Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Muck |
MuckNoun1. Any thick messy substance. 2. Fecal matter of animals. Verb1. Remove muck, clear away muck, as in a mine. 2. Spread manure, as for fertilization. 3. Soil with mud, muck, or mire; "The child mucked up his shirt while playing ball in the garden". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "muck" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1350. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Food & Agriculture | An organic soil in which the plant residues have been altered beyond recognition. Source: European Union. (references) |
Geography | Partially decomposed organic matter, plant remains not discernible, developed under wet anaerobic conditions and mixed with some mineral matter. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | A. Unconsolidated soil, sand, clay, or loam encountered in surface mining; generally, earth which can be moved without blasting b. Useless material produced in mining. Syn:mullock c. A layer of earth, sand or sediment lying immediately above the sand, or gravel containing, or supposed to contain, gold in placer mining districts; it may itself contain some traces of gold d. Finely blasted rock, particularly from undergound. (references) |
Slang in 1811 | MUCK. Money; also dung. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Muck disambiguation
Muck is the name of one of the Small Isles, part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland.
Muck (Agriculture, as in muck land, or muck farming)
A soil made up primarily of humus from drained swampland, used for growing specialty crops such as onions, carrots, celery, and potatoes. Muck farming on drained bogs is an important part of agriculture in New York, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Florida, where mostly vegetables are grown. American "muckers" often have roots from the Netherlands or Eastern Europe, where their ancestors practiced a similar type of farming. The soils are deep, dark colored, and friable, often underlain by marl or marly clay.
Muck farming is controversial, because the drainage of wetlands destroys wildlife habitat and produces other environmental problems. It is unlikely that any more will be created in the US, because of environmental regulations. It also was often hyped as miracle soil, capable of vast yields, which does not hold up in reality. It is prone to problems; muck is very light and usually windbreaks must be provided to keep it from blowing away when dry. It also can catch fire and burn underground for months. Oxidation also removes a portion of the soil each year, so they become progressively shallower. Some muck land has been reclaimed for wildlife preserves.
Other meanings
- Bottom sediments, as in a muckworm, a bottom dweller, also derisively used for a miser.
- Animal manure. As a verb, used as to muck out a stable pen.
- Something scandalous. A journalist who publishes scandalous things is called a muckraker.
- A state of confusion, such as someone running amuck or one who mucks up the system
- Salacious or sexual - a mucky film.
External links
See also: MUD (MUCK is a related acronym)
- The Horicon National Wildlife Refuge was established on muck land returned as much as possible to the original state. http://midwest.fws.gov/horicon/Hisettlepg3.html
- An example of a typical muck farming operation: http://www.vegetablegrowersnews.com/pages/issue_03_08/03_08_zellers_soil.html
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Muck."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
MUCK | English | Multi-User Chat Kingdom | Computer - (MUD) |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: MuckSynonyms: droppings (n), dung (n), goo (n), gook (n), guck (n), gunk (n), ooze (n), slime (n), sludge (n), manure (v), mire (v), muck up (v), mud (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Uncleanness | Spawn, offal, gurry; lientery; garbage, carrion; excreta; slough, peccant humor, pus, matter, suppuration, lienteria; faeces, feces, excrement, ordure, dung, crap, sewage, sewerage; muck; coprolite; guano, manure, compost. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Muck |
