muddle

Noun · Verb
Synonyms: clutterjumblefuddlemare's nestweltersmotherfixholejammesspicklekettle of fish

WordNet 3.0

Noun (2)

  1. a confused multitude of thingsSynonyms: clutterjumblefuddlemare's nestweltersmother
  2. informal terms for a difficult situation“he got into a terrible fix”“he made a muddle of his marriage”Synonyms: fixholejammesspicklekettle of fish

Verb (2)

  1. make into a puddle“puddled mire”Synonyms: puddle
  2. mix up or confuse“He muddled the issues”Synonyms: addlepuddle
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Muddle \Mud"dle\, v. i.

1.To dabble in mud. [Obs.] --Swift. [1913 Webster]

2.To think and act in a confused, aimless way. [1913 Webster]

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.] [1913 Webster]

He did ill to muddle the water.— L'Estrange.[1913 Webster]

2.To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially. [1913 Webster]

Epicurus seems to have had brains so muddled and confounded, that he scarce ever kept in the right way.— Bentley.[1913 Webster]
Often drunk, always muddled.— Arbuthnot.[1913 Webster]

3.To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated. [R.] [1913 Webster]

They muddle it [money] away without method or object, and without having anything to show for it.— Hazlitt.[1913 Webster]

4.To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify. --F. W. Newman. [1913 Webster]

Muddle \Mud"dle\, n. A state of being turbid or confused; hence, intellectual cloudiness or dullness. [1913 Webster]

We both grub on in a muddle. --Dickens. [1913 Webster]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

Muddle

Original name of MDL.

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