sludge (slŭj)
n.

1. Semisolid material such as the type precipitated by sewage treatment.
2. Mud, mire, or ooze covering the ground or forming a deposit, as on a riverbed.
3. Finely broken or half-formed ice on a body of water, especially the sea.
4. An agglutination or aggregation of blood cells forming a semisolid mass that often impedes circulation.

intr.v., sludged, sludg·ing, sludg·es.
To agglutinate or aggregate into a semisolid mass; form a sludge. Used of blood cells.

[Perhaps alteration of dialectal slutch, mire.]

sludgy sludg'y adj.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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