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Meddle   /mˈɛdəl/   Listen
verb
Meddle  v. t.  To mix; to mingle. (Obs.) ""Wine meddled with gall.""



Meddle  v. i.  (past & past part. meddled; pres. part. meddling)  
1.
To mix; to mingle. (Obs.) "More to know Did never meddle with my thoughts."
2.
To interest or engage one's self; to have to do; in a good sense. (Obs.) "Study to be quiet, and to meddle with your own business."
3.
To interest or engage one's self unnecessarily or impertinently, to interfere or busy one's self improperly with another's affairs; specifically, to handle or distrub another's property without permission; often followed by with or in. "Why shouldst thou meddle to thy hurt?" "The civil lawyers... have meddled in a matter that belongs not to them."
To meddle and make, to intrude one's self into another person's concerns. (Archaic)
Synonyms: To interpose; interfere; intermeddle.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Meddle" Quotes from Famous Books



... metaphysics and sequestered speculations, had affirmed that true philosophers ought not to interest themselves in the management of public affairs. Thus, as M. Villemain observes, it was a maxim of the Epicureans, "Sapiens ne accedat ad rempublicam" (Let no wise man meddle in politics). The Pythagoreans had enforced the same principle with more gravity. Aristotle examines the question on both sides, and concludes in favor of active life. Among Aristotle's disciples, a writer, singularly elegant and pure, had maintained ...
— Cicero's Tusculan Disputations - Also, Treatises On The Nature Of The Gods, And On The Commonwealth • Marcus Tullius Cicero

... just returned from one of her social pilgrimages, during which she had heard nothing but the absorbing subject of gossip. She had been questioned and cross-questioned, entreated by many, as Sally had done, to do something (for all had great faith in her powers), and warned by a few not to meddle with what did not concern her. Thus she had come back that morning, annoyed, discomposed, and more dissatisfied with herself than ever before, to hear Martha's recital of what had ...
— The Story Of Kennett • Bayard Taylor

... source, and correspond. You impress more forcibly by retaining your native manner of statement; chastened where necessary, but not defaced by an imitation, even of a self-erected, yet artificial, standard. It does not do to meddle too much with yourself. But I do resort to a weeding process in revising; a verb or an adjective, an expletive or a superlative, is dragged out and cast away. Even so, as often as not, I have to add. The words above, "as far as I can see it," have just been put in. Of course, in the interest ...
— From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life • Captain A. T. Mahan

... gentleman, with a grimace. "I learned the nature of benzine pretty thoroughly when I first came on the Creek. I had been at work over one of the wells, and got my clothes pretty oily, but thought I would not ask my wife to meddle with them. So I sent for a pail of benzine, and, shutting myself up in my shop, set to work to wash my clothes. I succeeded very well for a first attempt; and when I had done, and hung them up to dry, I felt quite proud. ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 90, April, 1865 • Various

... superiors of the various orders for the most advantageous distribution of the missionaries who shall be sent each year. Every effort must be made to convert the heathen Indians. Tello is strictly charged not to meddle with ecclesiastical affairs, and to maintain friendly relations with both clerics and friars. No minister of religion shall be permitted to collect from the natives any fees for burials, marriages, etc. Tello is ordered to leave ...
— The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898 - Volume IX, 1593-1597 • E. H. Blair


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