[syn: addle, muddle, puddle]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Muddle \Mud"dle\, v. i.
1. To dabble in mud. [Obs.] --Swift.
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2. To think and act in a confused, aimless way.
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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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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Muddle \Mud"dle\, n.
A state of being turbid or confused; hence, intellectual
cloudiness or dullness.
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We both grub on in a muddle. --Dickens.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
muddle
n 1: a confused multitude of things [syn: clutter, jumble,
muddle, fuddle, mare's nest, welter, smother]
2: informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a
terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage" [syn:
fix, hole, jam, mess, muddle, pickle, kettle of
fish]
v 1: make into a puddle; "puddled mire" [syn: muddle,
puddle]
2: mix up or confuse; "He muddled the issues" [syn: addle,
muddle, puddle]
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (19 January 2023):
Muddle
Original name of MDL.