sludge

See also: SLUDGE

English

Etymology

Possibly related to slush.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /slʌd͡ʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -ʌd͡ʒ

Noun

sludge (countable and uncountable, plural sludges)

1. Solids separated from suspension in a liquid.
   • 2013 June 29, “High and wet”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 28:

     Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale. […] Rock-filled torrents smashed vehicles and homes, burying victims under rubble and sludge.

2. A residual semi-solid material left from industrial, water treatment, or wastewater treatment processes.
3. A sediment of accumulated minerals in a steam boiler.
4. A mass of small pieces of ice on the surface of a water body.
5. (uncountable, music) Ellipsis of sludge metal.

Synonyms

• (separated solids): mud, mire, ooze, slush

Derived terms

• activated sludge
• biliary sludge
• oil sludge
• sludge acid
• sludgecore
• sludge hole
• sludge metal
• sludge out

 

Descendants

• → Italian: sludge

Translations

generic term for separated solids

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 污泥 (zh) (wūní)

• Esperanto: ŝlimo
• Finnish: liete (fi), lieju (fi), muta (fi)
• French: lie (fr) f
• German: Schlamm (de) m, Matsch (de) m
• Irish: dríodar m
• Japanese: 泥 (ja) (どろ, doro), 泥土 (ja) (でいど, deido)
• Korean: 진흙 (ko) (jinheuk), 진창 (jinchang)
• Maori: kene
• Plautdietsch: Moarauss m
• Portuguese: sedimento (pt) m
• Russian: шлам (ru) m (šlam), ил (ru) m (il)
• Spanish: lodo (es) m, sedimento (es) m
• Ukrainian: мул m (mul)

residual material from a process

• Arabic: حَمَأ (ḥamaʔ), حَمأَة f
• Bulgarian: шлам m (šlam)
• Finnish: liete (fi)
• German: Abwasserschlamm m
• Irish: dríodar m
• Maori: kene
• Polish: szlam (pl) m, muł (pl) m
• Russian: оса́док (ru) m (osádok)
• Spanish: fango (es) m
• Turkish: atık (tr), çamur (tr), tortu (tr)

sediment of minerals in a steam boiler

• Arabic: رُسَابَة f (rusāba)
• Bulgarian: накип m (nakip)
• Finnish: kattilakivi (fi)
• Russian: шлам (ru) m (šlam)
• Spanish: lodo (es) m

small pieces of ice

• Bulgarian: плаващ лед m (plavašt led)
• Finnish: suppo (fi), hyhmä (fi), sohjo (fi)
• Spanish: costra (es) f

Verb

sludge (third-person singular simple present sludges, present participle sludging, simple past and past participle sludged)

1. (intransitive, informal) To slump or slouch.
2. (intransitive) To slop or drip slowly.