The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Muddle \Mud"dle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Muddled; p. pr. & vb. n.
Muddling.] [From Mud.]
1. To make turbid, or muddy, as water. [Obs.]
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He did ill to muddle the water. --L'Estrange.
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2. To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to
intoxicate partially.
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Epicurus seems to have had brains so muddled and
confounded, that he scarce ever kept in the right
way. --Bentley.
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Often drunk, always muddled. --Arbuthnot.
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3. To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or
intoxicated. [R.]
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They muddle it [money] away without method or
object, and without having anything to show for it.
--Hazlitt.
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4. To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to
muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify. --F. W.
Newman.
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