▪ I. ooze, n.1
(uːz)
Forms: α. 1 wós, 2–5 wos, (4 wus), 5–6 wose, 6 woos, 5–8 woose, 7–8 wooze. β. 6 ouse, 6–7 ouze, 6– 8 owze, 7 oose, (oze, oaze), 8– ooze.
[In senses 1, 2, OE. wós juice, sap, expressed juice: cf. MLG. wos(e scum, etc. Sense 3 is a later formation from ooze v.1 (itself a deriv. of sense 1). With the loss of initial w in the β-forms, cf. the pronunciation of wood, wool, woman, in various dialects which drop w before (u, u). (Instances of oze, oaze, in sense 2, in 17th c., were prob. due to confusion with ooze n.2, which had then both oze and oaze.)]
I. † 1. Juice, sap; the liquid which flows or is obtained from a plant, fruit, or the like. Obs.
| α c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 178 Sume men..þæs woses synderlice brucað{ddd}wið earena sare, ᵹenim ðysse ylcan wyrte..wos. 1340 Ayenb. 89 Uor þet hy weneþ by of gentile woze. Ibid. 186 Ase þe oyle op arist ine þe lompe alle þe oþre woses. 1340–70 Alisaunder 712 Nectanabus..laches..wortes..Hee wringes out þe wet wus. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. vii. (Tollem. MS.), Varro seyeþ, þat a reed of Ynde groweþ to a smal tre, and humoure is wronge oute of þe rote þerof, and no swete þinges may stryue wiþ þat wose [1535 woos] and licoure. a 1400–50 Alexander 413 Þat Iogloure..[with] þe wose of þe wede hire wengis anoyntis. c 1440 Tundale 1358 He thrust hem as men dose Grapes, to wryng out the wose. |
2. a. techn. The liquor of a tan-vat; an infusion or decoction of oak-bark, sumach, or other tannin-yielding substance in which hides are steeped.
| α 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iv. iv. (1588) 459 If any Tanner..have tanned any rotten Hides, or wrought them negligently in the Wose, or have not renewed the Wose so oft as need was. 1603–4 Act 1 Jas. I, c. 22 Nor shall suffer the Hides..to lye in the Woozes any lesse tyme than Twelve Moneths at the leaste. 1638 A. Read Chirurg. ix. 63 You may use the red astringent wine, or tanners woose. 1726 Brice's Week. Jrnl. 4 Mar. 4 A large Tann-yard..furnished with Pits and Vats..full of Wooze. 1800 Specif. Patent No. 2409. 2 The part for raising and conveying the woose. |
| β 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Oxen (1600) 13 Then shall ye take of sharpe Tanners owze. Ibid. 42 Also some doe giue them of Tanners ouse to drinke. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 546 The filth of Tanners oose. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. xx. 55 Take a pinte of Tanners Oze. 1692 O. Walker Grk. & Rom. Hist. 25 With tanners Oaze. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. II. 6 C ij/1 Take a Quart of Tanner's Owze. 1777 Macbride in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 113 The tanners prepare their bark..They..use it in the way of infusion, which is called ooze. 1852 C. Morfit Tanning & Currying (1853) 216 Vats..two-thirds filled with a weak ooze or infusion of oak-bark. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. v. 311 An extract of bark, technically called ‘ooze’. |
b. Short for ooze leather (see sense 4 below). Also attrib.
| 1916 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 18 July 14/1 (Advt.), Ladies' 8-Inch High Laced White Ivory Ooze Boot, blind eyelets, small perforations, full Louis heel. 1922 M. B. Houston Witch Man vi. 78 A ‘gift’ volume of Shakespeare, bound in dark blue ooze. |
II. From ooze v.
3. The act or fact of oozing; exudation; gentle flow; also, that which oozes; a sluggish stream.
| 1718 Prior Solomon iii. 567 From his first fountain & beginning ouze, Down to the sea each brook & torrent flows. 1821 Keats Isabella lii, Divine liquids come with odorous ooze Through the cold serpent-pipe. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 281 An outlet for the escape of the fluid, which trickles down in a perpetual ooze. 1889 Science XIII. 131/1 Small oozes of water issuing from the base of these slopes. |
III. 4. Comb. (from 2) ooze (or oozed) leather = ooze-calf; ooze-calf, calf-skin through which the dye has been forced by mechanical means, used for the uppers of boots and shoes, and by bookbinders.
