ooze

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: o͞oz, IPA^(key): /uːz/

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• Rhymes: -uːz
• Homophone: oohs

Etymology 1

• (Noun) Middle English wose (“sap”), from Old English wōs (“sap, froth”), from Proto-Germanic *wōsą (cf. Middle Low German wose (“scum”), Old High German wasal (“rain”), Old Swedish os, oos), from Proto-Indo-European *wóseh₂ (“sap”) (cf. Sanskrit वसा (vásā, “fat”)).
• (Verb) Middle English wosen, from Old English wōsan; see above.

Alternative forms

• owze (obsolete)

Alternative forms

• ouse (dated)

Noun

ooze (countable and uncountable, plural oozes)

1. Tanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather.
2. An oozing, gentle flowing, or seepage, as of water through sand or earth.
3. (obsolete) Secretion, humour.
4. (obsolete) Juice, sap.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

ooze (third-person singular simple present oozes, present participle oozing, simple past and past participle oozed)

1. (intransitive, sometimes figurative) To be secreted or slowly leak.
   • 1868, Charlotte Riddell, A Strange Christmas Game:

     I promised him I would keep silence, but the story gradually oozed out, and the Cronsons left the country.

   • 1988, David Drake, The Sea Hag‎, Baen Publishing Enterprises, published 2003, →ISBN:

     Pale slime oozed through all the surfaces; some of it dripped from the ceiling and burned Dennis as badly as the blazing sparks had done a moment before.

   • 1994, Madeleine May Kunin, Living a Political Life‎, Vintage Books, published 1995, →ISBN:

     He was hard to understand because he spoke softly, and his Vermont accent was as thick as maple syrup oozing down a pile of pancakes.

   • 2011, Karen Mahoney, The Iron Witch, Flux, →ISBN, page 278:

     Her heart constricted when she saw thick blood oozing from a wide gash in his forehead.

2. (transitive, figuratively) To give off a strong sense of (something); to exude.
   • 1989, Robert R. McCammon, The Wolf's Hour‎, Open Road Integrated Media, published 2011, →ISBN:

     "Good servants are so hard to find," Chesna said, oozing arrogance.

   • 1999, Tamsin Blanchard, Antonio Berardi: Sex and Sensibility, Watson-Guptill Publications, →ISBN, page 16:

     There are no two ways about it: a Berardi dress oozes sex appeal from its very seams.

   • 2012 April 21, Jonathan Jurejko, “Newcastle 3-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport‎:

     Newcastle had failed to penetrate a typically organised Stoke backline in the opening stages but, once Cabaye and then Cisse breached their defence, Newcastle oozed confidence and controlled the game with a swagger expected of a top-four team.

Derived terms

• oozy

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English wose, from Old English wāse (“mud, mire”), from Proto-West Germanic , from Proto-Germanic *waisǭ (compare Dutch waas (“haze, mist; bloom”), (obsolete) German Wasen (“turf, sod”), Old Norse veisa (“slime, stagnant pool”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to flow”) (compare Sanskrit विष्यति (viṣyati, “flow, let loose”)). More at virus.

Noun

ooze (countable and uncountable, plural oozes)

1. Soft mud, slime, or shells especially in the bed of a river or estuary.
   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     my son i' th' ooze is bedded.

2. (oceanography) A pelagic marine sediment containing a significant amount of the microscopic remains of either calcareous or siliceous planktonic debris organisms.
   • 1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. , volume III, London: Henry Colburn, , →OCLC:

     Seaweed were left on the blackened marble, while the salt ooze defaced the matchless works of art.

3. A piece of soft, wet, pliable ground.