<B>muck, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>dirt; filth; dirty slush. <BR> <I>Ex. The basement was covered with muck and slime after the flood.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>anything filthy, dirty, or disgusting. <DD><B> 3. </B>moist farmyard manure, used as a fertilizer; dung. <DD><B> 4. </B>(U.S.) <DD><B> a. </B>a heavy, moist, dark soil made up chiefly of decayed plants. <DD><B> b. </B>well-decomposed peat, used as a manure. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Informal.) an untidy condition; mess. <BR> <I>Ex. a muck of sweat (Oliver Goldsmith).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Mining.) earth, rock, and other debris to be removed in getting at the mineral sought. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to soil or make dirty. <BR> <I>Ex. You can't touch pitch and not be mucked, lad (Robert Louis Stevenson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to put muck on. <BR><I>expr. <B>muck about</B> (or <B>around</B>), </I>(Slang.) to waste time; putter; go about aimlessly. <BR> <I>Ex. Some players and spectators are fed up with the way they keep mucking about with the rules of the game (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>muck in,</B> </I>(British Slang.) to mingle; associate (with); share quarters (with). <BR> <I>Ex. hurried back and forth among the confusion like a general mucking in with his troops on the eve of battle (Manchester Guardian).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>muck out,</B> <DD><B> a. </B>to clean out (as a stable, mine, or tunnel). </I> <I>Ex. After a couple of years getting up at dawn to work horses and muck out stables ... (Time).</I> <DD><B> b. </B>(British.) to clean up (anything). <BR> <I>Ex. ... spoke of the trouble she would get into if she didn't get her employer's office properly mucked out (Punch).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>muck up,</B> </I>(Slang.) to spoil; foul up; make a mess of. <BR> <I>Ex. We mucked up two hundred quids' worth ... before getting it right, had to burn the lot (Punch).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="muckcar">
<B>muck car,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a vehicle used to carry away earth, rock, or detritus during mining or the excavation for a tunnel, foundation, or other construction. </DL>
<A NAME="mucker">
<B>mucker</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Slang.) a very vulgar, ill-bred person. <BR> <I>Ex. [Mucker] ... with the language and manners of the bargee and the longshoreman (James Truslow Adams).</I> (SYN) cad. </DL>
<A NAME="mucker">
<B>mucker</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person who removes muck from a mine, tunnels, or other excavation. <BR> <I>Ex. The muckers work on ... pausing ... to pull Their boots out of suckholes where they slosh (Carl Sandburg).</I> </DL>
<B>muckle</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Dialect.) a club used to kill fish when they are caught and landed. </DL>
<A NAME="muckle">
<B>muckle</B> (3), intransitive verb, <B>-led,</B> <B>-ling.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Dialect.) <BR><I>expr. <B>muckle through,</B> </I>to make or work one's way through something despite obstacles; muddle through. <BR> <I>Ex. "We'll muckle through for old Mother Church in absolute confidence" (New Yorker).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="muckluck">
<B>muckluck, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a high, soft, waterproof, fur-lined sealskin boot worn by Eskimos and others in arctic regions. <DD><B> 2. </B>a knitted wool sock, reaching the calf, to which a soft leather sole is stitched; slipper sock. Also, <B>mucluc,</B> <B>mukluk.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="muckrake">
<B>muckrake, </B>verb, <B>-raked,</B> <B>-raking,</B> noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> to hunt for and expose corruption, especially in big business, government bureaus, or prominent individuals. <DD><I>noun </I> a rake for scraping and piling muck or dung. <BR> <I>Ex. The men with the muckrakes are often indispensable to the well-being of society (Theodore Roosevelt).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="muckraker">
<B>muckraker, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person, especially a journalist, who muckrakes. The name "muckrakers" was originally given to a group of American journalists and novelists of the early 1900's noted for exposing social and political evils. <BR> <I>Ex. Lincoln Steffens was a muckraker.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="muckraking">
<B>muckraking, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the writings of muckrakers to expose social and political evils, especially in the early 1900's. </DL>
<A NAME="muckup">
<B>muck-up, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (British Slang.)a mess or muddle; foul-up. <BR> <I>Ex. You cannot get away from the fact that Anzio was a bit of a muck-up (Field Marshal Lord Montgomery).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="muckworm">
