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Muddle   /mˈədəl/   Listen
noun
Muddle  n.  A state of being turbid or confused; hence, intellectual cloudiness or dullness. "We both grub on in a muddle."


verb
Muddle  v. t.  (past & past part. muddled; pres. part. muddling)  
1.
To make turbid, or muddy, as water. (Obs.) "He did ill to muddle the water."
2.
To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially. "Epicurus seems to have had brains so muddled and confounded, that he scarce ever kept in the right way." "Often drunk, always muddled."
3.
To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated. (R.) "They muddle it (money) away without method or object, and without having anything to show for it."
4.
To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify.


Muddle  v. i.  
1.
To dabble in mud. (Obs.)
2.
To think and act in a confused, aimless way.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Muddle" Quotes from Famous Books



... hers, and after I'm dead I'm hers, so that's all right," he said to himself. "I haven't got to muddle ...
— The Dark Tower • Phyllis Bottome
... garbage of old systems and abuses the new seed was being sown. But England saw no signs of the crop; saw only the stubborn husbandmen begrimed with the dust and dirt, and herself hopelessly involved in the Egyptian muddle: and so in utter weariness and disgust, stopping her ears to the gibes and cat-calls of the Powers, she turned towards other lands and ...
— The River War • Winston S. Churchill
... that only his subordinates who are closest to him be made fully informed about "phase B," and "phase C." All plans in combat are subject to modification as circumstances dictate; this being the case, it is better not to muddle men by filling their minds with a seeming conflict in ideas. More important still, if the grand object seems too vast and formidable, even the first step toward it may appear doubly difficult. Fullness of information does not void the other principle ...
— The Armed Forces Officer - Department of the Army Pamphlet 600-2 • U. S. Department of Defense
... to dive back behind the instrument panel, but stopped, drew two guns, and in an agonized muddle trotted back and forth for a moment, waving them. Another look at the screen showed that an exit port was open, admitting two metal-scaled octopi. McKegnie couldn't stand it any longer: he wedged himself behind his panel again. Soon sounds of ...
— Astounding Stories, February, 1931 • Various
... continuation, are only excuses to gain time, put forward in hope that the chances of a further campaign may enable the government concerned to retrieve some apparent advantage out of the disastrous muddle through which they drifted into the first declaration of war. Having drawn the sword in a moment of embarrassment, they have now jolly well got to pretend that it was the right thing to do, and are not going to sheathe it till they see a chance of proving that they ...
— The World in Chains - Some Aspects of War and Trade • John Mavrogordato


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