muckle

plural muckles

1. ScotlandA great amount.

comparative muckler · superlative mucklest

1. Scotlandarchaicoutside NorthumbriaLarge, massive.

   She clorts a muckle piece [sandwich] tae me, wi' different kinds o' jam,

   c. 1930, George S. Morris, song A Pair o Nicky-tams

2. Scotlandarchaicoutside NorthumbriaMuch.

   But long they waited, and longer still, / With doubt and muckle pain, / But woe were the hearts of his brethren, / For he came not back again.

   1890, Joseph Jacobs, “Childe Rowland”, in English Fairy Tales, page 118

present singular third person muckles · participle present muckling · participle past muckled · past muckled

1. MaineVermontTo latch onto something with the mouth.

   Another technique for the baby who is having trouble muckling on involves a breast or nipple shield.

   2002, William G. Wilkoff, The Maternity Leave Breastfeeding Plan, →ISBN, page 87

   2 more examples

   And how'd she get such a holt on you, Terence Campion, let alone the way she's muckled onto those Bennetts?

   1954, Elizabeth Ogilvie, The Dawning of the Day, page 199

   When an exhausted sucker is hauled to the top of The Wall, usually its muckling circle of a mouth goes into a frenzied sucking spasm.

   2004, William J. Vande Kopple, The Catch: Families, Fishing, and Faith, →ISBN, page 18

2. rareTo talk big; to exaggerate.

   I told him all, / Both bad and good; / I bade him call — / He said he would: / I added much — the more I muckled, / The more that chuckling chummy chuckled!

   1896, W.S. Gilbert, “The Grand Duke, or the Statutory Duel”, in The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan, published 1941

   Synonyms: mickle

plural muckles

1. A maul or hammer.

   Then the caplin moved off, and five minutes later there was no sound except the splash of the sinkers overside, the flapping of the cod, and the whack of the muckles as the men stunned them.

   1897, Rudyard Kipling, Captains Courageous

plural Muckles

1. A surname.