Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Muddle

Mud′dle

,
Verb.
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.

Mud′dle

,
Verb.
I.
1.
To dabble in mud.
[Obs.]
Swift.
2.
To think and act in a confused, aimless way.

Mud′dle

,
Noun.
A state of being turbid or confused; hence, intellectual cloudiness or dullness.
We both grub on in a
muddle
.
Dickens.

Webster 1828 Edition


Muddle

MUD'DLE

,
Verb.
T.
[from mud.] To make foul, turbid or muddy, as water.
He did ill to muddle the water.
1.
To intoxicate partially; to cloud or stupefy, particularly with liquor.
He was often drunk, always muddled.
Epicurus seems to have had his brains muddled.

Definition 2024


muddle

muddle

English

Verb

muddle (third-person singular simple present muddles, present participle muddling, simple past and past participle muddled)

  1. To mix together, to mix up; to confuse.
    Young children tend to muddle their words.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of F. W. Newman to this entry?)
  2. To mash slightly for use in a cocktail.
    He muddled the mint sprigs in the bottom of the glass.
  3. To dabble in mud.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Jonathan Swift to this entry?)
  4. To make turbid or muddy.
    • L'Estrange
      He did ill to muddle the water.
  5. To think and act in a confused, aimless way.
  6. To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.
    • Bentley
      Their old master Epicurus seems to have had his brains so muddled and confounded with them, that he scarce ever kept in the right way.
    • Arbuthnot
      often drunk, always muddled
  7. To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated.
    • Hazlitt
      They muddle it [money] away without method or object, and without having anything to show for it.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

muddle (plural muddles)

  1. A mixture; a confusion; a garble.
    The muddle of nervous speech he uttered did not have much meaning.

Translations

Derived terms