muddle

Etymology 1

From Middle English modelen (attested in present participle modeland (“wallowing”)), from Middle Dutch moddelen (“to make muddy”), from modde, mod (“mud”) (Modern Dutch modder). Compare German Kuddelmuddel.

verb

1. To mix together, to mix up; to confuse.
   Young children tend to muddle their words.
   I will not , to please hostile critics , muddle the argument by making it one of recondite learning , in which neither I nor my readers are strong . I try to lay before the reader reasons from which he can judge for himself 1847, Francis William Newman, A History of the Hebrew Monarchy
2. To mash slightly for use in a cocktail.
   He muddled the mint sprigs in the bottom of the glass.
3. To dabble in mud.
   c. 1721-1722, Jonathan Swift, The Progress of Marriage Young ducklings foster'd by a hen; But, when let out, they run and muddle
4. To make turbid or muddy.
5. To think and act in a confused, aimless way.
6. To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to intoxicate partially.
7. To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or intoxicated.
   They muddle it [money] away without method or object, and without having anything to show for it. 1821, William Hazlitt, On the Want of Money

noun

1. A mixture; a confusion; a garble.
   The muddle of nervous speech he uttered did not have much meaning.
   As a result, no single party or coalition immediately gained enough parliamentary seats to govern, thrusting Spain into a familiar political muddle and giving new life to Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who only days ago seemed moribund. 2023-07-24, Jason Horowitz, “What the Collapse of Spain’s Far Right Means Going Forward”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
2. (cooking and cocktails) A mixture of crushed ingredients, as prepared with a muddler.

Etymology 2

noun

1. (India, historical) A servant's attendant; underservant.
   We bought a few rugs and odds and ends and our sitting room looks quite European; then we have a bedroom with 2 beds and a dressing room, also a corridor for the muddles and servants. 1985, Lizzie Hessel, Ann Brown, Anne Rose, Lizzie: A Victorian Lady's Amazon Adventure, page 132
   I have an ayah (or lady's maid), and a tailor (for the ayahs cannot work); and A—84 has a boy: also two muddles—one to sweep my room, and another to bring water. 2022, Carl Thompson, Katrina O'Loughlin, Éadaoin Agnew, Women's Travel Writings in India 1777–1854, page 201