Mud"dle (?), v. t. [imp. & p.
p. Muddled (?); p. pr. & vb. n.
Muddling (?).] [From Mud.] 1. To
make turbid, or muddy, as water. [Obs.]
He did ill to muddle the water.
L'Estrange.
2. 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.
3. 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.
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.
2. To think and act in a confused, aimless
way.
Mud"dle, n. A state of being
turbid or confused; hence, intellectual cloudiness or
dullness.
We both grub on in a muddle.
Dickens.