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Glite Dictionary
to muck out

to muck out

3 6.5
To clean animal waste from a stable or pen
  • phrasal verb
  • /mʌk aʊt/
translation icon : limpiar
  • Bob Linwood is in his barn, mucking it out.
  • muck out stalls
  • muck out a barn
  • muck out a stable

Examples

  • Diego, our groom from Santo Domingo Pueblo, finishes mucking out the other stalls and stops to pet the foal.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • At least a half mile behind us was Stable-Mart, the sorry excuse for a stable, where I had the royal job of mucking out stalls.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • "I'll walk this boy around a bit while you muck out."

    Fiction book (2000)

  • Muck out that stall, and then bring that horse on in and put him inside.

    The Derby Stallion (2005)

  • Muck out that stall.

    The Derby Stallion (2005)

  • But Dusty had a pitchfork for mucking out the ponies' corral.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • Inside the barn, stableboys were busy mucking out, so the air was perfumed with the smells of manure, hay, and mud.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Dozens of grooms were at work, currying and combing, mucking out, mending tack.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • After finishing breakfast, I went to muck out the horse's stable to keep it clean.

  • It's important to muck out the animal pens regularly to maintain hygiene.

Synonyms

to muck
vsto muck out
2 6.8

To remove dirt and waste from a mine or tunnel

cleans animal manure from pens rather than industrial refuse
to slop out
vsto muck out
  • Informal
9.8

To empty dirty liquid or other waste from a container like a bucket

cleans solid animal waste from stalls rather than containers

How Clean

to decontaminate
  • Specialized
9 7.0
to disinfect
18 3.7
to muck out
3 6.5
to clean
∞ 1.0
to wipe
531 1.0

Surface Forms

muck out infinitive
mucked out past
mucked out past participle
mucking out present participle
mucks out third person singular

Morphology

muck + out

The meaning is directly built from 'muck' (to clear out dirt or waste) plus the particle 'out' (remove from the interior), so 'muck out' straightforwardly means to remove and clean away waste from a place. This verb+particle composition is a common, predictable English pattern, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would reliably infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

The phrasal verb muck out comes from farm work: muck was the dirty animal waste in stables, and workers would shovel it out into a wheelbarrow. So muck out now means 'to clean waste', especially manure, from a stable or animal pen.