They muddle it [money] away without method or object, and without
having anything to show for it.
Hazlitt.
4. To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to muddle
matters; also, to perplex; to mystify. F. W. Newman.
Mud"dle, v. i. 1. To dabble in mud. [Obs.] Swift.