| 1890 in American Mail Order Fashions (1961) 27 Boys' Eton Caps in ooze leather. Price,..$1. 1894 Daily News 22 June 6/4 From Montreal comes a book in buck-skin, tanned like ooze-calf. 1895 Times 2 Jan. 13/4 Orders..for glacé kid, ooze calf, American red sides, and the best English tannages. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 324/3 A Very Good Oozed Leather Tobacco or Coin Pouch. 1928 Publishers' Weekly 9 June 2348 In four styles of binding..ooze leather, two colors, green or brown, $2·50. 1937 S. V. Benét Thirteen O'Clock 71, I could stomach Jeremy Jason, the homespun philosopher, whose small green ooze-leather booklets..produced much the same sensation in me as running a torn fingernail over heavy plush. 1960 G. A. Glaister Gloss. Bk. 286/2 Ooze leather, calfskins or split sheepskins prepared to give them a suede or velvet finish on the flesh side. |
▪ II. ooze, n.2
(uːz)
Forms: α. 1 wáse; 4–6 wose, 6 woose, woes. β. 6 oous, 6–7 oes, owes; ooes, ouse; 6–8 oase, oose, owze, 7 oas, ose, owze, 7–8 oaz, oaze, oze, owse; 6– ooze.
[OE. wáse wk. fem., cognate with ON. veisa wk. fem., stagnant pool, puddle, Norw. dial. veisa fem., mud, mud-bank. In ME. and 16th c. wose, rimes with glose, disclose, repose, suppose. The regular mod. repr. would be ose, oase (əʊz), as in the 16–18th c. oas, oase, oaz, oaze, ose, oze, oes, owes; but from 1550 there are spellings which imply (uːz), and show assimilation of this word to ooze n.1, either through contiguity of sense, or through the tendency of OE. wá to pass through (wɔː, woː) to (wuː, uː), as seen in womb, two, who. Besides the distinct forms, there are several ambiguous spellings, so that no attempt has been made to separate the examples that appear to represent (oː) and (uː) respectively. Forms with initial w do not survive the sixteenth century. In popular apprehension this word is not felt to be a different word from ooze n.1, the notions of ‘moisture’, ‘exudation’, and ‘oozy soil’ being naturally associated.]
1. a. Wet mud or slime; esp. that in the bed of a river or estuary.
| α c 725 Corpus Gloss. 386 Caenum, wase. a 1000 Ags. Gloss. in Wr.-Wülck. 203/45 Cenum i.e. luti uorago, uel lutum sub aquis fetidum, i. wase uel fæn. c 1050 Glosses ibid. 362/30 Cænum, wase. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xiii. 229 Right as weodes wexen in wose and in donge. c 1400 Beryn 1742 They [ships] been nat ȝit I-setelid, ne fixid in þe wose [rime glose]. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 532/2 Wose, slype of the erthe..gluten, bitumen. 1555 T. Phaer æneid ii. D j b, I..in a slimy lake of mud all night lay hid in wose [rime disclose]. 1557 Ibid. v. L iv b, Hauons of Scicil woose [rime as I suppose]. 1582 Batman On Barthol. xiii. v. 192 He walloweth and wrappeth himselfe first in fenne and wose. |
| β a 1547 Surrey æneid ii. 172 And lurked in a marrise all the nyght Among the ooze. 1553 Brende Q. Curtius ix. 23 Being full of mudde and ooes. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1539/1 Maister Ferdinando Poins would haue raised them with ouze and beach shoueled and cast togither. 1590 Webbe Trav. (Arb.) 32 That she might haue gone vp to the mid leg in oes or mire. 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 26 The vgly oous of the channell. 1599 Hakluyt Voy. II. ii. 58 We sounded, and found 28 fadome water, blacke oase. 1602 Carew Cornwall 27 The ose or salt water mudde. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. iii. iii. 136 Till it bee fatted with the Owes, or sand of the Sea. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. ix. 29 Having buried him in the owze. