
The edible mud crab or mangrove crab (Scylla serrata). Australia, New-South-Wales, informal

Verb

1
To cover or splash (someone or something) with mud. transitive
"If you muddy your shoes don’t wear them inside."
2
make turbid wordnet
3
To make (water or some other liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up mud or other sediment. transitive
"This is at the bottom a dictate of common ſenſe, or the inſtinct of ſelf-defence, peculiar to ignorant weakneſs; reſembling that inſtinct, which makes a fiſh muddy the water it ſwims in to allude its enemy, inſtead of boldly facing it in the clear ſtream."
4
cause to become muddy wordnet
5
To confuse (a person or their thinking); to muddle. figuratively, transitive
"The discussion only muddied their understanding of the subject."

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6
dirty with mud wordnet
7
To damage (a person or their reputation); to sully, to tarnish. figuratively, transitive
8
To make (a colour) dirty, dull, or muted. figuratively, transitive
"The addition of the second batch of paint muddied the bright colours to a dull and washed look."
9
To make (a matter, etc.) more complicated or unclear; to make a mess of (something). figuratively, transitive
"As the humans establish tentative bonds with their evolutionary cousins, the inter-species waters start to muddy."
10
To make (something) impure; to contaminate. figuratively, transitive
11
To cause or permit (someone or something) to become stuck in mud; to mire. figuratively, obsolete, transitive
"[…] I am novv ſir muddied in fortunes mood, and ſmell ſomevvhat ſtrong of her ſtrong diſpleaſure."
12
Sometimes followed by up: to become covered or splashed with mud; to become dirty or soiled. also, figuratively, intransitive
13
Of water or some other liquid: to become cloudy or turbid. intransitive
"Malt before hops, the world over, or the beer muddies."
14
To become contaminated or impure. figuratively, intransitive

Etymology

Etymology 1

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English muddi, moddy, muddy (“covered with or full of mud, muddy”), from mud, mudde (“mud; turbid water”) + -i (suffix forming adjectives). Mud, mudde is possibly borrowed from Middle Dutch modde, and/or Middle Low German modde, mudde, from Proto-Germanic *mud-, *mudra- (“mud”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *mū-, *mew- (“moist”). The English word is analysable as mud + -y (suffix meaning ‘having the quality of’ forming adjectives). Doublet of muddle. The verb is derived from the adjective. cognates * Middle Low German moddich, muddich (German Low German muddig (“muddy; mouldy”))

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From mud (crab) + -y (diminutive suffix).

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