Muckrake
/ˈmʌkˌreɪk/noun
A person who seeks out and publicizes scandal, especially in politics or business.
Did you know?The political sense was popularized by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906, borrowing the image from Bunyan’s *Pilgrim’s Progress* of a man so obsessed with filth below that he misses the heavenly crown above.
Etymological Timeline
Old English
OE
mūc
“dung, manure, filth”
Old Norse
ON
mykr
“dung, muck”
Middle English
ME
muk
“dirt, filth, manure”
Middle English
ME
raken
“to scrape or gather with a rake”
17th Century
English
muck-rake
“a rake for collecting dung or refuse”
20th Century
English
muckrake
“to search out and publicize scandal or corruption”