meddle

present singular third person meddles · participle present meddling · participle past meddled · past meddled · alternative obsolete medle

1. To interfere in or with; to concern oneself with unduly.First known use 14ᵗʰc.

   […] why ſhouldeſt thou meddle to thy hurt,[…]?

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 2 Kings 14:10, column 2

   2 more examples

   […] the Civil Lawyers […] have medled in a matter, that belongs not to them;[…].

   1689 December (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], “Who Heir?”, in Two Treatises of Government: […], London: […] Awnsham Churchill, […], →OCLC, book I, paragraph 126, page 161

   There is much to dislike about the proposed constitution, which will keep elected governments beholden to a senate nominated by the junta and to a suite of meddling committees.

   2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist

   Synonyms: dabble, stick one's nose into, stick one's oar in

2. obsoleteTo interest or engage oneself; to have to do (with), in a good sense.

   […]ſtuddy to be quyet / and to medle with youre owne buſynes[…].

   1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, 1 Thessalonians iiij:[11], folio cclxx, verso

   1 more example

   The Pythagoreans who, as Ariſtotle ſays, were the firſt among the Greeks, that meddled with Mathematics, divided them into four Parts, of which, two were Pure and Primary, namely Arithmetic and Geometry; and the other two Mixed and Secondary, as Muſic and Spheres, i. e. Aſtronomy.

   1734, Isaac Barrow, “Lecture II. Of the Particular Division of the Mathematical Sciences”, in John Kirkby, transl., The Usefulness of Mathematical Learning Explained and Demonstrated: Being Mathematical Lectures Read in the Publick Schools at the University of Cambridge. […], London: […] Stephen Austen, […], →OCLC, page 14

3. obsoleteTo mix (something) with some other substance; to commingle, combine, blend.First known use 14th–17th c.

   [H]e cutt a lock of all their heare, / Which medling with their blood & earth, he threw / Into the graue,[…].

   1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 204

   Synonyms: bemingle, combine, ming, admix, amalgamate, bemingle, blend, combine

4. USintransitiveregionalTo have sex.First known use 14ᵗʰc.

   Take a Rammes head that neuer medled with an Ewe, cut off at a blow, and the hornes onely taken away, boyle it well skinne and wooll together,[…].

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 2, section 5, member 1, subsection v, page 323

   1 more example

   But after god came to Adam and bad hym knowe his wyf flesshly as nature requyred / Soo lay Adam with his wyf vnder the same tree / and anone the tree whiche was whyte and ful grene as ony grasse and alle that came oute of hit / and in the same tyme that they medled to gyders there was Abel begoten / thus was the tree longe of grene colour

   1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter V, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII

   Synonyms: do it, get it on, ming, approach, cohabit, common, company, copulate