The Collaborative International Dictionary
Muddle \Mud"dle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Muddled; p. pr. & vb. n. Muddling.] [From Mud.]
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To make turbid, or muddy, as water. [Obs.]
He did ill to muddle the water.
--L'Estrange. -
To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.
Epicurus seems to have had brains so muddled and confounded, that he scarce ever kept in the right way.
--Bentley.Often drunk, always muddled.
--Arbuthnot. -
To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated. [R.]
They muddle it [money] away without method or object, and without having anything to show for it.
--Hazlitt. To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify.
--F. W. Newman.
Wiktionary
n. The act of one who muddles; confusion; disorderly progress. vb. (present participle of muddle English)
Usage examples of "muddling".
Dinner-hour nearly trespassed on tea-hour, before the united muddlings of herself and Robert produced the desired effect in turning raw mutton into haricot, and an untrussed fowl into a roast.