muck

[ muhk ]
See synonyms for muck on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. moist farmyard dung, decaying vegetable matter, etc.; manure.

  2. a highly organic, dark or black soil, less than 50 percent combustible, often used as a manure.

  1. mire; mud.

  2. filth, dirt, or slime.

  3. defamatory or sullying remarks.

  4. a state of chaos or confusion: to make a muck of things.

  5. Chiefly British Informal. something of no value; trash.

  6. (especially in mining) earth, rock, or other useless matter to be removed in order to get out the mineral or other substances sought.

verb (used with object)
  1. to manure.

  2. to make dirty; soil.

  1. to remove muck from (sometimes followed by out).

  2. Informal.

    • to ruin; bungle (often followed by up).

    • to put into a state of complete confusion (often followed by up).

Verb Phrases
  1. muck about / around Informal. to idle; waste time; loiter.

Origin of muck

1
1200–50; Middle English muc, muk<Old Norse myki cow dung

Words Nearby muck

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use muck in a sentence

  • Roly was inclined to wait for developments, but as the call to "muck-muck" was now heard on the shore, he also withdrew.

  • Even your dirty paper, Waldemar, wouldn't rake that kind of muck up after ten years.

    Average Jones | Samuel Hopkins Adams
  • They were soon broken in; for the yard being full of muck, Pablo took them into it and mounted them.

  • And must she run, despite the tears And prayers of eighteen hundred years,A-muck in Slavery's crusade?

    The Boys of '61 | Charles Carleton Coffin.
  • Even when put into a bag, and dragged to the muck-hill, it moved and stirred, and the next morning was nowhere to be found.

    Witch, Warlock, and Magician | William Henry Davenport Adams

British Dictionary definitions for muck

muck

/ (mʌk) /


noun
  1. farmyard dung or decaying vegetable matter

  2. Also called: muck soil an organic soil rich in humus and used as a fertilizer

  1. dirt or filth

  2. earth, rock material, etc, removed during mining excavations

  3. slang, mainly British rubbish

  4. make a muck of slang, mainly British to ruin or spoil

verb(tr)
  1. to spread manure upon (fields, gardens, etc)

  2. to soil or pollute

  1. (often foll by out) to clear muck from

Origin of muck

1
C13: probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse myki dung, Norwegian myk

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