English

Noun

mudlark ‎(plural mudlarks)

1. (slang) A pig; pork.
2. One who scavenges in river or harbor mud for items of value, especially in London during the Industrial Revolution. Also applies to a person scavenging in sewers. A person who begs near a river. (rare) A sewer cleaner. (rare)
   • 1799, George Mogridge, Old Humphrey's walks in London and its neighbourhood, Religious Tract Society, page 286:

     Besides these, there were the mudlark and the scupple hunter: the former prowling about at low water, receiving in his small bag such petty packages as he could get from his dishonest friends on board; and the later sneaking about the wharves and quays, under the pretense of wanting work, to pick up everything and anything that came to hand.

   • 1995, Isabel Fonseca, Bury Me Standing, Vintage 2007, p. 104:

     the children were nothing like inert: a large population of junior mudlarks, so long unwashed that you could hardly make them out, climbed among the ruins, cheerfully playing the games that all children play – pushing wheels with sticks, flipping rusty lids and bottle caps in makeshift tiddlywinks.

3. A child that spends most of its time in the streets, especially in slum areas. A child who plays in the mud. Any dirty or unkempt person.
4. (slang) A soldier of the Royal Engineers.
5. Any of various birds that are found in muddy places or build their nests with mud. Especially Anthus petrosus and Alauda arvensis.
6. (Australia) The Grallina cyanoleuca that builds its nest with mud into a bowl-like shape.
7. A racehorse that performs well on muddy or wet tracks.