to be or become puddled: The backyard was puddling.
Origin: 1300–50; (noun) Middle English puddel, podel, pothel, apparently diminutive of Old English pudd ditch, furrow (akin to Low German pudel puddle); (v.) late Middle English pothelen, derivative of the noun
early 14c., frequentative or diminutive of O.E. pudd "ditch," related to Ger. pudeln "to splash in water" (cf. poodle). Originally used of pools and ponds as well. The verb "to dabble in water, poke in mud" (mid-15c.) led to sense in iron manufacture of "to turn and stir (molten iron) in a furnace."