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. ii. 53 Quicksands, Drift, Syrtis. Oaz. 1678–1706 Phillips, Oze, a soft slimy Ground, where a Ship cannot conveniently cast Anchor. 1680 Morden Geog. Rect., Hungary (1685) 89 By the setling of the Ouse or filth brought down by the..Danube. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iv. 623 Unweildily they wallow first in Ooze, Then in the shady Covert seek Repose. 1726 G. Roberts Four Years Voy. 287 With soft Owse and Sand mix'd. 1763 W. Roberts Nat. Hist. Florida 9 The bottom, which is sandy, mixed in many places with oase, is excellent for anchorage. 1774 T. West Antiq. Furness p. xix, Manuring their land with sea⁓sand, or rather ouze. 1804 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. II. 306 The strip of oose between the granite mountains of Egypt. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 33 The sheet of black and fetid ooze that sends forth a surface-scum of brown tint and sickening odour. |
| fig. c 1440 Jacob's Well 174 To castyn oute ȝoure wose of synne. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. iv. iv. Wks. 1856 I. 128 The very ouze, The quicksand that devours all miserie. 1630 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlem. (1641) 189 Entangled by the reeds and oaze of earthly vanities. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. i. (1873) 332 Fishing a manuscript out of the ooze of oblivion. |
b. A stretch or extent of mud; a mud-bank; a marsh or fen, a piece of soft boggy ground.
| c 1500 Piers of Fullham 267 in Hazl. E.P.P. II. 11 Therfore know j non so redy arryvayle, As ys the redd clyfe in the warine wose [rime suppose]. 1568 Grindal Lett., to Abp. Parker Wks. (1843) 294 By reason of the evil air of the marshes and oozes there,..sick both of quartan and tertian agues. 1587 Fleming Contn. Holinshed III. 1271/1 Twelve pirates were hanged at Whapping, in the ouze beside London. a 1598 in MS. Map in Royal MS. 18 D III (Lord Burghley's Atlas) lf. 63 [The Sand and Ooze, now Kilnsey Flats, in the Humber Mouth, is denominated] ‘a flat and woes’. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. xix. iv. (1872) VIII. 154 There are thickets, intricacies, runlets, boggy oozes. |
2. a. Ocean-sounding. White or grey calcareous matter, largely composed of remains of Foraminifera, covering vast tracts of the ocean-floor.
| 1858 J. Dayman Deep Sea Soundings 7 The sinker was detached, and the valve..full of soft oaze. Ibid. 9 Between the 15th and 45th degrees of west longitude lies the deepest part of the ocean, the bottom of which is almost wholly composed of the same kind of soft mealy substance, which, for want of a better name, I have called oaze. 1860 Maury Phys. Geog. Sea (Low) xiv. §609 The ooze of the deep sea. 1872 Nicholson Palæont. 9 The nearest approach which we have at the present day to chalk is probably to be found in the deposit called ‘ooze’. 1877 W. Thomson Voy. Challenger II. i. 2 On the morning of the 16th we sounded in 2,575 fathoms with a bottom of reddish ooze containing many foraminifera. |
b. A deposit or layer of ooze on the ocean floor.
| 1876 Proc. R. Soc. XXIV. 532 In the Globigerina, Radiolarian, and Diatom oozes we have found..only one or two shark's teeth. 1926 G. W. Tyrrell Princ. Petrol. xiv. 236 The oozes which cover great areas of the ocean floor are mainly calcareous and foraminiferal. 1971 Nature 3 Sept. 46/1 The ophiolites in those deep-sea troughs were overlain by Upper Jurassic and Lower Cretaceous radiolarian and nannofossil oozes. |
3. Comb. ooze-bank, a mud-bank in a tidal river, or by the shore.
| 1893 J. Watson Conf. Poacher 40 [We watched the ducks and geese] from behind an ooze bank. |
▪ III. ooze, n.3 Obs. or rare.