| English words defined with "muck": mire, muck up, Muckworm, mucky, mud, muddy, Mux. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "muck": gathering arm loader ♦ organic soil ♦ QUARRY WORKER ♦ safety platform, scrap bar, SEWAGE-DISPOSAL WORKER, Skeggs. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Muck" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Manx (pig), Swedish (demob). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Boo! Boo! Rubbish! Filth! Slime! Muck! Boo (The Princess Bride; writing credit: William Goldman) We've come about the muck. (The Young Ones; writing credit: Ben Elton; Rik Mayall) On the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars, and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time (The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy; writing credit: Douglas Adams; John Lloyd) Who wanted to muck around in the dirt when you could be studying quantum mechanics (Star Trek: Voyager; writing credit: Douglas Day Stewart) | |
Lyrics | How muck more must I take (You Can't Hurry Love; performing artist: Phil Collins) | |
Movie/TV Titles | 30 pinnar muck (1966) Die Geschichte vom kleinen Muck (1953) Der Kleine Muck (1944) Muck and Brass (1982) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Music |
|
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Mrs. Morris attacked by muck rakers. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | The last shovel full of muck taken out of the G.N. Ry. Co.'s new 8 mile tunnel - scenic to Berne, Wn. / Pickett. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Pearl Harbor bombing. California hit. Battered by aerial bombs and torpedoes, the USS California settles slowly into the mud and muck of Pearl Harbor. Clouds of black, oily smoke pouring up from the California and her stricken sister ships conceal all but. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Picking beans in the "muck." Belle Glade, Florida. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | A whirling plough used by USSC (United States Sugar Corporation) in soft muck soil to prepare soil for planting sugarcane. Near Pahokee, Florida. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Tractor with bean planter and fertilizer used on large flat muck farm land, about 2000 acres, near Lake Okeechobee and Clewiston, Florida. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Migrant laborers' camp near Canal Point, Florida. In foreground is a bean hamper which they use to sit on and they call a "muck rocker." Some of them are from Missouri and Arkansas. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Batavia, New York (vicinity). West Virginia crew of pickers en route to the muck fields. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Author | Quotation |
Francis Bacon | Money is like muck, not good except it be spread. |
Theodore Roosevelt | The men with the muck-rake are often indispensable to the well-being of society, but only if they know when to stop raking the muck. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Douglas Adams | For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much - the wheel, New York, wars and so on - whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He was wading in the hideous muck of the city |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Muck" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 69.62% of the time. "Muck" is used about 293 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 69.62% | 204 | 21,327 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 17.41% | 51 | 47,619 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 8.87% | 26 | 68,323 |
| Noun (proper) | 4.1% | 12 | 101,599 |
