Hypertext Webster Gateway: "muckraker"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
muckrake \muck"rake`\, in the above sense, and the noun
muckraker \muck"rak`er\, to designate one so engaged, were
speedily coined and obtained wide currency. The original
allusion was to a character in Bunyan's ``Pilgrim's
Progress'' so intent on raking up muck that he could not see
a celestial crown held above him. Mucoid \Mu"coid\, n. [Mucin
+ -oid.] (Physiol. Chem.)
One of a class of mucinlike substances yielding on
decomposition a reducing carbohydrate together with some form
of proteid matter.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
muckraker
n : one who spreads real or alleged scandal about another
(usually for political advantage) [syn: {mudslinger}]
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