puddle

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: pud=dle

CIDE DICTIONARY

puddle, n. [OE. podel; cf. LG. pudel, Ir. & Gael. plod pool.].

•  A small quantity of dirty standing water; a muddy plash; a small pool.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]
•  Clay, or a mixture of clay and sand, kneaded or worked, when wet, to render it impervious to water.  [1913 Webster]

Puddle poet, a low or worthless poet. [R.] Fuller.

puddle, v. t. 

•  To make foul or muddy; to pollute with dirt; to mix dirt with (water).  [1913 Webster]

  "Some unhatched practice . . .
  Hath puddled his clear spirit."  [1913 Webster]
•  To make dense or close, as clay or loam, by working when wet, so as to render impervious to water.  [1913 Webster]
•  To subject to the process of puddling, as iron, so as to convert it from the condition of cast iron to that of wrought iron.  Ure.  [1913 Webster]

Puddled steel, steel made directly from cast iron by a modification of the puddling process.

puddle, v. i. 

 To make a dirty stir.  R. Junius.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

puddle, n. & v.
--n.
1 a small pool, esp. of rainwater on a road etc.
2 clay and sand mixed with water and used as a watertight covering for embankments etc.
3 a circular patch of disturbed water made by the blade of an oar at each stroke.
--v.
1 tr. a knead (clay and sand) into puddle. b line (a canal etc.) with puddle.
2 intr. make puddle from clay etc.
3 tr. stir (molten iron) to produce wrought iron by expelling carbon.
4 intr. a dabble or wallow in mud or shallow water. b busy oneself in an untidy way.
5 tr. make (water etc.) muddy.
6 tr. work (mixed water and clay) to separate gold or opal.

Derivative

puddler n. puddly adj.

Etymology

ME podel, puddel, dimin. of OE pudd ditch

THESAURUS

puddle

artificial lake, bayou lake, chuckhole, cistern, dam, dead water, dike, doodle, etang, farm pond, fishpond, freshwater lake, glacial lake, hog wallow, inland sea, lagoon, laguna, lake, lakelet, landlocked water, linn, loblolly, loch, lough, mere, mess, mess around, millpond, millpool, muckhole, mud puddle, mudhole, nyanza, oxbow lake, plash, pond, pondlet, pool, potter, putter, reservoir, salina, salt pond, slop, slough, stagnant water, standing water, still water, sump, tank, tarn, tidal pond, tinker, volcanic lake, water hole, water pocket, well

ROGET THESAURUS

puddle

Lake

N gulf, lake, land covered with water, gulf, gulph, bay, inlet, bight, estuary, arm of the sea, bayou, fiord, armlet, frith, firth, ostiary, mouth, lagune, lagoon, indraught, cove, creek, natural harbor, roads, strait, narrows, Euripus, sound, belt, gut, kyles, continental slope, continental shelf, lake, loch, lough, mere, tarn, plash, broad, pond, pool, lin, puddle, slab, well, artesian well, standing water, dead water, sheet of water, fish pond, mill pond, ditch, dike, dyke, dam, reservoir, alberca, barachois, hog wallow, lacustrine.