Contextualizebeta

sludge

noun
/slʌd͡ʒ/

Etymology

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.

  1. inherited from *slikiz✻
  2. inherited from *sliki✻
  3. inherited from *sliċ✻
  4. inherited from slugge

Definitions

  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.

  2. A residual semi-solid material left from industrial, water treatment, or wastewater…

    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. ›+ 6 more definitions

    1. A mass of small pieces of ice on the surface of a water body.

    2. Ellipsis of sludge metal.

    3. Institutional policies that introduce tedium and inefficiency in processes.

    4. To slump or slouch.

    5. To slop or drip slowly.

    6. An acronym used to help remember the common symptoms of certain affections of a…

      An acronym used to help remember the common symptoms of certain affections of a cholinergic toxidrome: salivation, lacrimation, urination, defecation, gastrointestinal upset, emesis.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for sludge. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA