PUDDLE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does puddle mean? 

• PUDDLE (noun)
  The noun PUDDLE has 3 senses:

1. a mixture of wet clay and sand that can be used to line a pond and that is impervious to water when dry

2. a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid

3. something resembling a pool of liquid

  Familiarity information: PUDDLE used as a noun is uncommon.

• PUDDLE (verb)
  The verb PUDDLE has 9 senses:

1. wade or dabble in a puddle

2. subject to puddling or form by puddling

3. dip into mud before planting

4. work a wet mixture, such as concrete or mud

5. mess around, as in a liquid or paste

6. make into a puddle

7. make a puddle by splashing water

8. mix up or confuse

9. eliminate urine

  Familiarity information: PUDDLE used as a verb is familiar.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PUDDLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A mixture of wet clay and sand that can be used to line a pond and that is impervious to water when dry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("puddle" is a kind of...):

covering material (a material used by builders to cover surfaces)

Derivation:

puddle (work a wet mixture, such as concrete or mud)

puddle (subject to puddling or form by puddling)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

pool; puddle

Context example:

the body lay in a pool of blood

Hypernyms ("puddle" is a kind of...):

body of water; water (the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "puddle"):

billabong (a stagnant pool of water in the bed of a stream that flows intermittently)

mud puddle (a puddle of mud)

Derivation:

puddle (make a puddle by splashing water)

puddle (wade or dabble in a puddle)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something resembling a pool of liquid

Classified under:

Nouns denoting spatial position

Synonyms:

pool; puddle

Context example:

his chair sat in a puddle of books and magazines

Hypernyms ("puddle" is a kind of...):

place; spot; topographic point (a point located with respect to surface features of some region)

• PUDDLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they puddle    ... he / she / it puddles   
Past simple: puddled   
Past participle: puddled   
-ing form: puddling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wade or dabble in a puddle

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Context example:

The ducks and geese puddled in the backyard

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

wade (walk (through relatively shallow water))

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

Sam and Sue puddle

Derivation:

puddle (a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Subject to puddling or form by puddling

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Context example:

puddle iron

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

forge; form; mold; mould; shape; work (make something, usually for a specific function)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

puddle (a mixture of wet clay and sand that can be used to line a pond and that is impervious to water when dry)

puddler (a worker who turns pig iron into wrought iron by puddling)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Dip into mud before planting

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

puddle young plants

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

plant; set (put or set (seeds, seedlings, or plants) into the ground)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Work a wet mixture, such as concrete or mud

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

bundle; compact; pack; wad (compress into a wad)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

puddle (a mixture of wet clay and sand that can be used to line a pond and that is impervious to water when dry)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Mess around, as in a liquid or paste

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Context example:

The children are having fun puddling in paint

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

mess around; monkey; monkey around; muck about; muck around; potter; putter; tinker (do random, unplanned work or activities or spend time idly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 6

Meaning:

Make into a puddle

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

muddle; puddle

Context example:

puddled mire

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

rile; roil (make turbid by stirring up the sediments of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 7

Meaning:

Make a puddle by splashing water

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

plash; spatter; splash; splatter; splosh; swash (dash a liquid upon or against)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

puddle (a small body of standing water (rainwater) or other liquid)

Sense 8

Meaning:

Mix up or confuse

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Synonyms:

addle; muddle; puddle

Context example:

He muddled the issues

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

confuse; jumble; mix up (assemble without order or sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 9

Meaning:

Eliminate urine

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Synonyms:

make; make water; micturate; pass water; pee; pee-pee; piddle; piss; puddle; relieve oneself; spend a penny; take a leak; urinate; wee; wee-wee

Context example:

Again, the cat had made on the expensive rug

Hypernyms (to "puddle" is one way to...):

egest; eliminate; excrete; pass (eliminate from the body)

Verb group:

ca-ca; crap; defecate; make; shit; stool; take a crap; take a shit (have a bowel movement)

urinate (pass after the manner of urine)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "puddle"):

wet (make one's bed or clothes wet by urinating)

stale (urinate, of cattle and horses)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

Alas, but that sentence is a puddle; is it not?

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

"Ah, heaven, she gifs me the name that no one speaks since Minna died!" cried the Professor, pausing in a puddle to regard her with grateful delight.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Nay, said the little knight, it would be scarce fitting that a cavalier should throw off his harness for the fear of every puff of wind and puddle of water.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

All right then; limpid, salubrious: no gush of bilge water had turned it to fetid puddle.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Mr. Frank Churchill still declined it, looking as serious as he could, and his father gave his hearty support by calling out, My good friend, this is quite unnecessary; Frank knows a puddle of water when he sees it, and as to Mrs. Bates's, he may get there from the Crown in a hop, step, and jump.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The water was out, over miles and miles of the flat country adjacent to Yarmouth; and every sheet and puddle lashed its banks, and had its stress of little breakers setting heavily towards us.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

In Meryton they parted; the two youngest repaired to the lodgings of one of the officers' wives, and Elizabeth continued her walk alone, crossing field after field at a quick pace, jumping over stiles and springing over puddles with impatient activity, and finding herself at last within view of the house, with weary ankles, dirty stockings, and a face glowing with the warmth of exercise.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

However, I’m off now once for all: I like your cow now a great deal better than this smart beast that played me this trick, and has spoiled my best coat, you see, in this puddle; which, by the by, smells not very like a nosegay.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

When they came out, he put the parcel under his arm with a more cheerful aspect, and splashed through the puddles as if he rather enjoyed it on the whole.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

However, when we got to the pathway outside the churchyard, where there was a puddle of water, remaining from the storm, I daubed my feet with mud, using each foot in turn on the other, so that as we went home, no one, in case we should meet any one, should notice my bare feet.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)