Oose

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A soft, wet, muddy deposit found in marshes and riverbeds ; to leak or seep slowly out through small openings
2. Soft, damp mire that collects at the bottom of ponds and marshes ; to trickle or exude slowly from a surface or opening
3. Sticky wet silt or muck found in low ground ; to flow out gradually through tiny gaps or pores

Etymology: The soft, wet mud at the bottom of a pond or river sounds like it should have a watery or muddy root, but its origin is woollen. In Scots, "oo" meant wool, and its plural "oos" gave us "oose." The link is a little strange until you picture the sludge: fine, tangled, fibrous matter that clings and gathers, much as wool fibres do when they felt together. The word is recorded in English as a Scots term, so it reached the wider language from the north of Britain rather than from the older Germanic or Latin vocabulary most English mud words come from. It is a good example of a homely word for a common material being pressed into service for something entirely different.

Synonyms: ooze, mud, slime, sludge