noun / verb

ooze

OOZ/uːz/

Soft, wet matter seeping slowly outward.

Thick sap oozes through the bark's crack, forming a bead and sticky trail.

Thick amber tree sap slowly emerging through a narrow bark crack, forming a rounded bead and a short viscous trail.

Etymology

The ancestor wos meant “juice” or “sap.” The verb developed from this moisture noun to describe liquid emerging or passing slowly through a substance’s pores.

In context

Lore Lockdown12:57

Don Coscarelli just lets yellow ooze out of a severed hand

The Tall Man’s Anatomy Explained - Is Phantasm’s Mortician Really Human, or Something Far Worse?

More examples

Warm cheese oozes out of the sandwich.
Sap is oozing from a split in the bark.
A sticky ooze coats the bottom of the trash can.

Forms

ooze · oozes · oozed · oozing

Similar words

seep: Seep emphasizes slow movement through tiny gaps or pores.
sludge: Sludge is thick, wet waste, not necessarily moving outward.
trickle: Trickle suggests a thin stream rather than thick matter.