See Also: sludge(dictionary)
sludge(2)(dictionary)
sludge(1)(dictionary)
sludge(medicine)
Biliary sludge(health)
Bile sludge(health)
activated sludge(medicine)
upflow sludge blanket(medicine)
activated sludge process(medicine)
activated sludge method(medicine)

sludge(1) (iou)



sludge noun & adjective. E17.
[Origin uncertain. Cf. SLUSH noun1, SLUTCH.]
A. noun.
a. Mud, mire, or ooze on the surface of the ground, in the bed of a river, etc. E17.
B. England The shallow sludge of water and mud.
b. Nautical. Ice imperfectly formed, or broken up into minute pieces. E19.
c. The colour of mud, a dull greenish-brown. M20.
a. Any muddy or slimy matter or deposit; a thick suspension of fine particles or gel in a liquid, esp. one formed as waste in any of various industrial and mechanical processes. E18.
b. Finely crushed or cut rock mixed with water, produced in rock drilling or during the extraction of metals. M18.
c. A loose sediment formed in a boiler or other vessel in which water is habitually heated. M19.
d. A precipitate in a sewage tank. L19.
e. A dark viscous liquid or semi-solid mass deposited when a petroleum distillate is mixed with strong sulphuric acid during refining. Also sludge acid, acid sludge. L19.
f. A deposit of fine insoluble particles formed at the anode during electrolysis; anode slime. E20.
g. A thick semi-solid deposit formed in oil when it is heated, exposed to air, or mixed with another kind of oil. E20.
h. Medicine. (A quantity of) blood which has undergone sludging (cf. SLUDGING noun 4). M20.
fig. An amorphous or undifferentiated mass. E20.
Times Each instrument is reduced to a sludge of pentatonically tinted Mantovani.
b. attrib. or as adjective. Of the colour of mud, dull greenish-brown. E17.
sludgy adjective (a) muddy, miry; (b) consisting of newly formed particles of ice; (c) of the colour of mud, dull greenish-brown; (d) dull and confused, tedious: L18.