[muhd-l] 
verb, -dled, -dling, noun | 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. |
| 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. |
| 8. | the state or condition of being muddled, esp. a confused mental state. |
| 9. | a confused, disordered, or embarrassing condition; mess. |
| 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. |
| mud·dle (mŭd'l) v. mud·dled, mud·dling, mud·dles v. tr.
To think, act, or proceed in a confused or aimless manner: muddled along through my high-school years. n.
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. |
muddle through
Blunder through something, manage but awkwardly, as in The choir never knows how to line up, but we muddle through somehow. [Early 1900s]
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