▪ I. mudlark, n.
(ˈmʌdlɑːk)
[f. mud n.1 + lark n.1 (a jocular formation).]
† 1. slang. A hog.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. Tongue. 1801 T. Campbell Mobiade in W. Beattie Life & Lett. T. Campbell (1849) I. 380 Or fry the mud-lark's odoriferous wing... The poetical name for a pig, principally used in..Kilmainham jail. 1833 J. Neal Down-Easters i. 47, I should like to know..what upon irth he means by..mud⁓larks that's made into Virginny-ham. 1869 Overland Monthly III. 129 A hog clandestinely killed outside of camp and smuggled in..was called a ‘slow bear’... ‘Mud⁓lark’ signified the same thing. 1923 Dialect Notes V. 240 Boiled potatoes an' mud lark. |
2. colloq. One who dabbles, works, or lives in mud. a. (See quots.)
| 1796–1800 Colquhoun Police Metrop. (ed. 6) 230 Mud-Larks, so called from their being accustomed to prowl about, at low water, under the quarter of West India ships..under pretence of grubbing in the mud for old ropes, iron..&c. but whose chief object..was to receive and conceal small bags of sugar, coffee [etc.]..which they conveyed to such houses as they were directed, and for which services they generally received a share of the booty. 1799 M. Edgeworth Lame Jervas xi, He..became what is called a mudlark; that is, a plunderer of the ships' cargoes that unload in the Thames. 1801 Monthly Rev. XXXV. 243 Miserable beings..accustomed to grub in the river at low water for old ropes..known by the appellation of Mud-larks. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 155/2 The mud-larks collect whatever they happen to find, such as coals, bits of old-iron [etc.]. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Mudlarks, people who grovel about bays and harbours at low water for anything they can find. 1892 Dobson 18th Cent. Vignettes 233 The same crowd of mud-larks and loafers would come rushing into the water to offer..their services. 1959 Times 16 Mar. (Port of London Suppl.) p. xvi/1 ‘Long apron men’ and mudlarks who..waited to pick up goods thrown to them by accomplices on board merchantmen. 1975 Times 17 May 8/4 Jack Dash..recalling the Mudlarks, river pirates and knife-belted prostitutes. |
b. A soldier of the Royal Engineers.
| 1878 Trimen Regim. Brit. Army 42 Royal Engineers..nicknamed ‘the Mudlarks’. |
c. A man who cleans out common sewers. rare—0.
| 1882 in Ogilvie. |
d. A gutter child, street urchin. In quot. transf.
| 1865 Sat. Rev. 5 July 4 It is Lord Palmerston's misfortune..to number three or four of these incurable mudlarks among his official offspring. 1890 in Century Dict. |
3. A name given to various birds: a. A kind of Pipit. b. The skylark, Alauda arvensis (E.D.D.). c. A black and white Australian bird, the magpie-lark, Grallina cyanoleuca, which builds a nest of mud.
| 1882 Newton in Encycl. Brit. XIV. 317/1 The Mud-Lark, Rock-Lark, Titlark, and Tree-Lark are Pipits. 1898 Morris Austral Eng. 278/1 Magpie-Lark..an Australian black-and-white bird..resembling the Magpie in appearance, but smaller; called also Pee-wee, and Mudlark, from its building its nest of mud. 1911 E. M. Clowes On Wallaby xi. 290 The mud larks, rather like our water-wagtails, only much larger, come there with the most wanton flutter of broad black and white tails, to disport themselves upon the patch of green at its verge. 1965 Austral. Encycl. V. 460/1 The name ‘magpie-lark’ was presumably bestowed upon it because it runs on the ground like a lark and has pied plumage;..‘mud-lark’, owing to its preference for the muddy banks of creeks and waterholes. |
4. = mudder. Cf. mud runner.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl. 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 78/2 Mud lark, a race horse that excels in mud. 1941 Baker Dict. Austral. Slang 47 Mudlark, a racehorse that runs well on a muddy course. Also footballers who play on a sodden field. 1975 Sunday Tel. (Sydney) 6 Apr. 48 Born Star a Mudlark. Born Star, a two-year-old, yesterday outclassed the field at Sandown in his first start on a rain-affected track. |
5. attrib., as mudlark meet (see quot.).
| 1971 Nat. Geographic May 719/2 Guernsey invented annual mudlark meets, in which old bangers—near-wrecked automobiles—are raced across the oozing sands at low tide. |
▪ II. mudlark, v.
(ˈmʌdlɑːk)
[f. mudlark n.]
intr. To carry on the occupation of a mudlark; also, to ‘play about’ in the mud. Hence ˈmudlarking vbl. n. and ppl. a.
| 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xi, You mud-larking vagabond. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour II. 155/2 This, he says, he liked much better than mud-larking. 1888 Sat. Rev. 21 July 66 A series of sunny summers and perfect grounds have not taught us the noble lessons of mudlarking, as it hath often been played in the fens and marshes of rural cricket-grounds. 1894 Outing (U.S.) XXIV. 193/2 He mingled with us for some time on the beach, mudlarked with the boys and watched our model yacht matches. 1960 Life (Internat. ed.) 1 Feb. 45/1 The back-bruising sport of mudlarking.., one of England's popular recreations, calls for a special-body car. |