sludge

Solids separated from suspension in a liquid.

Noun

  1. Solids separated from suspension in a liquid.
    • Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.[…]Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge. - 2013 June 29,...
  2. A residual semi-solid material left from industrial, water treatment, or wastewater treatment processes.
  3. A sediment of accumulated minerals in a steam boiler.
  4. A mass of small pieces of ice on the surface of a water body.
  5. Ellipsis of sludge metal.
  6. Institutional policies that introduce tedium and inefficiency in processes.
    • In the 2008 best seller Nudge, the legal scholar Cass R. Sunstein and the economist Richard H. Thaler marshaled behavioral-science research to show how small tweaks could help us make better choices. An updated version...

Origin

From Middle English slugge, sluche (“mud, mire”), probably an alteration of Middle English sliche, slicche ("mud, slush, tar"; whence Modern English slitch), from Old English *sliċ, from Proto-West Germanic *sliki, *slīk, from Proto-Germanic *slikiz, *slīką (“mud, slush”). Cognate with Dutch slijk, German Schlick. Compare also slush.

Forms

sludges slutch

Synonyms

mire mud ooze slush

Derived

activated sludge antisludge biliary sludge biosludge desludge mudge oil sludge primordial sludge sludge acid sludgecore sludge hole sludgelike sludgemaker sludge metal sludge out sludger sludgy

Verb

  1. To slump or slouch.
  2. To slop or drip slowly.

Forms

sludges sludging sludged slutch