puddle
Americannoun
-
a small pool of water, as of rainwater on the ground.
-
a small pool of any liquid.
-
clay or the like mixed with water and tempered, used as a waterproof lining for the walls of canals, ditches, etc.
verb (used with object)
-
to mark or scatter with puddles.
-
to wet with dirty water, mud, etc.
-
to make (water) muddy or dirty.
-
to muddle or confuse.
-
to make (clay or the like) into puddle.
-
to cover with pasty clay or puddle.
-
Metallurgy. to subject (molten iron) to the process of puddling.
-
to destroy the granular structure of (soil) by agricultural operations on it when it is too wet.
-
Horticulture. to dip the roots of (a tree, shrub, etc.) into a thin mixture of loam and water to retard drying out during transplanting.
verb (used without object)
-
to wade in a puddle.
The children were puddling.
-
to be or become puddled.
The backyard was puddling.
noun
-
a small pool of water, esp of rain
-
a small pool of any liquid
-
a worked mixture of wet clay and sand that is impervious to water and is used to line a pond or canal
-
rowing the patch of eddying water left by the blade of an oar after completion of a stroke
verb
-
(tr) to make (clay, etc) into puddle
-
(tr) to subject (iron) to puddling
-
(intr) to dabble or wade in puddles, mud, or shallow water
-
(intr) to mess about
Other Word Forms
- puddler noun
- puddly adjective
- unpuddled adjective
Etymology
Origin of puddle
1300–50; (noun) Middle English puddel, podel, pothel, apparently diminutive of Old English pudd ditch, furrow (akin to Low German pudel puddle); (v.) late Middle English pothelen, derivative of the noun
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“It sounds like large water drops falling from a melting icicle and hitting a puddle. Is the poor old thing melting, too?”
From Literature
She took handfuls of mud and slathered it on his face so he looked like a piglet in a mud puddle.
From Literature
In the nearby Lallays reservoir, dozens of camels graze on wild plants, but not a single puddle remains.
From Barron's
Before you drain, save the pasta water — that cloudy starch is what turns chopped olives and warm oil into a sauce that clings instead of puddles.
From Salon
The federal investigators encountered puddles of crude oil on the facility grounds, as well as caustic fumes emanating from the facility, resulting in violations for air quality and other environmental infractions.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
