muddy
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmʌdi/
rhymes: -ʌdi
Forms: form: muddies
form: muddying
form: muddied
form: muddied
Etymology: 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”))
Senses: examples: text: If you muddy your shoes don’t wear them inside.
text: [T]hey splashed George. He was quiet: they feared they had offended him. Then all the forces of youth burst out. He smiled, flung himself at them, splashed them, ducked them, kicked them, muddied them, and drove them out of the pool.
ref: 1908, E[dward] M[organ] Forster, “Twelfth Chapter”, in A Room with a View, London: Edward Arnold, →OCLC, part II, page 200:
glosses: To cover or splash (someone or something) with mud.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Duty to Parents”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 269:
text: His life had hitherto been so quiet, so free from strife; […] It was so hard that the pleasant waters of his little stream should be disturbed and muddied by rough hands; […]
ref: 1855 January 5, Anthony Trollope, “Dr. Grantly Visits the Hospital”, in The Warden, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 82:
glosses: To make (water or some other liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up mud or other sediment.
examples: text: The discussion only muddied their understanding of the subject.
text: VVhen ſorrovves comes,^([sic – meaning come]) they come not ſingle ſpies, / But in Battalia[n]es. Firſt, her Father ſlaine, / Next your Sonne gone, and he moſt violent Author / Of his ovvne iuſt remoue: the people muddied, / Thicke and vnvvholſome in their thoughts, […]
ref: c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene v], page 273, column 2:
text: I only recreated an imagination, fatigued by contemplating the vices and follies which all proceed from a feculent ſtream of wealth that has muddied the pure rills of natural affection, […]
ref: 1791 (date written), Mary Wollstonecraft, “Of the Pernicious Effects which Arise from the Unnatural Distinctions Established in Society”, in A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects, 1st American edition, Boston, Mass.: […] Peter Edes for Thomas and Andrews, […], published 1792, →OCLC, page 255:
text: Habitual topers, I believe, acquire the power of soaking themselves with a quantity of liquor which does little more than muddy those intellects, that, in their sober state, are none of the clearest; […]
ref: 1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC, page 278:
glosses: To confuse (a person or their thinking); to muddle.
glosses: To damage (a person or their reputation); to sully, to tarnish.
examples: text: The addition of the second batch of paint muddied the bright colours to a dull and washed look.
glosses: To make (a colour) dirty, dull, or muted.
examples: text: As the humans establish tentative bonds with their evolutionary cousins, the inter-species waters start to muddy.
ref: 2014 July 1, Steve Rose, “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: a primate scream – first look review”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 Nov 2022:
text: It may have been effective at conveying the confusion of the situation, but it didn't make for terribly thrilling scenes. The blurry camerawork (quite literally at times) and rapid-fire editing meant that exchanges of blows that should have been viscerally thrilling were often muddied, good for capturing the mood but not much fun to watch.
ref: 2019 April 28, Alex McLevy, “Game Of Thrones Suffers the Fog of War in the Battle against the Dead (Newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 31 May 2021:
glosses: To make (a matter, etc.) more complicated or unclear; to make a mess of (something).
glosses: To make (something) impure; to contaminate.
examples: text: […] I am novv ſir muddied in fortunes mood, and ſmell ſomevvhat ſtrong of her ſtrong diſpleaſure.
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 252, column 2:
glosses: To cause or permit (someone or something) to become stuck in mud; to mire.
glosses: Sometimes followed by up: to become covered or splashed with mud; to become dirty or soiled.
examples: text: Malt before hops, the world over, or the beer muddies.
ref: 1846, Walter Savage Landor, “Citation and Examination of William Shakespeare, Euseby Treen, Joseph Carnaby, and Silas Gough, Clerk, before the Worshipful Sir Thomas Lucy, Knight, Touching Deer-stealing on the 19th Day of September, in the Year of Grace 1582”, in The Works of Walter Savage Landor. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 276, column 1:
glosses: Of water or some other liquid: to become cloudy or turbid.
glosses: To become contaminated or impure.
Derived terms: word: muddier
word: muddying
word: muddy up
word: muddy the waters
word: muddy the water