muck
muck Lexical Profile
muck Game Scores & Validity
• noun
Dirt, rubbish, or waste matter, especially when wet or sticky.
"We had to scrape the mud and muck off our hiking boots before entering the cabin."
Farmyard manure used as fertilizer.
"The farmer spent the morning spreading muck across the fields to enrich the soil."
Something of no value or extremely low quality.
"I cannot believe they charge so much money for this cheap, poorly made muck."
• verb
To spoil, ruin, or mishandle something through clumsiness or incompetence (usually followed by 'up').
"He tried to fix the plumbing himself but only managed to muck it up further."
British To spend time aimlessly or behave in a silly, non-serious manner (usually followed by 'around' or 'about').
"The teacher told the students to stop mucking around and focus on their assignment."
To remove manure, dirt, or waste from a place, especially an animal's stable (usually followed by 'out').
"After breakfast, the stable hand went down to the barn to muck out the horse stalls."
Word Nuance & Usage
As a verb, 'muck' is predominantly used in phrasal verbs ('muck up', 'muck out', 'muck about'), where the accompanying preposition dramatically shifts the meaning from making a mess to cleaning one.
• Rhymes for muck
Word Origin & Etymology
From Middle English 'muk', likely of Scandinavian origin, akin to Old Norse 'myki' (dung) and related to Old English 'meox' (dung, dirt).
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.