| Total | 100.00% | 293 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "muck" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Muck | Last name | 400 | 19,033 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "muck": dog muck ♦ dog's muck ♦ muck about ♦ muck about with ♦ muck around ♦ muck bar ♦ muck fire ♦ muck heap ♦ muck in ♦ muck in with ♦ muck iron ♦ muck out ♦ muck out a stable ♦ muck pile ♦ muck rake ♦ muck raker ♦ muck soil ♦ muck up ♦ muck up a job ♦ To run a muck. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "muck": muck-and-bullets, muck-carts, muck-encrusted, muck-out, muck-rake, muck-rakers, muck-raking, muck-slurry, muck-spreading, muck-up. | |
Ending with "muck": cow-muck, dog-muck, gutter-muck, high-muck-a-muck. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
muck boot | 144 | bear eurodance furry muck plush plushie plushophiles teddy | 4 |
muck | 64 | eigg muck rum | 4 |
muck boot company | 28 | haulage muck | 3 |
muck shoes | 26 | muck bucket | 3 |
muck vac | 16 | muck run | 3 |
muck tapestry | 12 | muck sticky | 3 |
furry muck | 12 | cart muck | 3 |
anime muck | 11 | bucket cart muck | 3 |
redwall muck | 10 | brother muck | 3 |
client muck | 8 | fichigan muck | 2 |
muck boot co | 8 | man muck x | 2 |
rudy muck | 7 | fire muck | 2 |
menzi muck | 6 | muck mucky | 2 |
isle muck | 5 | crew muck | 2 |
batavia dog muck | 4 | duck muck | 2 |
dog muck | 4 | otto muck | 2 |
muck poker | 4 | muck pump | 2 |
anime muck sakura | 4 | tom muck | 2 |
muck sakura | 2 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "muck"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | pleh (carrion, crap, dressing, fertilizer, ordure), pisllëk (dirt, filth, smut, squalor), ndyrësi (crap, dirt, dirtiness, enormity, filth, filthiness, ordure, piggishness, salacity), lerë, dhe (and, dirt, dust, earth, Glebe, grit, ground, ground color, ground colour, land, Mold, mould, soil), baltë (clay, dirt, foulness, mire, mud, muddiness, ooze, silt, slime, slob, soil). (various references) | |
Arabic | كلام قذر (foul talk), قمامة (garbage, mud, refuse, rubbish, soil, sweeping, sweepings, swill, trash), تلفظ بكلام بذئ (ordure), سماد (compost, dressing, manure), سمد بالروث (dung), طين (clay, daub, earth, loam, lute, luting, mire, mud, ooze, point, silt, slime, sludge, slush), القزارة, القذف لتشويه السمعة, ارض خصبة, أزال الروث, روث (dropping, droppings, dung, manure, turd). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | разчиствам скала, разчиствам (clear, pay), цапам (daub, grime, mess, paddle, puddle, soil, stain, sully), торя (compost, dress, dung, fat, fertilize, manure, nourish), кал (dirt, mire, mud, ooze, slime, slob, slop), клевети (blasphemy, obloquy), откъртена скала, омърсявам (befoul, besmirch, dirty, slubber, smirch, soil), оборски тор, нещо гадно, нещо противно, мръсотия (beastliness, dirt, dirtiness, filth, foulness, grime, impurity, mess, mud, obscenity, offscourings, ordure, squalor), махам тор, безпорядък (disarray, disorder, disorganization, helter-skelter, higgledy-piggledy, litter, misrule, moil, muddle), иззет грунт. (various references) | |
Chinese | 粪 (Faeces). (various references) | |
Czech | zasvinit, zaneřádit (clutter up), zašpinit (daub, foul, Mark, mess, soil, spot), hnojit (fertilize, manure), hnùj (dung, manure), bláto (dirt, mire, mud, ooze). (various references) | |
Danish | sprængmasse (debris), organisk goedning (dressing, dung, manure), nedsprængt fjeld (debris), naturgoedning (dressing, dung, manure), goedning (dressing, dung, manure), dy (Dy, muck soil), dekomponeret toerv eller muck. (various references) | |
Dutch | moerasveen, mest (fertilizer, manure), puin (debris, rubbish, rubble), organische mest (dressing, dung, manure), op veen gelijkende grond (muck soil), op turf gelijkende grond (muck soil), afbraakmateriaal (debris). (various references) | |
Esperanto | sterkakvo (liquid manure, muck-water, stale). (various references) | |
Farsi | پول (Deposit, Gold, Lucre, Money, Payment, Purse, Remittance, Rhino, Specie), کودتازه , کود (Dung), کثافت (Dirt, Guck, Impurity, Jakes, Mire, Pollution, Smooch, Sully), سرگین (Dung), زحمت کشیدن (Labor, Plod, Toil), خراب کردن (Amortize, Botch, Corrupt, Demolish, Destroy, Deteriorate, Devastate, Dilapidate, Disfigure, Impair, Muddle, Ruin, Ruinate, Unbuild, Undo, Unmake, Vitiate, Wrack, Wreck), الوده کردن (Defile, Infect, Mess). (various references) | |
