Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
MUCHWHAT — MULTIPLIABLENESS
MUCHWHAT, adv. Nearly; almost. [Not elegant.]
MUCIC, a. [from mucus.] The mucic acid is the same as the saccholactic. It is obtained from gums, etc.
MUCID, a. [L. mucidus, from muceo.] Musty; moldy; slimy.
MUCIDNESS, n. Mustiness; sliminess.
MUCILAGE, n. [L. mucus, the slimy discharges from the nose; Heb. to dissolve, to putrefy.]
1. In chimistry, one of the proximate elements of vegetables. The same substance is a gum when solid, and a mucilage when in solution.
Both the ingredients improve one another; for the mucilage adds to the lubricity of the oil, and the oil preserves the mucilage from inspissation.
Mucilage is obtained from vegetable or animal substances.
2. The liquor which moistens and lubricates the ligaments and cartilages of the articulations or joints in animal bodies.
MUCILAGINOUS, a. Pertaining to or secreting mucilage; as the mucilaginous glands.
1. Slimy; ropy; moist, soft and lubricous; partaking of the nature of mucilage; as a mucilaginous gum.
MUCILAGINOUSNESS, n. Sliminess; the state of being mucilaginous.
MUCITE, n. A combination of a substance with mucous acid.
MUCK, n. [L. mucus.]
1. Dung in a moist state, or a mass of dung and putrefied vegetable matter.
With fattening muck besmear the roots.
2. Something mean, vile or filthy.
To run a muck, to run madly and attack all we meet.
Running a muck, is a phrase derived from the Malays, (in whose language amock signified to kill,) applied to desperate persons who intoxicate themselves with opium and then arm themselves with a dagger and attempt to kill all they meet.
MUCK, v.t. To manure with muck.
MUCKENDER, n. A pocket handkerchief. [Not used.]
MUCKER, v.t. [from muck.] To scrape together money by mean labor or shifts. [Not used in America.]
MUCKERER, n. A miser; a niggard. [Not used.]
MUCKHEAP, MUCKHILL, n. A dunghill.
MUCKINESS, n. Filthiness; nastiness.
MUCKLE, a. Much.
MUCKSWEAT, n. Profuse sweat.
MUCKWORM, n. A worm that lives in muck.
1. A miser; one who scrapes together money by mean labor and devices.
MUCKY, a. Filthy; nasty.
MUCOSO-SACCHARINE, a. Partaking of the qualities of mucilage and sugar.
MUCOUS, a. [See Mucus.] Pertaining to mucus or resembling it; slimy, ropy and lubricous; as a mucous substance.
1. Secreting a slimy substance; as the mucous membrane.
The mucous membrane lines all the cavities of the body which open externally, and secretes the fluid called mucus.
MUCOUSNESS, n. The state of being mucous; sliminess.
MUCRONATE, MUCRONATED, a. [L. mucronatus, from mucro, a point.]
Narrowed to a point; terminating in a point.
MUCULENT, a. [L. muculentus.] Slimy; moist and moderately viscous.
MUCUS, n. [L. See Mucilage and Muck.]
1. A viscid fluid secreted by the mucous membrane, which it serves to moisten and defend. It covers the lining membranes of all the cavities which open externally, such as those of the mouth, nose, lungs, intestinal canal, urinary passages, etc. It differs from gelatine.
In the action of chewing, the mucus mixeth with the ailment.
2. This term has also been applied to other animal fluids of a viscid quality, as the synovial fluid, which lubricates the cavities of the joints.
MUD, n. [L. madeo.] Moist and soft earth of any kind, such as is found in marshes and swamps, at the bottom or rivers and ponds, or in highways after rain.
MUD, v.t. To bury in mud or slime.
1. To make turbid or foul with dirt; to stir the sediment in liquors.
MUDDILY, adv. [from muddyl] Turbidly; with foul mixture.
Lucilius--writ loosely and muddily.
MUDDINESS, n. Turbidness; foulness caused by mud, dirt or sediment; as the muddiness of a stream.
MUDDLE, v.t. [from mud.] To make foul, turbid or muddy, as water.
He did ill to muddle the water.
1. To intoxicate partially; to cloud or stupefy, particularly with liquor.
He was often drunk, always muddled.
Epicurus seems to have had his brains muddled.
MUDDLED, pp. Made turbid; half drunk; stupefied.
