puddle

[ puhd-l ]

noun

1. a small pool of water, as of rainwater on the ground.
2. a small pool of any liquid.
3. 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)

, pud·dled, pud·dling.

1. to mark or scatter with puddles.
2. to wet with dirty water, mud, etc.
3. to make (water) muddy or dirty.
4. to muddle or confuse.
5. to make (clay or the like) into puddle.
6. to cover with pasty clay or puddle.
7. Metallurgy. to subject (molten iron) to the process of puddling.
8. to destroy the granular structure of (soil) by agricultural operations on it when it is too wet.
9. 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)

, pud·dled, pud·dling.

1. to wade in a puddle:

   The children were puddling.

2. to be or become puddled:

   The backyard was puddling.

puddle

/ ˈpʌdəl /

noun

1. a small pool of water, esp of rain
2. a small pool of any liquid
3. a worked mixture of wet clay and sand that is impervious to water and is used to line a pond or canal
4. rowing the patch of eddying water left by the blade of an oar after completion of a stroke

verb

1. tr to make (clay, etc) into puddle
2. tr to subject (iron) to puddling
3. intr to dabble or wade in puddles, mud, or shallow water
4. intr to mess about

Derived Forms

• ˈpuddler, noun
• ˈpuddly, adjective

Other Words From

• puddler noun
• puddly adjective
• un·puddled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of puddle¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of puddle¹

C14 podel, diminutive of Old English pudd ditch, of obscure origin

Example Sentences

But as the puddles swell and the temperature drops in the small hours at Battersea Park Athletics Club, the only thing on runners’ minds is survival.

From BBC

“I had to put myself in a bubble of confidence because otherwise I would have been a puddle on the floor,” said Hahn, who channeled “that gender-less quality of ’80s rockers” like Siouxsie Sioux.

From Los Angeles Times

The following month, one inspector said they found “ample amounts of blood in puddles on the floor” and a “rancid smell” throughout a cooler used at the plant.

From Salon

They’re sappy and maudlin, aiming to reduce the audience to a puddle of tears.

From Los Angeles Times

People walking out of trailers and mud puddles outside of trailers, and lives lived in and out of trailer parks.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• pond