Adjacent Words

muckrake definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: explore and expose misconduct and scandals concerning public figures; "This reporter was well-known for his muckraking"

Merriam Webster's

intransitive verb Etymology: obsolete muckrake, noun, rake for dung Date: 1910 to search out and publicly expose real or apparent misconduct of a prominent individual or business • muckraker noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.intr. search out and reveal scandal, esp. among famous people. Derivatives: muckraker n. muckraking n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

muckrake muck"rake`, in the above sense, and the noun muckraker muck"rak`er, to designate one so engaged, were speedily coined and obtained wide currency. The original allusion was to a character in Bunyan's ``Pilgrim's Progress'' so intent on raking up muck that he could not see a celestial crown held above him. Mucoid Mu"coid, n. [Mucin + -oid.] (Physiol. Chem.) One of a class of mucinlike substances yielding on decomposition a reducing carbohydrate together with some form of proteid matter.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muckrake Muck"rake`, v. i. [imp. & p. p. -raked; p. pr. & vb. n. -raking.] To seek for, expose, or charge, esp. habitually, corruption, real or alleged, on the part of public men and corporations. On April 14, 1906, President Roosevelt delivered a speech on ``The Man with the Muck Rake,'' in which he deprecated sweeping and unjust charges of corruption against public men and corporations. The phrase was taken up by the press, and the verb to