<B>muckworm, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a worm, larva, or grub living in muck or manure. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) a miser. </DL>
<B>mucoid</B> (1), adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> like mucus. </DL>
<A NAME="mucoid">
<B>mucoid</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of glycoproteins resembling mucin. They occur in bone and connective tissue, and in the vitreous humor and cornea of the eye. </DL>
<B>mucopeptide, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a complex protein in the cell wall of bacteria, whose synthesis is thought to be inhibited by the action of antibiotics. <BR> <I>Ex. The cell envelope, the outer portion of the bacterial cell, is a complex structure consisting of an inner plasma membrane and a rigid mucopeptide layer, the cell wall proper, that confers strength and shape (Scientific American).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mucopolysaccharide">
<B>mucopolysaccharide, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a carbohydrate compound, such as heparin, containing amino sugar and sugar acids, found mainly in the connective tissue but also present in mucous tissue and synovial fluid. <BR> <I>Ex. The blood group to which each of us belongs is determined by a presence ... of a mucopolysaccharide with specific antigenic qualities (New Scientist).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mucoprotein">
<B>mucoprotein, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various viscous protein compounds, such as mucin, containing a mucopolysaccharide in their molecular structure, and occurring in connective tissue and other body tissues. </DL>
<A NAME="mucor">
<B>mucor, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any one of a group of molds that form small, downy, grayish-white tufts, as on bread, decaying fruit, and decaying mushrooms. </DL>
<A NAME="mucosa">
<B>mucosa, </B>noun, pl. <B>-sae.</B> <B>=mucous membrane.</B></DL>
<A NAME="mucosal">
<B>mucosal, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of, having to do with, or characteristic of a mucosa. </DL>
<A NAME="mucosaldisease">
<B>mucosal disease,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of several, often fatal, diseases which affect cattle, striking at their mucosae and their respiratory and digestive tracts. </DL>
<B>mucous membrane,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the lining of the nose, throat, anus, and other cavaties of the body that are open to the air; tissue containing glands that secrete mucus; mucosa. </DL>
<B>mucronulate, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a small mucro or abruptly projecting point, as a leaf. </DL>
<A NAME="mucus">
<B>mucus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a slimy substance that is secreted by and moistens and protects the mucous membranes of the body. A cold in the head causes a discharge of mucus. Mucus consists chiefly of mucin. </DL>
<A NAME="mud">
<B>mud, </B>noun, verb, <B>mudded,</B> <B>mudding.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>earth so wet that it is soft and sticky. <BR> <I>Ex. mud on the ground after rain, mud at the bottom of a pond.</I> (SYN) mire, slime, ooze. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) slander; libel; defamation. <BR> <I>Ex. They were using not criticism but mud to maintain themselves in office (Adlai E. Stevenson).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>a mixture of water, clay, and certain chemicals used in well-drilling to lubricate the bit and carry debris loosened by the bit to the surface. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to muddy (a liquid). <BR> <I>Ex. The wolf Mudded the brook (Tennyson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to bury in mud. <BR> <I>Ex. I wish Myself were mudded in that oozy bed Where my son lies (Shakespeare).</I> <BR><I>expr. <B>sling</B> (or <B>fling</B> or <B>throw</B>) <B>mud at,</B> </I>to make disgraceful remarks about (a person, his character, or his actions); slander. <BR> <I>Ex. A woman in my position must expect to have more mud thrown at her than a less important person (Frederick Marryat).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="mudar">
<B>mudar, </B>noun. <B>=madar.</B></DL>
<A NAME="mudbank">
<B>mudbank, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a bank or shoal of mud beside or rising from the bed of a river, lake, or sea. </DL>
<A NAME="mudbath">
<B>mud bath,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a bath in mud mixed with certain medicines, as a remedy for rheumatism, gout, and other painful conditions of the body. </DL>
<A NAME="mudcat">
<B>mudcat, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (in the Mississippi Valley) a large catfish. </DL>
<A NAME="muddauber">
<B>mud dauber,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> any one of various wasps, the females of which lay eggs in individual cells constructed of mud, and supply the larvae with insects or spiders for food. </DL>