MUDDLING, ppr. Making foul with dirt or dregs; making half drunk; stupefying.
MUDDY, a. [from mud.] Foul with dirt or fine earthy particles; turbid, as water or other fluids; as a muddy stream. Water running on fine clay always appears muddy.
1. Containing mud; as a muddy ditch; a muddy road.
2. Dirty; dashed, soiled or besmeared with mud; as muddy boots.
3. Consisting of mud or earth; gross, impure; as this muddy vesture of decay.
4. Dark; of the color of mud; as muddy cheeks.
5. Cloudy in mind; dull; heavy; stupid.
Dost think I am so muddy?
MUDDY, v.t. To soil with mud; to dirty.
1. To cloud; to make dull or heavy.
MUDDY-HEADED, a. Having a dull understanding.
MUD-FISH, n. A fish, a species of the cyprinus kind.
MUD-SILL, n. In bridges, the sill that is laid at the bottom of a river, lake, etc. [See Sill.]
MUD-SUCKER, n. An aquatic fowl.
MUD-WALL, n. A wall composed of mud, or of materials laid in mud without mortar.
1. A bird, the apiaster.
MUD-WALLED, a. Having a mud wall.
MUDWORT, n. A species of Limosella, the least water plaintain.
MUE. [See Mew.]
MUFF, n. A warm cover for the hands, usually made of fur or dressed skins.
MUFFIN, n. A delicate or light cake.
MUFFLE, v.t.
1. To cover from the weather by cloth, fur or any garment; to cover close, particularly the neck and face.
You must be muffled up like ladies.
The face lies muffled up within the garment.
2. To blindfold.
Alas! that love whose view if muffled still--
He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes.
3. To cover; to conceal; to involve.
They were in former ages muffled in darkness and superstition.
4. In seamanship, to put matting or other soft substance round an oar, to prevent its making a noise.
5. To wind something round the strings of a drum to prevent a sharp sound, or to render the sound grave and solemn.
MUFFLE, v.i. To mutter; to speak indistinctly or without clear articulation.
MUFFLE, n. In chimistry, a vessel in the shape of an oblong arch or vault, closed behind by a semi-circular plane, the floor of which is a rectangular plane; or in other words, a little oven to be placed in a furnace, and under which small cupels and crucibles are placed, in which substances are subjected to heat without coming in contact with fuel, smoke or ashes; used in metallurgic operations.
MUFFLED, pp. Covered closely, especially about the face; involved; blindfolded.
MUFFLER, n. A cover for the face; a part of female dress.
MUFFLING, ppr. Covering closely, especially about the face; wrapping close; involving; blindfolding.
MUFFLON, n. The wild sheep or musmon.
MUFTI, n. The high priest or chief of the ecclesiastical order among the Mohammedans.
MUG, n. [I know not whence derived.] A kind of cup from which liquors are drank. In American, the word is applied chiefly or solely to an earthen cup.
MUGGARD, a. [See Muggy.] Sullen;; displeased. [Not in use.]
MUGGNET, n. A species of wild fresh water duck.
MUGGISH, MUGGY, a.
1. Moist; damp;; moldy; as muggy straw.
2. Moist; damp; close; warm and unelastic; as muggy air. [This is the principal use of the word in America.]
MUGHOUSE, n. [form mug.] An alehouse.
MUGIENT, a. [L. mugio, to bellow.] Lowing; bellowing. [Not used.]
MUGIL, n. [L.] The mullet, a genus of fishes of the order of abdominals.
MUGWEED, n. A plant of the genus Valantia.
MUGWORT, n. A plant of the genus Artemisia.
MULATTO, n. [L. mulus, a mule.] A person that is the offspring of a negress by a white man, or of a white woman by a negro.
MULBERRY, n. The berry or fruit of a true of the genus Morus.
MULBERRY-TREE, n. The tree which produces the mulberry.
MULCH, n. [Heb. to dissolve.] Half rotten straw.
MULCT, n. [L. mulcta or multa.] A fine imposed on a person guilty of some offense or misdemeanor, usually a pecuniary fine.
MULCT, v.t. [L. mulcto.] To fine; to punish for an offense or misdemeanor by imposing a pecuniary fine.
MULCTUARY, a. Imposing a pecuniary penalty.
MULE, n. [L. mulus.]
1. A quadruped of a mongrel breed, usually generated between an ass and a mare, sometimes between a horse and a she-ass. But the name is applied to any animal produced by a mixture of different species.
