ooze

plural oozes · alternative obsolete ouse · alternative obsolete owze · alternative obsolete ouse · alternative obsolete owze

1. countableuncountableTanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather.
2. countableuncountableAn oozing, gentle flowing, or seepage, as of water through sand or earth.
3. countableobsoleteuncountableSecretion, humour.
4. countableobsoleteuncountableJuice, sap.

present singular third person oozes · participle present oozing · participle past oozed · past oozed · alternative obsolete ouse · alternative obsolete owze · alternative obsolete ouse · alternative obsolete owze

1. figurativelyintransitivesometimesTo be secreted or slowly leak.

   Her heart constricted when she saw thick blood oozing from a wide gash in his forehead.

   2011, Karen Mahoney, The Iron Witch, Flux, →ISBN, page 278

   4 more examples

   I promised him I would keep silence, but the story gradually oozed out, and the Cronsons left the country.

   1868, Charlotte Riddell, A Strange Christmas Game

   She picked up the limp sprout and squeezed her thumb up its tiny stalk. Microscopic grains oozed out. “Why, one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard. Look here. When it comes fall this dries up and the wind blows it all over Maycomb County!” Miss Maudie’s face likened such an occurrence unto an Old Testament pestilence.

   1960 July 11, Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird, Philadelphia, Pa.; New York, N.Y.: J[oshua] B[allinger] Lippincott Company, →OCLC

   Pale slime oozed through all the surfaces; some of it dripped from the ceiling and burned Dennis as badly as the blazing sparks had done a moment before.

   1988, David Drake, The Sea Hag, Baen Publishing Enterprises, published 2003, →ISBN

   He was hard to understand because he spoke softly, and his Vermont accent was as thick as maple syrup oozing down a pile of pancakes.

   1994, Madeleine May Kunin, Living a Political Life, Vintage Books, published 1995, →ISBN

2. figurativelytransitiveTo give off a strong sense of (something); to exude.

   "Good servants are so hard to find," Chesna said, oozing arrogance.

   1989, Robert R. McCammon, The Wolf's Hour, Open Road Integrated Media, published 2011, →ISBN

   4 more examples

   […] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where speculation lurks in corners, and of which Madame Vauquer inhales the warm, fetid air without being nauseated.

   1878, Henry James, “Honoré de Balzac”, in French Poets and Novelists, London: Macmillan, II, p. 122

   There are no two ways about it: a Berardi dress oozes sex appeal from its very seams.

   1999, Tamsin Blanchard, Antonio Berardi: Sex and Sensibility, Watson-Guptill Publications, →ISBN, page 16

   Newcastle had failed to penetrate a typically organised Stoke backline in the opening stages but, once Cabaye and then Cisse breached their defence, Newcastle oozed confidence and controlled the game with a swagger expected of a top-four team.

   2012 April 21, Jonathan Jurejko, “Newcastle 3-0 Stoke”, in BBC Sport

   Many of the stations, some of which are request stops, still have their original LSWR buildings. All are now private homes, but it oozes nostalgia (which I like).

   2025 November 12, 'Mystery Shopper', “Is Devon the cream of the crop?”, in RAIL, number 1048, page 48

plural oozes · alternative obsolete ouse · alternative obsolete owze

1. countableuncountableSoft mud, slime, or shells especially in the bed of a river or estuary.

   my son i' th' ooze is bedded.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii]

   1 more example

   It was May before the skunk cabbage began to push up through the ooze of the swamps, before the rhubarb reddened to the back corner of the garden and the spring peepers finally emerged and began abrading the edges of the night with their lovesick vibrato.

   1993, TC Boyle, The Road to Wellville, Penguin, published 1994, page 297

2. countableuncountablegeographyA pelagic marine sediment containing a significant amount of the microscopic remains of either calcareous or siliceous planktonic debris organisms.

   Seaweed were left on the blackened marble, while the salt ooze defaced the matchless works of art.

   1826, [Mary Shelley], The Last Man. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: pteropod ooze

3. countableuncountableA piece of soft, wet, pliable ground.