English

Noun

muckle ‎(uncountable)

1. (chiefly Scotland) A great amount.

Derived terms

• many a mickle makes a muckle

Adjective

muckle ‎(comparative more muckle, superlative most muckle)

1. (archaic outside Northumbria and Scotland) Large, massive.
   • c. 1930, George S. Morris, song A Pair o Nicky-tams:

     She clorts a muckle piece [sandwich] tae me, wi' different kinds o' jam,
     An' tells me ilka nicht that she admires my Nicky Tams.

2. (archaic outside Northumbria and Scotland) Much.

Verb

muckle ‎(third-person singular simple present muckles, present participle muckling, simple past and past participle muckled)

1. (US, dialectal) To latch onto something with the mouth.
   • 1954, Elizabeth Ogilvie, The Dawning of the Day, page 199:

     And how'd she get such a holt on you, Terence Campion, let alone the way she's muckled onto those Bennetts?

   • 2002, William G. Wilkoff, The Maternity Leave Breastfeeding Plan, ISBN 0743213459, page 87:

     Another technique for the baby who is having trouble muckling on involves a breast or nipple shield.

   • 2004, William J. Vande Kopple, The Catch: Families, Fishing, and Faith, ISBN 0802826776, page 18:

     When an exhausted sucker is hauled to the top of The Wall, usually its muckling circle of a mouth goes into a frenzied sucking spasm.

2. (rare) To talk big; to exaggerate.
   • 1896, W.S. Gilbert, “The Grand Duke, or the Statutory Duel”, in The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan, published 1941:

     I told him all, / Both bad and good; / I bade him call — / He said he would: / I added much — the more I muckled, / The more that chuckling chummy chuckled!

Synonyms

• (to talk big): mickle

References

• A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, ISBN 1904794165
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896,
• muckle in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913