English Words in Action, Group M

1. A person's face: A photograph of a criminal's mug was presented to the police for identification purposes.
2. A heavy drinking cup with a handle: Jane's family often prefer to use mugs when they have soup or other hot liquids to consume.
3. The hot liquid that is in a drinking container: Sam and his mother were drinking a big mug of soup while his father was drinking a mug of coffee.

1. To attack and to rob someone: Jesse was mugged while he was walking home from the park last evening.
2. To behave in a silly way by making silly facial expressions: The politician was mugging at a man who was yelling in disagreement about a statement that the candidate had made.

Someone who uses physical violence to steal from others: The police caught the mugger who stole Silvia's purse as he was trying to get away.

An assault, or aggressive action, by someone on another person, or people, with the intention of taking their valuables with unlawful force: Recently there have been several muggings of people after it gets dark in Joe's neighborhood.

Descriptive of being unpleasantly warm, or hot, and humid: There have been more muggy days this summer than usual; in fact, the last three days have been the muggiest.

1. A condition in which there is only gloom, poor, or inconsistent light.: A figure emerged from the murk as Jane and James walked down the street in the evening.
2. Gloomy darkness caused by fog, mist, smoke, or cloud: In the harbor, the industrial murk was further exacerbated by the heavy fog causing the special horns to sound throughout the night.
3. Darkness or a thick cloud, which prevents people from seeing clearly: Aurora and Walter carried their flashlights when they walked through the murk on their way home.
4. Dark or dirty water: When Stephan was rowing a boat, he couldn't see the bottom of the lake through all the murk that was there.
5. Etymology: from Middle English mirke, from Old Norse myrkr, or Old English mirce, "dark".

1. The quality of or a reference to being cloudy: The murkiness of the night sky hid the tall and well-lighted buildings.

It was difficult to understand the point the politician was making because of the murkiness of his proposal for cleaning up the waterfront.

2. Circumstances in which it is impossible to see: The murkiness of the water completely obscured whatever might be at the bottom of the pond.

1. Without sufficient light, being dirty, and gloomy: The murky light in the cave made it difficult for the spelunkers to explore it.
2. Densely foggy or covered with a thick mist: A murky sky was hanging over the forest after the fire had been put out.
3. Muddied, difficult to see through because of sediment: Justin doesn't like to swim in the river because of its murky water.
4. Obscure or doubtful and specious: The speaker presented murky information in an effort to disguise the fact that he was not prepared for the debate.
5. Not clearly expressed or understood: The airline offered a murky explanation for the flight delay.
6. Suspicious, intended to deceive, or is hidden: As a politician, the candidate was suspected of having a murky past.
8. Darker and gloomier; especially, as a result of a thick mist: The sky was murkier than normal because of a thin drizzle which was falling and then later, it became the murkiest of nights as a result of the thick fog.
9. A descriptive term for someone or something exhibiting morally questionable behavior: Mike's political background made him a murkier government agent than the others who were running for office.