muddling

Muddle \Mud"dle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Muddled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Muddling}.] [From {Mud}.]
   1. To make turbid, or muddy, as water. [Obs.]
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            He did ill to muddle the water.       --L'Estrange.
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   2. To cloud or stupefy; to render stupid with liquor; to
      intoxicate partially.
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            Epicurus seems to have had brains so muddled and
            confounded, that he scarce ever kept in the right
            way.                                  --Bentley.
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            Often drunk, always muddled.          --Arbuthnot.
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   3. To waste or misuse, as one does who is stupid or
      intoxicated. [R.]
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            They muddle it [money] away without method or
            object, and without having anything to show for it.
                                                  --Hazlitt.
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   4. To mix confusedly; to confuse; to make a mess of; as, to
      muddle matters; also, to perplex; to mystify. --F. W.
      Newman.
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