mullock

American  

[muhl-uhk] / ˈmʌl ək /

noun

1. (in Australasia) refuse or rubbish, as rock or earth, from a mine; muck.

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idioms

1. poke mullock at, to ridicule.

mullock British  

/ ˈmʌlək /

noun

1. waste material from a mine

2. dialect a mess or muddle

3. informal to ridicule

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Other Word Forms

• mullocky adjective

Etymology

Origin of mullock

1350–1400; originally dialectal English; Middle English mullok, equivalent to mul dust, mold, rubbish (compare Old English myl dust; vowel perhaps from Middle English mullen; mull ⁴ ) + -ok -ock

Example Sentences

Aw've had nowt to do wi' th' orderation o' this mullock, an' if ther's owt lost aw'll pay for it.

From Yorksher Puddin' A Collection of the Most Popular Dialect Stories from the Pen of John Hartley by Hartley, John

But when they saw awr Mary,    They made a mullock on it, For they thowt 'at all them flaars    Had been put on Mary's bonnet.

From Yorkshire Lyrics Poems written in the Dialect as Spoken in the West Riding of Yorkshire. To which are added a Selection of Fugitive Verses not in the Dialect by Hartley, John

Watty threw the mullock from his hide bucket as it came up, and lowered it again.

From The Black Opal by Prichard, Katharine Susannah

But her needeth care, or her may all goo away in mullock.

From Erema — My Father's Sin by Blackmore, R. D. (Richard Doddridge)

He was very unsociable, seldom speaking, whether drunk or sober; but a weary, hard-up sundowner was always pretty certain to get a meal and a shake-down at Bogg's lonely but among the mullock heaps.

From While the Billy Boils by Lawson, Henry