adj
Covered or splashed with, or full of, mud (“wet soil”).
He slogged across the muddy field.
Take off your muddy boots before you come inside.
Of water or some other liquid: containing mud or (by extension) other sediment in suspension; cloudy, turbid.
The previously limpid water was now muddy as a result of the struggle between the alligator and the wild boar.
[A]s for his vvater [i.e., the horse's urine], the more pure, it is the better, and the more muddy, thicke, and pleaſant,^([sic – meaning unpleasant?]) ſo much the more vnhealthfull.
Of or relating to mud; also, having the characteristics of mud, especially in colour or taste.
[H]er garments, heauy vvith her drinke, / Pul'd the poore vvretch from her melodious buy^([sic – meaning lay]), / To muddy death.
Soiled with feces.
Of an animal or plant: growing or living in mud.
There is a point of strand / Near Vada's tower and town; and on one side / The treacherous marsh divides it from the land, / Shadowed by pine and ilex forests wide, / And on the other creeps eternally, / Through muddy weeds, the shallow, sullen sea.
verb
To cover or splash (someone or something) with mud.
If you muddy your shoes don’t wear them inside.
[T]hey splashed George. He was quiet: they feared they had offended him. Then all the forces of youth burst out. He smiled, flung himself at them, splashed them, ducked them, kicked them, muddied them, and drove them out of the pool.
To make (water or some other liquid) cloudy or turbid by stirring up mud or other sediment.
This is at the bottom a dictate of common ſenſe, or the inſtinct of ſelf-defence, peculiar to ignorant weakneſs; reſembling that inſtinct, which makes a fiſh muddy the water it ſwims in to allude its enemy, inſtead of boldly facing it in the clear ſtream.
His life had hitherto been so quiet, so free from strife; […] It was so hard that the pleasant waters of his little stream should be disturbed and muddied by rough hands; […]
To confuse (a person or their thinking); to muddle.
The discussion only muddied their understanding of the subject.
VVhen ſorrovves comes,^([sic – meaning come]) they come not ſingle ſpies, / But in Battalia[n]es. Firſt, her Father ſlaine, / Next your Sonne gone, and he moſt violent Author / Of his ovvne iuſt remoue: the people muddied, / Thicke and vnvvholſome in their thoughts, […]
To damage (a person or their reputation); to sully, to tarnish.
To make (a colour) dirty, dull, or muted.
The addition of the second batch of paint muddied the bright colours to a dull and washed look.
noun
The edible mud crab or mangrove crab (Scylla serrata).