: a mixture of water, clay, and chemicals used in oil-well drilling and having various functions (such as lubrication and cooling of the bit and flushing of rock particles to the surface)
Noun He tracked mud into the house. The car was stuck in the mud.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Nearby stands a rust-red circular structure whose color pays tribute to the mud that coated the exteriors of ancient Benin dwellings. David Frum, The Atlantic, 14 Sep. 2022 The detritus of a fleeing army still litters the village: packs of empty Russian army food rations, abandoned crates with instructions for using grenades, a gas mask dangling on a tree, an army jacket trampled into the mud. Elena Becatoros, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 Sep. 2022 The mud flows and flash flooding occurred in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains where there are burn scars — areas where there’s little vegetation to hold the soil — from the 2020 wildfires.BostonGlobe.com, 13 Sep. 2022 The mud had reportedly pushed vehicles across the road. Landon Mion, Fox News, 12 Sep. 2022 The San Diego Union-Tribune spent two mornings with him, trudging up and down embankments and stepping carefully though the mud.San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Sep. 2022 The news station said tow trucks worked overnight to pull vehicles from the mud. Jason Duaine Hahn, Peoplemag, 12 Sep. 2022 Homes and buildings have been swept away, and farmland turned into mud across swaths of the South Asian country. Reuters, NBC News, 7 Sep. 2022 That’s when snow in the high country has melted and the spring mud has dried up. Kristin Smith, Outside Online, 31 Aug. 2022
Verb
Dozens of campsites suggest hundreds of soldiers were stationed in Vyshneve, and the passage of tanks and heavy equipment has turned the ground to mud. Isabel Coles, WSJ, 15 May 2022 The 2,300 truckloads of red Tennessee clay at first turned to mud and blacked out the driver windshields. Jenna Fryer, Orlando Sentinel, 19 Apr. 2022 While Hollywood insiders mud wrestle over who should get which Oscar nominations for what, the rest of us can look forward, not back. Bill Goodykoontz, The Arizona Republic, 2 Jan. 2022 Rain in the forecast would very likely turn the fields to mud and make the pieces of metal and insulation significantly harder to remove.New York Times, 16 Dec. 2021 One day in April, as the snow turned to mud and the days grew longer, Rinaldi ran into Andrea Zaccardi, of the Center for Biological Diversity, and proposed a plan. Natalie Schachar, Washington Post, 30 Nov. 2021 Though naturally occurring sediment is in dwindling supply from the rivers and creeks feeding the bay, agencies are turning to mud dredged from the bay’s shipping channels to help build these tidal buffers. Julie Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 Oct. 2021 Parts of New York City were assailed by more than 3 inches of rain, high winds and threats of hail and tornadoes, while California was digging rock and mud off roads after historic rain swept across much of the state. Laura L. Davis, USA TODAY, 26 Oct. 2021 The rains weren’t intense enough to immediately wash away the dust, instead turning it to mud, which conducts electricity and causes equipment to malfunction or even ignite small fires on power poles. Michael Cabanatuan, San Francisco Chronicle, 21 Oct. 2021 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English mudde, probably from Middle Low German