Finnish | muta (mire, mud), turve (peat, sod, turf), sonta (dung), lanta (droppings, dung, excrement, manure), lannoite (fertilizer), komposti (compost), karjanlanta (barn manure, barn yard manure, dressing, dung, farmyard manure, fold yard manure, manure, stable manure), humus (humic substance, humus, leaf mould). (various references) | |
French | fumier. (various references) | |
German | mist (blow, bother, cobblers, crap, droppings, dung, fertilizer, garbage, manure, punk, rats, rubbish, shucks, trash, tripe), dung (dung, manure). (various references) | |
Greek | κοπριά (dung, manure). (various references) | |
Hebrew | ללכלך (befoul, daub, dirty, foul, grime, smirch, smudge, soil, stain, sully), לט ף (foul, mess, pollute, smudge, soil, sully), זבל לח, ט ופת (dirt, filth, filthiness, foulness), רקבובית (moldiness, mouldiness, mustiness, putrefaction). (various references) | |
Hungarian | trágya (chip, dung, excrement, fertilizer, manure, ordure), piszok (black, bleeding, blemish, crap, crock, dirt, dreck, filth, grime, grunch, grunge, gunk, scuz, scuzz, smudge). (various references) | |
Indonesian | tahi (dung). (various references) | |
Italian | sudiciume (dinginess, dirt, filth, filthiness, frowziness, grime, nastiness, raunchiness, scruffiness), letame (dung, manure), concime (compost, dung, manure). (various references) | |
Manx | trustyr (deads, debris, dirt, dross, filth, garbage, junk, muckiness, nastiness, refuse, rubbish, scrap, trash, trash rubbish), sollaghey (assault, assault sexually, begrime, besmear, besmirch, contaminate, contamination, defile, defilement, dirty, grime, muddy, pollute, pollution, soil, soiling, stain, sully), brockey (bungle, muddle, waste, waste as food). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | uckmay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | turfa evoluída (muck soil), terra turfosa, sujeira (dirt, filth, foulness, grime, grubbiness, mess, smirch, smut, soil), sujar (bedabble, befoul, begrime, besmear, besmirch, blemish, blotch, daub, defile, dirt, dirty, dishallow, drabble, draggle, foul, grime, make it wrong, mess, muddy, slubber, smirch, smoke, smudge, soil, stain, sully), porcaria (dirt, dirtiness, filth, grubbiness, mess, mire, mud, slovenliness, sludge, squalor, trash), imundície (carrion, dirt, dirtiness, feculence, filth, foulness, ordure, sludge, slush, soil, squalor), estrumar (dung, guano, manure), estragar (blunder, botch, bungle, deface, deteriorate, dilapidate, disconcert, foul up, impair, injure, mar, mess, muddle, overset, poison, queer, rub, screw up, spoil), esterco (dirt, dung, fertilizer, manure, ordure, scat), estercar (manure), escombro (debris), emporcalhar (dirt, dirty). (various references) | |
Romanian | murdãrie (contamination, corruption, defilement, dinginess, dirt, dirtiness, dishonesty, dung, filth, filthiness, foulness, greasiness, grime, litter, maculation, mess, nastiness, naughty words, offscourings, ordure, puddle, refuse, rust, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, squalidity), murdãri (bedraggle, begrime, besmear, besmirch, blot, contaminate, defile, foul, litter, mess, muddy, pollute, puddle, slop, smear, smirch, smudge, smut, smutch, soil, splash, splatter, spot, stain, sully, tarnish), strica (bastardize, batter, bedevil, blast, blight, break, bungle, contaminate, corrupt, crack, cripple, damage, debauch, decompose, deface, deflower, demolish, deprave, derange, destroy, disarrange, disconcert, disfigure, disorganize, disturb, flaw, frustrate, hackle, harm, hurt, impair, injure, Mar, muddle, pervert, pip, quash, rot, sophisticate, spoil, taint, vitiate, wreck), noroi (clay, filth, mire, mud, ooze, sediment, slime, slush), nãmol (heap, mud, ooze, silt), gunoi (carrion, dirt, dung, garbage, kitchen stuff, litter, manure, mess, offscourings, refuse, rubbish, scum, soil, waste), bãlegar (manure, ordure), îngrãşa cu bãlegar. (various references) | |
Russian | грязь (dirt, dirtiness, filth, filthiness, foulness, grime, grubbiness, gunge, mire, mud, muddiness, ordure, puddle, slob, sludge, sordidness, squalor, squelch). (various references) | |
