MUCK

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does muck mean? 

• MUCK (noun)
  The noun MUCK has 2 senses:

1. any thick, viscous matter

2. fecal matter of animals

  Familiarity information: MUCK used as a noun is rare.

• MUCK (verb)
  The verb MUCK has 3 senses:

1. remove muck, clear away muck, as in a mine

2. spread manure, as for fertilization

3. soil with mud, muck, or mire

  Familiarity information: MUCK used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MUCK (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any thick, viscous matter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

goo; gook; goop; guck; gunk; muck; ooze; slime; sludge

Hypernyms ("muck" is a kind of...):

matter (that which has mass and occupies space)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "muck"):

sapropel (sludge (rich in organic matter) that accumulates at the bottom of lakes or oceans)

Derivation:

muck (remove muck, clear away muck, as in a mine)

muck (soil with mud, muck, or mire)

mucky (dirty and messy; covered with mud or muck)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Fecal matter of animals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Synonyms:

droppings; dung; muck

Hypernyms ("muck" is a kind of...):

BM; dejection; faecal matter; faeces; fecal matter; feces; ordure; stool (solid excretory product evacuated from the bowels)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "muck"):

buffalo chip; chip; cow chip; cow dung (a piece of dried bovine dung)

coprolite (fossil excrement; petrified dung)

pigeon droppings (droppings of pigeons)

cow pie; cowpie (fecal matter of a cow)

Derivation:

muck (spread manure, as for fertilization)

• MUCK (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they muck    ... he / she / it mucks   
Past simple: mucked   
Past participle: mucked   
-ing form: mucking   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Remove muck, clear away muck, as in a mine

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "muck" is one way to...):

remove; take; take away; withdraw (remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something abstract)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

muck (any thick, viscous matter)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spread manure, as for fertilization

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Synonyms:

manure; muck

Hypernyms (to "muck" is one way to...):

scatter; spread; spread out (strew or distribute over an area)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

muck (fecal matter of animals)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Soil with mud, muck, or mire

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

mire; muck; muck up; mud

Context example:

The child mucked up his shirt while playing ball in the garden

Hypernyms (to "muck" is one way to...):

begrime; bemire; colly; dirty; grime; soil (make soiled, filthy, or dirty)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

muck (any thick, viscous matter)

 Context examples 

Heavy objects like cars sink into the muck, while buried water and sewer pipes rise to the surface.

(NASA Map Reveals a New Landslide Risk Factor, NASA)

“There,” John would add, you can't touch pitch and not be mucked, lad.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Having done the honours of his house in this hospitable manner, Mr. Peggotty went out to wash himself in a kettleful of hot water, remarking that “cold would never get his muck off”.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then the wheels of memory slipped ahead through four years of time, and he was aware of the present, of the books he had opened and the universe he had won from their pages, of his dreams and ambitions, and of his love for a pale wraith of a girl, sensitive and sheltered and ethereal, who would die of horror did she witness but one moment of what he had just lived through—one moment of all the muck of life through which he had waded.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

For weeks at a time they would hold on steadily, day after day; and for weeks upon end they would camp, here and there, the dogs loafing and the men burning holes through frozen muck and gravel and washing countless pans of dirt by the heat of the fire.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)