Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A dialectal (Scotch) form of
mickle .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective obsolete Much.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective
large ,massive ;much - verb US, dialectal To
latch onto something with the mouth. - verb rare To talk big; to
exaggerate .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun (often followed by `of') a large number or amount or extent
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Then she gave him Donal's school-slate, with a sklet-pike, and said, "Noo, mak a muckle A, cratur."
Sir Gibbie George MacDonald 1864
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Evidently "muckle" could not be the dinner-horn, so Harvey passed over the maul, and Dan scientifically stunned the fish before he pulled it inboard, and wrenched out the hook with the short wooden stick he called a "gob-stick."
Captains Courageous Rudyard Kipling 1900
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Dan peered down into the water alongside, and flourished the big "muckle," ready for all chances.
Captains Courageous Rudyard Kipling 1900
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Rashes. 1870 version [ "muckle"] in MacLennan SNR (1909),
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Alex Massie also asks:Jeremy Clarkson is a muckle tube.
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"Aye, weel, mony a mickle mak's a muckle, as Papa used to say."
Watershed 2010
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And and and when I broke up, I was all in a fuddle, a fussle—a muckle.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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Many proverbs use alliteration: "Many a mickle (little) makes a muckle (lot)," rhyme: "Man proposes, God disposes," parallelism: "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," ellipsis: "First come, first served," etc.
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And and and when I broke up, I was all in a fuddle, a fussle—a muckle.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
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And and and when I broke up, I was all in a fuddle, a fussle—a muckle.
Wildfire Sarah Micklem 2009
bilby commented on the word muckle
Historical meaning is 'a little', as in this sample from 1860:
I hadna been a wife a week but only four,
When mournfu' as I sat on the stane at the door,
I saw my Jamie's wraith, for I couldna think it he
Till he said, I'm come hame to marry thee.
O sair, sair did we greet, and muckle did we say;
We took but ae kiss, and I bade him gang away.
I wish that I were dead, but I'm no like to dee;
And why was I born to say, Wae's me?
I gang like a ghaist, and I carena to spin;
I daurna think on Jamie, for that wad be a sin;
But I'll do my best a gude wife aye to be, 35
For auld Robin Gray he is kind unto me.
- Lady A. Lindsay, 'Auld Robin Gray'.
August 11, 2008