2. A plant or vegetable produced by impregnating the pistil of one species of plant with the farin or fecundating dust of another. This is called also a hybrid.
MULETEER, n. A mule-driver.
MULE-WORT, n. A plant of the genus Hemionitis.
MULIEBRITY, n. [from L. muliebris, from mulier, a woman.]
Womanhood; the state of being a woman; a state in females corresponding to virility in man; also, effeminacy; softness.
MULIER, n. [L.] In law, lawful issue born in wedlock though begotten before.
MULISH, a. Like a mule; sullen; stubborn.
MULL, v.t. [L. mollio, to soften.]
1. To soften; or to heat, sweeten and enrich with spices; as, to mull wine.
Drink new cider, mull’d with ginger warm.
2. To dispirit or deaden.
MULL, n. In Scottish, a snuff-box, made of the small end of a horn.
MULL, n. Dust. [Not in use.]
MULLEN, n. [L. mollis, soft.] A plant of the genus Verbascum.
MULLER, n. [L. molaris, from mola, a mill-stone.]
1. A stone held in the hand with which colors and other matters are ground on another stone; used by painters and apothecaries.
2. An instrument used by glass grinders, being a piece of wood with the piece of glass to be ground cemented to one end, either convex in a basin, or concave in a sphere or bowl.
MULLET, n. [L. mullus.] A fish of the genus Mugil. The lips are membranaceous; the inferior one carinated inwards; it has no teeth, and the body is of a whitish color. This fish frequents the shore and roots in the sand like a hog. It is an excellent fish for the table.
MULLIGRUBS, n. A twisting of the intestines; sullenness. [A low word.]
MULLION, n. A division in a window frame; a bar.
MULLION, v.t. To shape into divisions.
MULLOCK, n. Rubbish.
MULSE, n. [L. mulsus.] Wine boiled and mingled with honey.
MULTANGULAR, a. [L. multus, many, and angulus, angle; Basque, mola, a multitude; multsa, much.]
Having many angles; polygonal.
MULTANGULARLY, adv. With many angles or corners.
MULTICAPSULER, a. [L. multus, many, and capsula, a chest.]
In botany, having many capsules.
MULTICAVOUS, a. [L. multus, many, and cavus, hollow.]
Having many holes or cavities.
MULTIFARIOUS, a. [L. multifarius.] Having great multiplicity; having great diversity or variety; as multifarious artifice.
MULTIFARIOUSLY, adv. With great multiplicity and diversity; with great variety of modes and relations.
MULTIFARIOUSNESS, n. Multiplied diversity.
MULTIFID, a. [L. multifidus, multus, many, and findo, to divide.]
Having many divisions; many-cleft; divided into several parts by linear sinuses and straight margins; as a multifid leaf or corol.
MULTIFLOROUS, a. [L. multus, many, and flos, flower.]
Many-flowered; having many flowers.
MULTIFORM, a. [L. multiformis; multus, many, and forma, form.]
Having many forms, shapes or appearances; as the multiform operations of the air-pump.
MULTIFORMITY, n. Diversity of forms; variety of shapes or appearances in the same thing.
MULTIGENEROUS, a. [L. multigenus; multus, many, and genus, kind.]
Having many kinds.
MULTIJUGOUS, a. [L. multus, many, and jugum, a yoke, a pair.]
Consisting of many pairs.
MULTILATERAL, a. [L. multus, many, and latus, side.] many sides. A multilateral figure must also be multangular.
MULTILINEAL, a. Having many lines.
MULTILOCULAR, a. [L. multus, many, and loculus, a cell.]
Having many cells; as a multilocular pericarp.
MULTILOQUOUS, a. [L. multus, many, and loquor, to speak.]
Speaking much; very talkative; loquacious.
MULTINOMIAL, MULTINOMINAL, a. [L. multus, many, and nomen, name.]
Having many names or terms.
MULTIPAROUS, a. [L. multus, many, and pario, to bear.]
Producing many at a birth. A serpent is a multiparous animal.
MULTIPARTITE, a. [L. multus, many, and partitus, divided.]
Divided into many parts; having several parts.
MULTIPED, n. [L. multus, many, and pes, foot.]
An insect that has many feet.
MULTIPED, a. Having many feet.
MULTIPLE, a. [L. multiplex; multus, many, and plico, to fold.]
Containing many times.