I. muck 1 /mʌk/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable] informal
[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Origin: Probably from a Scandinavian language ]
1 . dirt, mud, or another sticky substance that makes something dirty:
Come on, let’s wipe that muck off your face.
2 . British English waste matter from animals, sometimes put on land to make plants grow better SYN manure :
special machinery for spreading muck onto the fields
dog muck
3 . British English something that is unpleasant or of very bad quality:
How can you eat that muck? It looks disgusting.
I’m not surprised she left. He treated her like muck (=very badly) .
4 . make a muck of something British English informal to do something very badly and make a lot of mistakes SYN muck up :
I really made a muck of the exam.
5 . as common as muck British English informal very common or of a low social class
II. muck 2 BrE AmE verb
muck about/around phrasal verb British English informal
1 . to behave in a silly way, especially when you should be working or paying attention to something SYN mess around :
Stop mucking about and listen!
Some of the boys were mucking around on bikes.
2 . muck somebody about/around to cause trouble for someone, especially by changing your mind a lot or not doing what you promised to do SYN mess somebody around :
The company kept mucking us around and changing the price.
muck in phrasal verb British English informal
1 . to do your share of the work that is necessary in order to get a job done:
If we all muck in, we could get the whole house painted by the end of the week.
2 . to share space with other people
muck in with
There are only three bedrooms. Do you mind mucking in with the other boys?
muck something ↔ out phrasal verb British English
to clean the place where a farm animal lives:
You have to muck out the stables every day in the winter.
muck something ↔ up phrasal verb informal
1 . British English to do something badly, so that you fail to achieve something SYN mess up :
I really mucked up my driving test first time.
2 . to spoil something, especially an arrangement or plan SYN mess up :
The bad weather mucked up our plans for a picnic.
3 . British English to make something dirty SYN mess up :
Who’s mucked up the carpet in here?