1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
As clear as mud, phr. (common).—Very obscure. Also the reverse: as
plain as may be.
1837–40. Haliburton, The Clockmaker, p. 480 (ed. 1862). Well, I get
her to set down and go over it all ever so slow, and explain it all
as clear as mud, and then she says,—Now do you see, Sam, ain’t it
horrid pretty?
1890. G. Allen, The Tents of Shem, vi. I’ll explain the whole thing
to you, as clear as mud, in half a second.
1892. Milliken, ’Arry Ballads, p. 75. Clear as mud, my dear feller.
His name is mud! phr. (American political).—Said in cases of utter
defeat; sent up Salt River (q.v.).
Mud-cat, subs. (American).—A Mississippi man.
Mudcrusher, subs. (military).—An infantryman. Fr. pousse-caillou.
English synonyms. Beetle-crusher (or -squasher); blanket-boy (a
volunteer); boiled lobster; brother-blade; caterpillar; cat-shooter
(volunteer); coolie; flat-foot; fly-slicer (a cavalryman); grabby;
jolly gravel-grinder (a marine, see Royal Jolly); leatherneck;
light-bob; lobster; mud-major (q.v.); mud-plunger; plunger; prancer (a
cavalryman); Q.H.B. (= Queen’s Hard Bargain = a malingerer); raw
lobster (see lobster); red-coat; red-herring; Saturday-soldier (a
volunteer); scarlet-runner; skid; snoddy; swaddy; tame jolly (see
jolly); toe-footer (or bloody toe-footer); Tommy Atkins; tow-pow;
wobbler; worm-crusher (or -squasher).
French synonyms. Un allumeur de gaz (= a lancer: in allusion to the
weapon and a lamp-lighter’s rod); un barbe-à-poux (= a sapper: they
wear long beards); un bibi (popular); un biffin, or bifin (the knapsack
is likened to a rag-picker’s basket); un bouffeur de kilomètres (the
Chasseurs de Vincennes; a picked corps of skirmishers and scouts); un
briscard (= an old soldier with long-service stripes); un cabillot
(sailors’); un camisard (a military convict who serves his time in
Africa: also un camisard en bordée); un centrier or centripète
(popular); un chacal (= a Zouave); une citrouille or un citrouillard (=
a dragoon); les clous (the infantry en masse); un court-à-pattes (a
foot artilleryman); un cul rouge (in allusion to the red trousers: cf.
cherry-bum); Dumanet (= Tommy Atkins: from a character in a play); une
écrevisse de rempart (cavalrymen’s); un fiferlin (popular); un fiffot
(popular); un griffeton or grivier (popular); un homard (= a spahi: cf.
lobster); un hussard à quatre roues (= an army-service man); un lascar
(= a malingerer); un lignard (= a linesman); un marche à terre (cf.
mud-crusher); une marionette (popular); un méfiant (military); un
mousse-caillou (popular); les mutilés (= soldiers drafted to Africa for
self-mutilation); officier de guérite (military); un Parisien
(military: a crack soldier); un pied de banc (= a sergeant); un
pousse-caillou (popular = gravel-grinder).
Italian synonyms. Burasco; formigotto; foco or fuoco.
Mudding-face, subs. (common).—A fool; a muff or muffin-face (q.v.).
Muddle, subs. (colloquial).—A state of confusion.
1854. Dickens, Hard Times, passim.
1882. E. J. Worboise, Sissie, xxv. ‘There is no management in our
house; there is nothing but muddle.’
Verb. (common).—1. To stupefy with liquor. For synonyms see Drinks and
Screwed.
1712. Arbuthnot, Hist. of John Bull [Ency. Dict.]. ‘I was for five
years often drunk, always muddled.’
1834. Ainsworth, Rookwood, iii. ii. I must not muddle my brain with
any more Pharaoh.
1872. Daily Telegraph, 5 Jan. ‘The Clerical Scandal.’ The vicar had
a pocket handkerchief in his hand, and was wiping his face. He
appeared to be muddled.