sludge

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

sludge, n. [CF. Slush.].

•  Mud; mire; soft mud; slush.  Mortimer. Tennyson.  [1913 Webster]
•  Small floating pieces of ice, or masses of saturated snow.  Kane.  [1913 Webster]
•  See Slime, 4.  [1913 Webster]
•  Anything resembling mud or slush; as: (a) A muddy or slimy deposit from sweage. (b) Mud from a drill hole in boring. (c) Muddy sediment in a steam boiler. (d) Settling of cottonseed oil, used in making soap, etc. (e) A residuum of crude paraffin-oil distillation.  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

Sludge hole, the hand-hole, or manhole, in a steam boiler, by means of which sediment can be removed.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

sludge, n.
1 thick greasy mud.
2 muddy or slushy sediment.
3 sewage.
4 Mech. an accumulation of dirty oil, esp. in the sump of an internal-combustion engine.
5 Geol. sea-ice newly formed in small pieces.
6 (usu. attrib.) a muddy colour (sludge green).

Derivative

sludgy adj.

Etymology

cf. SLUSH

THESAURUS

sludge

Dry Ice, berg, calf, clay, cryosphere, dregs, firn, floe, frazil, frozen water, glaciation, glacier, glacieret, glaze, glazed frost, glop, goo, granular snow, ground ice, growler, gumbo, gunk, ice, ice banner, ice barrier, ice belt, ice cave, ice cubes, ice dike, ice field, ice floe, ice foot, ice front, ice island, ice needle, ice pack, ice pinnacle, ice raft, ice sheet, iceberg, icefall, icequake, icicle, jokul, lolly, mire, muck, mud, neve, nieve penitente, ooze, pack ice, precipitate, residue, scum, serac, shelf ice, silt, slab, sleet, slime, slip, slob, slop, slosh, slush, snow ice, snowberg, splosh, squash, swill

ROGET THESAURUS

sludge

Uncleanness

N uncleanness, impurity, immundity, immundicity, impurity, defilement, contamination, defoedation, soilure, soiliness, abomination, leaven, taint, tainture, fetor, decay, putrescence, putrefaction, corruption, mold, must, mildew, dry rot, mucor, rubigo, slovenry, slovenliness, squalor, dowdy, drab, slut, malkin, slattern, sloven, slammerkin, slammock, slummock, scrub, draggle-tail, mudlark, dust-man, sweep, beast, dirt, filth, soil, slop, dust, cobweb, flue, smoke, soot, smudge, smut, grit, grime, raff, sossle, sozzle, sordes, dregs, grounds, lees, argol, sediment, settlement heeltap, dross, drossiness, mother, precipitate, scoriae, ashes, cinders, recrement, slag, scum, froth, hogwash, ditchwater, dishwater, bilgewater, rinsings, cheeseparings, sweepings, offscourings, outscourings, off scum, caput mortuum, residuum, sprue, fecula, clinker, draff, scurf, scurfiness, exuviae, morphea, fur, furfur, dandruff, tartar, riffraff, vermin, louse, flea, bug, chinch, mud, mire, quagmire, alluvium, silt, sludge, slime, slush, slosh, sposh, spawn, offal, gurry, lientery, garbage, carrion, excreta, slough, peccant humor, pus, matter, suppuration, lienteria, faeces, feces, excrement, ordure, dung, crap, shit, sewage, sewerage, muck, coprolite, guano, manure, compost, dunghill, colluvies, mixen, midden, bog, laystall, sink, privy, jakes, toilet, john, head, cess, cesspool, sump, sough, cloaca, latrines, drain, sewer, common sewer, Cloacina, dust hole, sty, pigsty, lair, den, Augean stable, sink of corruption, slum, rookery, dirty, filthy, grimy, unclean, impure, soiled, not to be handled with kid gloves, dusty, snuffy, smutty, sooty, smoky, thick, turbid, dreggy, slimy, mussy, slovenly, untidy, messy, uncleanly, unkempt, sluttish, dowdy, draggle-tailed, uncombed, unscoured, unswept, unwiped, unwashed, unstrained, unpurified, squalid, lutose, slammocky, slummocky, sozzly, nasty, coarse, foul, offensive, abominable, beastly, reeky, reechy, fetid, decayed, moldy, musty, mildewed, rusty, moth-eaten, mucid, rancid, weak, bad, gone bad, etercoral, lentiginous, touched, fusty, effete, reasty, rotten, corrupt, tainted, high, flyblown, maggoty, putrid, putrefactive, putrescent, putrefied, saprogenic, saprogenous, purulent, carious, peccant, fecal, feculent, stercoraceous, excrementitious, scurfy, scurvy, impetiginous, gory, bloody, rotting, rotten as a pear, rotten as cheese, crapulous, gross, fimetarious, fimicolous, they that touch pitch will be defiled.