(uːz)
Forms: (5 wase), 6 ouse, oase, 7 oze, 8 ouze, 8– ooze.
[app. repr. a ME. *wôse (of which the northern form wase, wayse ‘alga’ is in Catholicon Anglicum (1483) 409/2). Like ooze n.2, this also has been levelled under the same spelling and pronunciation as ooze n.1]
Sea-weed.
| 1555 Eden Decades 343 Weedes of the sea cauled reites or ouse. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handie-crafts 367 Som make their roofs with fearn, or reeds, or rushes, And some with hides, with oase, with boughs, and bushes. 1625 Purchas Pilgrims II. 1122 Great qauntitie of Oze, that growes vpon the Rockes of the Sea. 1706 Phillips, Ouze, a sort of miry Sedge. 1770–4 A. Hunter Georg. Ess. (1803) III. 559 Near the coast great quantities of sea-weed, or ooze are collected. 1833 H. Martineau Brooke Farm x. 120 With pannier-loads of sea ooze..to manure their little fields. [This may belong to ooze2.] |
† b. The moss which forms peat bogs. Obs.
| 1665 Manley Grotius' Low C. Warres 245 Which Fuel was no other, than the muddy Oze growing in the Marishes of Holland, hardned by the Sun, and cut out into Turf. |
▪ IV. ooze, n.4
(uːz)
[prob. f. ooze, oos(e), plur. of oo, Sc. form of wool n.]
The nap or short fibres that project from yarn.
| 1892 J. Nasmith Students' Cotton Spinning 373 When thread is intended for lace purposes..it is passed several times through a gas flame at a high speed, so as to burn off the filaments or ‘ooze’ on its surface and leave it bare. 1909 Engineer 1 Oct. 352/1 The term ‘gassing’ is applied to the process of burning off the ends of fibres or ‘ooze’ on the different kinds of yarn. |
▪ V. ooze, v.1
(uːz)
Forms: 4–5 wose, 5 ose, (6 oyse), 5–7 wooze, 7–8 ouse, 8 ouze, 7– ooze.
[ME. wōse-n, f. wōse, ooze n.1 1, 2. The OE. verb was wésan (:—*wósjan) with umlaut: see weese.]
1. a. intr. Of moisture: To pass slowly or in small quantities through the pores of a body; to make way gradually through small openings or interstices; to exude, to percolate.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iv. xi. (Tollem. MS.), It woseþ and sweteþ oute of blood. c 1420 Pallad. on Husb. ix. 116 To thyn hond wol sprynge or springes ose [scatere]. a 1648 Digby Closet Open. (1677) 146 Ty it very close..that nothing may ouse out. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 900 Lest the rain-water..should soak and wooze into their Hives. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 730 A wat'rish Humour swell'd and ooz'd agen. 1726 Swift Gulliver ii. viii, I saw the water ooze in at several crannies. 1733 Cheyne Eng. Malady ii. i. §5 (1734) 121 The Solids..will suffer this thin and acrid Serum to ouze through their Substances. 1799 Med. Jrnl. II. 355 The spring oozes out of a rock. 1822 J. Imison Sc. & Art I. 107 The water oozed through the gold, and stood like dew upon the surface. 1853 Herschel Pop. Lect. Sc. i. §18 (1873) 12 When a crack takes place in ice, the water oozes up. |
b. with advb. object: to ooze its way.
| a 1849 Poe Tales Ser. i. Gold Bug Wks. 1896 II. 77 A scarcely perceptible creek, oozing its way through a wilderness of reeds and slime. |
c. Of a substance: To exude moisture. Also fig.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxxii[i]. (MS. Bodl.) lf. 233/1 Þe tree þat sweteþ and woseþ thus hiȝt Libanus. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §111 The fetelockes..wyl swel in wynter tyme, and oyse of water. a 1783 Brooke Conrade Poems (1810) 420/2 He the deadly wound Ere long discover'd; for it still ooz'd crimson. 1820 Keats Hyperion i. 137 This passion..made..His Druid locks to shake and ooze with sweat. 1864 Tennyson Sea Dreams 150 He..then began to bloat himself, and ooze All over with the fat affectionate smile That makes the widow lean. |
2. transf. and fig. To pass as through pores or minute interstices, and so slowly, gradually, or imperceptibly. a. Of air, wind, gas, light.