Scottish | cart (cast out). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | prljavština (dirt, dirtiness, filth, grime, impurity, squalor), prljav (dingy, dirty, drossy, feculent, filthy, foul, grimy, impure, mucky, scurvy, sordid, squalid, unclean), nečistoća (dirt, dross, filth, impurity, ordure, recrement), nađubriti (fertilize, manure, top dress), gnojivo (compost), balega (droppings), đubre (dung, fertilizer, garbage, junk, laystall, offscourings, ordure, rubbish, sweepings, trash). (various references) | |
Spanish | estiércol (dung, manure, ordure). (various references) | |
Swedish | dynga (dung, fertilizer, manure, ordure), smörja (anoint, bilge, corn, crap, daub, dirt, dope, drivel, dub, fiddlededee, grease, junk, kitsch, lubricate, oil, rubbish, shoddy, smear, tosh, trash, tripe), lort (dirt, filth). (various references) | |
Thai | ใส่ปุ๋ย, เรื่องโสมม, สิ่งสกปรก (dirt, foul, griminess, grubbiness), ทำเปื้อน, ทำความสะอา"คอกม้า, ปุ๋ยคอก, คำพู"เหลวไหล, าวะยุ่งเหยิง. (various references) | |
Turkish | pislik (contamination, crap, crud, dinginess, dirt, dirtiness, excrement, excreta, faecal matter, faeces, feculence, filth, filthiness, foulness, gook, griminess, impurity, jerk, mess, mire, nastiness, offscourings, ordure, pollution, scum, scurvy, smear, smut, soil, sordidness, squalor, uncleanliness), pisletmek (befoul, begrime, bemire, besmear, besmirch, dirty, grime, make a mess of, make dirty, mess, smutch, soil), gübrelemek (compost, dung, fatten, fertilize, manure), gübre (cowpat, dressing, droppings, dung, fertilizer, manure, ordure, plant-food, soil), çamur (aspersion, calumniation, clay, daub, dirt, gook, mire, mud, slime, slob, slosh, slush, soggy, squelch). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | угноювати (manure, soil), гумус (humus), гній (atter, dung, manure, matter, ordure, purulence, pus, soil), бруднити (befoul, begrime, bespatter, blur, daub, dirty, discolor, discolour, foul, mess up, muss, smear, smudge, soil, sully), погань (draff, foul, rotter, tripe). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | l m nhơ, l m hỏng (disconcerting), đẫm m" hôi l m bẩn, đ" nhớp nhúa, đ" ô uế. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "muck": muckamuck, muckamucks, mucked, mucker, muckers, muckier, muckiest, muckily, mucking, muckle, muckles, muckluck, mucklucks, muckrake, muckraked, muckraker, muckrakers, muckrakes, muckraking, mucks, muckworm, muckworms, mucky. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "muck": amuck, chipmuck, muckamuck, schmuck, shmuck. (additional references) | |
Words containing "muck": amucks, chipmucks, schmucks, shmucks. (additional references) | |
| |
"Muck" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Auck, kuck, macc, mcu, Mcui, meck, Mecky, Menck, Micko, micky, moci, mocky, mocz, mpcu, muc, mucg, Muci, mucka, Muckla, Muco, Muecke, mufc, muk, muke, Mukoko, Mulk, munk, Mupc, mux, Nauck, nuck, Uccc, uck, Ucko, ukccc, Umc, Umca, Ummk, zuck. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "muck" (pronounced mu"k) |
| 3 | m u" k | amok, amuck, schmuck. |
| 2 | -u" k | buck, chuck, cluck, duck, guck, Huck, luck, pluck, Puck, ruck, Shuck, snuck, struck, stuck, suck, truck, tuck, unstuck, yuck, yuk. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "c-k-m-u" | |
-1 letter: cum. | |
-2 letters: mu, um. | |
| Words containing the letters "c-k-m-u" | |
+1 letter: amuck, mucks, mucky. | |
+2 letters: amucks, mockup, mucked, mucker, muckle, shmuck, umiack. | |
+3 letters: buckram, hummock, jumbuck, mockups, muckers, muckier, muckily, mucking, muckles, mudpack, mudrock, mullock, schmuck, shmucks, stickum, umiacks. | |
+4 letters: blackgum, buckrams, chipmuck, chipmunk, gemsbuck, hummocks, hummocky, humpback, jumbucks, leukemic, megabuck, muckiest, muckluck, muckrake, muckworm, mudpacks, mudrocks, mullocks, mullocky, munchkin, mutchkin, quackism, schmucks, scumlike, stickums, truckman, truckmen. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Familiar 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Abbreviations 15. Acronyms 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
