Muck Is Farm Manure Before It Is Anything Else
Muck is dirt or filth. Its oldest and most practical sense is farmyard manure.
Muck is dirt, filth, or farmyard manure. The agricultural sense is the core one, and it gives the old northern English saying *where there's muck there's brass* — meaning that dirty work pays. Muck spreading was the basis of soil fertility before artificial fertiliser, so the word carried no contempt on a farm even while it meant filth elsewhere. The verb *muck about*, to waste time, and *muck in*, to share work, are both British and both keep a sense of hands-on mess.
- Manure. *Muck spreading.*
- Dirt or filth. *Covered in muck.*
- To muck about. *Mucking about.*
- To muck in. *Everyone mucked in.*
- Old Norse — *myki*, dung. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | muck | Muck. |
| Verb | muck | Mucking out. |
| Adjective | mucky | Mucky. |
| Compound | muckraker | A muckraker. |
| Old Norse | myki | Dung. |
- He mucked out the stable.Farm.
- Where there's muck there's brass.Saying.
- Stop mucking about.British.
Muck phrases
- Muck out — clean a stable or byre
- Muck in — join in with shared work
- Muck about — waste time or fool around
- Muck up — spoil or ruin something
- Muckraker — a journalist who exposes scandal
Middle English, probably from Old Norse *myki*, dung, related to Danish *møg*.
What does where there's muck there's brass mean?
That dirty or unglamorous work is profitable. Brass is northern English slang for money.
What is a muckraker?
A journalist who digs up scandal and corruption, a term popularised in early twentieth-century America.