muck

 
Pronunciation: /mʌk/

noun

[mass noun]
  • dirt, rubbish, or waste matter: I’ll just clean the muck off the windscreen
  • farmyard manure, widely used as fertilizer: he was covered in cow muck and mud
  • informal something regarded as distasteful, unpleasant, or of poor quality: why do you let her read this muck?

verb

[with object]
  • 1 (muck something out) chiefly British remove manure and other dirt from a horse’s stable or other animal’s dwelling: I was mucking out some of the dirtiest piggeries I had ever seen
  • 2 dialect spread manure on (land): half the farm is mucked every year

Phrases

as common as muck

British informal of low social status.

make a muck of

British informal handle (something) incompetently: the taxi driver made a muck of it and took me to the wrong place

where there's muck there's brass

British proverb dirty or unpleasant activities are also lucrative.

Phrasal Verbs

muck about/around

British informal behave in a silly or aimless way: we just muck around in training and have a laugh

muck about/around with

tinker with (something), typically so as to damage or spoil it: have you been mucking about with the aerial?

muck someone about/around

treat someone inconsiderately, typically by disrupting their plans: what the management has to learn is that we can’t be mucked about

muck in

British informal share tasks or accommodation without expecting a privileged position: she really enjoys mucking in with the lads

muck something up

informal do something badly or ineptly; mishandle something: she had mucked up her first few weeks at college

Origin:

Middle English muk, probably of Scandinavian origin: compare with Old Norse myki 'dung', from a Germanic base meaning 'soft', shared by meek