miry

Everyday

(literary) Very muddy and boggy; full of mire (deep, sticky mud). tree →

In the lessons

A rare word in poems, old books and the Bible («He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay», Psalm 40). In stories it describes swampy, muddy paths where feet and wheels get stuck.

Examples

• The cart got stuck on the miry road. tree →
• We squelched through the miry field. tree →
• The psalm says God lifted him out of the miry clay. tree →
• The miry lane was hard to walk in after the rain. tree →
• The horses struggled through the miry ground. tree →
• Toad's car splashed through a miry puddle. tree →
• A Farmer was driving his wagon along a miry country road after a heavy rain. tree →

Note

From «mire» (deep mud, a bog) + «-y». Pronounced MY-ree. Everyday words: muddy, boggy. «Stuck in the mire» can mean stuck in a difficult situation.

In Jewish tradition

Miry means full of mud. In the Psalms it describes a pit of danger and distress from which God lifts a person.

Interpretation. Psalm 40 is read as thanks to God for rescue. In Daniel, iron mixed with clay is read as a sign that kingdoms will not hold together.

Examples

• But the miry places thereof, and the marshes thereof, shall not be healed; they shall be given for salt. (Prophets EZK.47.11, JPS 1917) tree →
• He brought me up also out of the tumultuous pit, out of the miry clay; and He set my feet upon a rock, He established my goings. (Writings PSA.40.3, JPS 1917) tree →
• And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves by the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay. (Writings DAN.2.43, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

From «mire» (deep mud, a bog) + «-y». Pronounced MY-ree. Everyday words: muddy, boggy. «Stuck in the mire» can mean stuck in a difficult situation.