Sludge vs. Slush — What's the Difference?

Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventional drinking water treatment, as sewage sludge from wastewater treatment processes or as fecal sludge from pit latrines and septic tanks.

Slush, also called slush ice, is a slurry mixture of small ice crystals (e.g., snow) and liquid water.In the natural environment, slush forms when ice or snow melts. This often mixes with dirt and other materials, resulting in a gray or muddy brown color.

Thick, soft, wet mud or a similar viscous mixture of liquid and solid components, especially the product of an industrial or refining process

Partially melted snow or ice

An unattractive muddy shade of brown or green

Excessive sentiment

Sea ice newly formed in small pieces.

Make a squelching or splashing sound

Semisolid material such as the type precipitated by sewage treatment.

Partially melted snow or ice.

Mud, mire, or ooze covering the ground or forming a deposit, as on a riverbed.

Soft mud; slop; mire.

Finely broken or half-formed ice on a body of water, especially the sea.

(Nautical) Grease or fat discarded from a ship's galley.

A semisolid mass composed of an aggregation of cells (such as red blood cells in blood vessels) or particulate matter (such as cholesterol crystals and calcium salts in bile).

A greasy compound used as a lubricant for machinery.

To form sludge.

Maudlin speech or writing; sentimental drivel.

Solids separated from suspension in a liquid.

A drink made of flavored syrup poured over crushed ice.

A residual semi-solid material left from industrial, water treatment, or wastewater treatment processes.

(Informal) Unsolicited manuscripts submitted to a publisher.

A sediment of accumulated minerals in a steam boiler.

To daub (machinery) with slush.

A mass of small pieces of ice on the surface of a body of water.

To fill (joints in masonry) with mortar.

Sludge metal

(Nautical) To wash down (a deck) by splashing with water.

To slump or slouch.

To splash or soak with slush or mud.

(intransitive) To slop or drip slowly.

To walk or proceed through slush.

Mud; mire; soft mud; slush.

To make a splashing or slushy sound.

Small floating pieces of ice, or masses of saturated snow.

Half-melted snow or ice, generally located on the ground.

See Slime, 4.

Liquid mud or mire.

Anything resembling mud or slush; as: (a) A muddy or slimy deposit from sweage. (b) Mud from a drill hole in boring. (c) Muddy sediment in a steam boiler. (d) Settling of cottonseed oil, used in making soap, etc. (e) A residuum of crude paraffin-oil distillation.

Flavored shaved ice served as a drink.

The precipitate produced by sewage treatment

A soft mixture of grease and other materials, used for lubrication.

Any thick messy substance

The refuse grease and fat collected in cooking, especially on shipboard.

(engineering) A mixture of white lead and lime, used as a paint to prevent oxidation.

(publishing) Unsolicited manuscripts, as in slush pile.

To smear with slushy liquid or grease.

To slosh or splash; to move as, or through, a slushy or liquid substance.

To paint with a mixture of white lead and lime.

Soft mud.

A mixture of snow and water; half-melted snow.

A soft mixture of grease and other materials, used for lubrication.

The refuse grease and fat collected in cooking, especially on shipboard.

A mixture of white lead and lime, with which the bright parts of machines, such as the connecting rods of steamboats, are painted to be preserved from oxidation.

To smear with slush or grease; as, to slush a mast.

To paint with a mixture of white lead and lime.

Partially melted snow

Make a splashing sound;

Spill or splash copiously or clumsily;