ooze
/uːz/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.80 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Tanning liquor, an aqueous extract of vegetable matter (tanbark, sumac, etc.) in a tanning vat used to tan leather.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An oozing, gentle flowing, or seepage, as of water through sand or earth.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A pelagic marine sediment containing a significant amount of the microscopic remains of either calcareous or siliceous planktonic debris organisms.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "I promised him I would keep silence, but the story gradually oozed out, and the Cronsons left the country."
- "She picked up the limp sprout and squeezed her thumb up its tiny stalk. Microscopic grains oozed out. “Why, one sprig of nut grass can ruin a whole yard. Look here. When it comes fall this dries up and the wind blows it all over Maycomb County!” Miss Maudie’s face likened such an occurrence unto an Old Testament pestilence."
- "Pale slime oozed through all the surfaces; some of it dripped from the ceiling and burned Dennis as badly as the blazing sparks had done a moment before."
- "He was hard to understand because he spoke softly, and his Vermont accent was as thick as maple syrup oozing down a pile of pancakes."
- "Her heart constricted when she saw thick blood oozing from a wide gash in his forehead."
- "[…] 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."
Etymology
* (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”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: wose, wōs, *wōsą, *wóseh₂, wosen, wōsan