foreign muck
- noun
- Offensive
- The pond was polluted by foreign muck carried in by the flooding river.
Examples
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After the storm, my yard was filled with foreign muck washed in from the street.
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He refused to eat what he called foreign muck, insisting on traditional home-cooked meals.
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Look at this foreign muck!
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What is this foreign muck doing here?
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After the storm, my yard was filled with foreign muck washed in from the street.
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The pond was polluted by foreign muck carried in by the flooding river.
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He refused to eat what he called foreign muck, insisting on traditional home-cooked meals.
Synonyms
A wet dirty substance like mud or animal waste
Thick sticky stuff that is dirty or unpleasant
Unwanted things left behind, often washed up on a beach
A thick sticky substance that looks dirty and unpleasant
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'foreign' = from another place/country and 'muck' = dirty/unwanted material, so the phrase denotes dirty material originating elsewhere. This adjective+noun combination follows a transparent, non-idiomatic pattern that a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer.
Etymology
Foreign muck may come from the simple image of foreign (from another place) and muck (mud or dirty waste) being washed or blown into your yard or pond. That's why people use it to mean 'unwanted material or dirt brought in from somewhere else' and often say it in a negative way.