puddle

noun

1. A small, often temporary, pool of water, usually on a path or road.

   “Foꝛ with the only be theſe welles of lyfe, / Of frayle men ſpring but podels of myꝛe, / From whom ſourdeth errour ⁊ croked ſtrife[…]”

2. (dialectal)Stagnant or polluted water.

   “And fast beside a little brooke did pas / Of muddie water, that like puddle stank […].”

   “searching their habitations for water, we could fill but three barricoes, and that such puddle, that never till then we ever knew the want of good water.”

3. A homogeneous mixture of clay, water, and sometimes grit, used to line a canal or pond to make it watertight.
4. The ripple left by the withdrawal of an oar from the water.

   “I had only to see the 'puddle' to know that your paddle made it.”

   “As the blade exits the water the puddle is very tight and dark. It is also very quiet.”

verb

1. To form a puddle.
2. To play or splash in a puddle.
3. Of butterflies, to congregate on a puddle or moist substance to pick up nutrients.
4. To process iron, gold, etc., by means of puddling.
5. To line a canal with puddle (clay).
6. To collect ideas, especially abstract concepts, into rough subtopics or categories, as in study, research or conversation.
7. To make (clay, loam, etc.) dense or close, by working it when wet, so as to render impervious to water.

   “Soon the Latino warrior had bared his beefy body. His bullet packed bandolier still draped over one shoulder served to emphasize the nakedness of the torso, as did the boots and the pants that were puddled about his ankles.”

8. To make foul or muddy; to pollute with dirt; to mix dirt with (water).

   “Some unhatched practice […] / Hath puddled his clear spirit.”