| 1824 W. Irving T. Trav. I. 46 The wind oozing through the rat-holes of the old mansion. 1871 Echo 13 Dec., The [sewer] gas which now oozes out into private houses. 1887 T. Hardy Woodlanders III. ii. 29 The breeze was oozing through the net-work of boughs as through a strainer. 1893 McCarthy Red Diamonds III. 198 No gleam of light..oozed from its hooded windows. |
b. Of internal qualities, private information, etc. Often with out, away.
| 1775 Sheridan Rivals v. iii, [My valour is certainly going!.. I feel it oozing out (as it were) at the palms of my hands.] Ibid., Upon my conscience,..your valour has oozed away with a vengeance! 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge ii, Gabriel felt his firmness oozing rapidly away. 1858 Lytton What will he do (L.), The ruffian felt a cold shudder—his courage oozed. 1867 A. Barry Sir C. Barry vi. 147 Rumours began to ooze out. 1890 Spectator 11 Jan., As we understand the facts allowed to ooze out. |
c. Of persons, objects. Often with out, up, off, etc.
| 1929 D. G. Mackail How Amusing! 350 Whenever I came oozing along the street, he sort of edged away. 1929 Wodehouse Mr. Mulliner Speaking ix. 313 She had planned to lure him into the thing and then ooze off and land him with these septic kids. 1930 ― Very Good, Jeeves! v. 122 He oozed out, leaving me to play the sparkling host. 1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night xi. 232 Thought I must just ooze over and pass the time of day. ? 1953 [see eel v.]. 1956 N. Marsh Off with his Head (1957) viii. 176, I believe I oozed off before they got going. 1963 C. D. Simak They walked like Men x. 57, I oozed into the place and shut the door behind me, then slid along the wall and stood there..with my back against the wall. 1966 D. Francis Flying Finish ii. 19 He oozed on to a bar stool, his bulk drooping around him. 1971 Daily Tel. 15 Sept. 9/4, 18ft 10in of gleaming black Daimler Limousine oozed up the drive and stopped outside. 1971 D. E. Westlake I gave at the Office (1972) 127 Decrepit people..sort of oozed out of doorways. 1977 M. Russell Dial Death i. iii. 27 The absence of briefcase and umbrella told her that Mr Trenchard had oozed away for the night. |
3. trans. To emit or give forth (moisture, etc.) slowly or gradually. Often with out. Also fig.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 63 Salt veynes mulleþ and woseth oute humours and moysture. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1756) I. 314 Ulcers that lie deep and ouze out their Matter thro'..winding Passages. 1822–34 Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) IV. 466 A dry furfuraceous or scaly skin, often oozing a calcareous material. 1845 Mrs. Carlyle Lett. I. 337 His doe-skin boots were oozing out water. 1889 Pall Mall G. 16 Oct. 2/2 One can now hardly take up a daily paper that does not ooze Federal Home Rule at every page. 1925 E. J. P. Benn Confessions of Capitalist i. 21 Women over- or under-dressed, oozing money, and giving from their conversation no trace of education or of finer feeling. 1959 Listener 29 Jan. 228/1 The amount of charm oozed at us from the television screen. 1971 Daily Tel. 13 Apr. 10/7 The way he oozes bonhomie over everything from day-old chicks to old-age pensioners I find grating. 1975 B. Garfield Death Sentence (1976) xxix. 138 The car radio oozed wallpaper music as viscous as syrup. |
▪ VI. ooze, v.2 rare.
(uːz)
[f. ooze n.2]
trans. To bury or embed in ooze.
| 1729 Savage Wanderer iv. 137 The trout, that deep, in winter, ooz'd remains, Up-springs. |