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ooze

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ooze¹

  • /uːz/
  • /ʉːz/ Northern Ireland, Scotland

Sounds like oohs · Rhymes with -uːz

Where it comes from

* (Noun) Middle English wose (“sap”), from Old English wōs (“sap, froth”), from Proto-Germanic *wōsą, from Proto-Indo-European *wóseh₂ (“sap”) (cf. Sanskrit वसा (vásā, “fat”)). Cognate to Middle Low German wose (“scum”), Old High German wasal (“rain”), Old Swedish os, oos, ooss, Swedish os. Compare Old Swedish os, oos, Swedish os, Danish os, Norwegian os (“fumes, vapors, reeking, fug”).

* (Verb) Middle English wosen, from Old English wōsan; see above. Compare Swedish osa (“ooze”).

noun oozes · ouse · owze

  1. countable, uncountable Tanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather.
  2. countable, uncountable An oozing, gentle flowing, or seepage, as of water through sand or earth.
  3. countable, obsolete, uncountable Secretion, humour.
  4. countable, obsolete, uncountable Juice, sap.

verb oozes · oozing · oozed · ouse · owze

  1. figuratively, intransitive, sometimes To be secreted or slowly leak. I promised him I would keep silence, but the story gradually oozed out, and the Cronsons left the country.
  2. figuratively, transitive To give off a strong sense of (something); to exude. […] this room, where misfortune seems to ooze, where speculation lurks in corners, and of which Madame Vauquer inhales the warm, fetid air without being nauseated.

ooze²

  • /uːz/
  • /ʉːz/ Northern Ireland, Scotland

Sounds like oohs · Rhymes with -uːz

Where it comes from

From Middle English wose, from Old English wāse (“mud, mire”), from Proto-West Germanic *waisā, from Proto-Germanic *waisǭ (compare Dutch waas (“haze, mist; bloom”), (obsolete) German Wasen (“turf, sod”), Old Norse veisa (“slime, stagnant pool”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weys- (“to flow”) (compare Sanskrit विष्यति (viṣyati, “flow, let loose”)). Compare also Saterland Frisian öäzje (“to smear”). More at virus.

noun oozes · ouse · owze

  1. countable, uncountable Soft mud, slime, or shells especially in the bed of a river or estuary. my son i' th' ooze is bedded.
  2. countable, uncountable A pelagic marine sediment containing a significant amount of the microscopic remains of either calcareous or siliceous planktonic debris organisms. Seaweed were left on the blackened marble, while the salt ooze defaced the matchless works of art.
  3. countable, uncountable A piece of soft, wet, pliable ground.

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