muck

Etymology

From Middle English mok, muk, from Old English moc (found in hlōsmoc) and also perhaps Old Norse myki, mykr (“dung”) (compare Icelandic mykja), from Proto-Germanic *mukī (“dung; manure”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mewg-, *mewk- (“slick, slippery”) (compare Welsh mign (“swamp”), Latin mūcus (“snot”), mucere (“to be moldy or musty”), Latvian mukls (“swampy”), Albanian myk (“mould”), Ancient Greek mýxa 'mucus, lamp wick', mýkes 'fungus'), from *(s)mewg, mewk 'to slip'. More at meek.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /mʌk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌk

Noun

muck (uncountable)

1. Slimy mud.

   The car was covered in muck from the rally race.

   I need to clean the muck off my shirt.

2. Soft or slimy manure.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

3. dirt; something that makes another thing dirty.

   What's that green muck on the floor?

4. Anything filthy or vile.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

5. (obsolete, derogatory) money
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     the fatal muck we quarrelled for

Verb

muck (third-person singular simple present mucks, present participle mucking, simple past and past participle mucked)

1. To shovel muck.

   We need to muck the stable before it gets too thick.

2. To manure with muck.
3. To do a dirty job.
4. (poker, colloquial) To pass, to fold without showing one's cards, often done when a better hand has already been revealed.

Derived terms

• muck about
• muck around
• muck in
• muck out
• muck up
• mucker
• muckraker
• mucky
• muck spreader
• common as muck
• where there's muck there's brass

Noun

muck f (genitive singular muickey or muigey, plural mucyn or muckyn or muick)

1. Alternative form of muc

Mutation

Etymology

Probably of North Germanic origin; compare Old Norse myki, mykr ‘dung’.

Noun

muck (uncountable)

1. dung, manure, muck

Verb

muck (third-person singular present mucks, present participle muckin, past muckit, past participle muckit)

1. To dirty, foul

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mudʒk/

Noun

muck

1. Kiss sound, mwah