DCHP-2

muskeg [< Algonk.; Cree muskāk swamp] DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

• 1 n.

  an organic bog which is a brown to black mixture of water and living and dead vegetation often covered with a carpet of sphagnum or other mosses and often of considerable depth.

  See also: pothole (def. 4)  sink-hole (def. 1)  muskeg swamp (def. 1)  ice road  

• 2 n.

  terrain made up of or characterized by such bogs.

  See also: muskeg swamp (def. 2)  

• 3 n.

  the substance (humus, vegetation, etc.) of which such bogs consist.

  See also: muskeg soil  

• 4a n. — Prairies

  loosely: See pothole 1902 quote.

  See also: pothole (def. 3a)  

• 4b n.

  loosely: a swamp or mud-hole.

• 5 n. — Figurative use.