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Muddle

- 7 dictionary results

mud⋅dle

  [muhd-l] verb, -dled, -dling, noun
Use Muddle in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to mix up in a confused or bungling manner; jumble.
2. to cause to become mentally confused.
3. to cause to become confused or stupid with or as if with an intoxicating drink.
4. to make muddy or turbid, as water.
5. to mix or stir (a cocktail, chocolate, etc.).
6. Ceramics. to smooth (clay) by rubbing it on glass.
–verb (used without object)
7. to behave, proceed, or think in a confused or aimless fashion or with an air of improvisation: Some people just muddle along, waiting for their big break.
–noun
8. the state or condition of being muddled, esp. a confused mental state.
9. a confused, disordered, or embarrassing condition; mess.
—Verb phrase
10. muddle through, to achieve a certain degree of success but without much skill, polish, experience, or direction: None of us knew much about staging a variety show, so we just had to muddle through.
Origin:
1540–50; mud + -le; c. MD moddelen to muddy

Related forms:
mud⋅dled⋅ness, mud⋅dle⋅ment, noun
mud⋅dling⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
1. confuse, botch, bungle, spoil.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Muddle
mud·dle   (mŭd'l)   
v.   mud·dled, mud·dling, mud·dles

v.   tr.
  1. To make turbid or muddy.
  2. To mix confusedly; jumble.
  3. To confuse or befuddle (the mind), as with alcohol. See Synonyms at confuse.
  4. To mismanage or bungle.
  5. To stir or mix (a drink) gently.
v.   intr.
To think, act, or proceed in a confused or aimless manner: muddled along through my high-school years.
n.  
  1. A disordered condition; a mess or jumble.
  2. Mental confusion.
Phrasal Verb(s):
muddle throughTo push on to a favorable outcome in a disorganized way.

[Possibly from obsolete Dutch moddelen, to make water muddy, from Middle Dutch, frequentative of *modden, to make muddy, from modde, mud.]
mud'dler n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Muddle

Mud"dle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Muddled; p. pr. & vb. n. Muddling.] [From Mud.]

1. To make turbid, or muddy, as water. [Obs.]

He did ill to muddle the water. --L'Estrange.

2. To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.

Epicurus seems to have had brains so muddled and confounded, that he scarce ever kept in the right way. --Bentley.

Often drunk, always muddled. --Arbuthnot.

3. To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated. [R.]

They muddle it [money] away without method or object, and without having anything to show for it. --Hazlitt.

4. To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify. --F. W. Newman.

Muddle

Mud"dle\, v. i. 1. To dabble in mud. [Obs.] --Swift.

2. To think and act in a confused, aimless way.

Muddle

Mud"dle\, n. A state of being turbid or confused; hence, intellectual cloudiness or dullness.

We both grub on in a muddle. --Dickens.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : Muddle
Spanish: confundir,
German: durcheinanderbringen,
Japanese: 混乱させる
More Translations »

muddle 
1596, perhaps freq. of mud (q.v.), or from Du. moddelen "to make (water) muddy," from the same P.Gmc. source. Sense of "make confused" first recorded 1687.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Muddle
Original name of MDL.

The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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