(a) Glutinous mud, slime, ooze; also fig. and in fig. context; (b) the sediment or mud lying on the ocean bottom or the bed of an estuary; also, the slippery, loose mud on a bank of the ocean or other body of water, a miry or marshy stretch, esp. at water’s edge; (c) the earth from which humans were formed, clay; (d) in surnames and place names [see Smith PNElem. 2.247].