muck

English

Etymology

From Middle English mok, muk, from Old Norse myki, mykr (“dung”) or less likely Old English *moc, *moce (in hlōsmoc (“pigsty dung”) and lustmoce (“lady's smock (Cardamine pratensis)”)) (compare Icelandic mykja and Danish møg ("dung")), from Proto-Germanic *mukį̄ (“dung; manure”), from Proto-Germanic *muk-, 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 μύξα (múxa, “mucus, lamp wick”), Ancient Greek μύκης (múkēs, “mushroom”)), from *(s)mewg, mewk 'to slip'. More at meek.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mʌk/
• (Northern England) IPA^(key): /mʊk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌk

Noun

muck (usually uncountable, plural mucks)

1. Slimy mud, sludge.

   The car was covered in muck from the rally race.

   I need to clean the muck off my shirt.

2. Soft (or slimy) manure.
3. Anything filthy or vile. Dirt; something that makes another thing dirty.

   What's that green muck on the floor?

4. Grub, slop, swill
5. (obsolete, derogatory) Money.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:money

   • c. 1622, John Fletcher, Philip Massinger, “The Sea-Voyage. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies , London: Humphrey Robinson, , and for Humphrey Moseley , published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii:

     the fatal muck we quarrell'd for

6. (poker) The pile of discarded cards.
7. (Scotland, slang) Heroin.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:heroin

8. (slang) Semen.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:semen

   • 1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, “Bang to Rites”, in Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 219:

     Ah blurt oot ma muck n pull oot.

Translations

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.
5. (Australia, informal) To vomit.

   Move out of the way, I think I'm gonna muck.

Translations

Derived terms

Further reading

• Jonathon Green (2024) “muck n.¹”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Manx

Noun

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

1. Alternative form of muc

Mutation

Scots

Etymology

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

Noun

muck (uncountable)

1. dung, manure, muck

Verb

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

1. To dirty, foul

Swedish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɵk/
• Rhymes: -ɵk

Etymology 1

From mucka (“to protest”).

Noun

muck n (indeclinable)

1. (colloquial) an objection, a protest
2. (colloquial, bleached) discernable part of an utterance

Usage notes

• The second sense is usually used in the expression inte höra/begripa ett muck (”not hear/understand a thing”).

Synonyms

• knyst (sense 2)

Etymology 2

From Tavringer Romani muck (“free”), from Romani muk- (“to let, to release, to leave”). Related to Sanskrit मुञ्चति (muñcati, “to release, to free, to let go”).

Noun

muck c

1. (military, colloquial) demobilization

Declension

Derived terms

• mucka

References

• muck in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• Gerd Carling (2005) “muck”, in Romani i svenskan: Storstadsslang och standardspråk, Stockholm: Carlsson, →ISBN, page 92

Turkish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mudʒk/

Noun

muck

1. Kiss sound, mwah