Adjacent Words

Muffle definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MUF'FLE, v.t.
1. To cover from the weather by cloth, fur or any garment; to cover close, particularly the neck and face.
You must be muffled up like ladies.
The face lies muffled up within the garment.
2. To blindfold.
Alas! that love whose view if muffled still--
He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes.
3. To cover; to conceal; to involve.
They were in former ages muffled in darkness and superstition.
4. In seamanship, to put matting or other soft substance round an oar, to prevent its making a noise.
5. To wind something round the strings of a drum to prevent a sharp sound, or to render the sound grave and solemn.
MUF'FLE, v.i. To mutter; to speak indistinctly or without clear articulation.
MUF'FLE, n. In chimistry, a vessel in the shape of an oblong arch or vault, closed behind by a semi-circular plane, the floor of which is a rectangular plane; or in other words, a little oven to be placed in a furnace, and under which small cupels and crucibles are placed, in which substances are subjected to heat without coming in contact with fuel, smoke or ashes; used in metallurgic operations.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a kiln with an inner chamber for firing things at a low temperature v
1: conceal or hide; "smother a yawn"; "muffle one's anger"; "strangle a yawn" [syn: smother, stifle, strangle, muffle, repress]
2: deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping [syn: muffle, mute, dull, damp, dampen, tone down]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (muffled; muffling) Etymology: Middle English muflen Date: 15th century 1. to wrap up so as to conceal or protect ; envelop 2. obsolete blindfold 3. a. to wrap or pad with something to dull the sound <muffle the oarlocks> b. to deaden the sound of 4. keep down, suppress <muffled her anger>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v. & n. --v.tr. 1 (often foll. by up) wrap or cover for warmth. 2 cover or wrap up (a source of sound) to reduce its loudness. 3 (usu. as muffled adj.) stifle (an utterance, e.g. a curse). 4 prevent from speaking. --n. 1 a receptacle in a furnace where substances may be heated without contact with combustion products. 2 a similar chamber in a kiln for baking painted pottery. Etymology: ME: (n.) f. OF moufle thick glove; (v.) perh. f. OF enmoufler f. moufle 2. n. the thick part of the upper lip and nose of ruminants and rodents. Etymology: F mufle, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muffle Muf"fle, v. i. [Cf. F. maffle, mumble, D. moffelen.] To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muffle Muf"fle, n. [F. moufle, prop., a mitten, from the resemblance in shape. See Muffle, v. t., Muff.] 1. Anything with which another thing, as an oar or drum, is muffled; also, a boxing glove; a muff. 2. (Metal.) An earthenware compartment or oven, often shaped like a half cylinder, used in furnaces to protect objects heated from the direct action of the fire, as in scorification of ores, cupellation of ore buttons, etc. 3. (Ceramics) A small oven for baking and fixing the colors of painted or printed pottery, without exposing the pottery to the flames of the furnace or kiln. 4. A pulley block containing several sheaves. --Knight.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muffle Muf"fle (m[u^]f"f'l), n. The bare end of the nose between the nostrils; -- used esp. of ruminants.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muffle Muf"fle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Muffled; p. pr. & vb. n. Muffling.] [Cf. F. moufle a mitten, LL. muffula, OD. moffel a muff. See Muff.] 1. To wrap up in something that conceals or protects; to wrap, as the face and neck, in thick and disguising folds; hence, to conceal or cover the face of; to envelop; to inclose; -- often with up. --South. The face lies muffled up within the garment. --Addison. He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes. --Dryden. Muffled up in darkness and superstition. --Arbuthnot. 2. To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen. 3. To wrap with something that dulls or deadens the sound of; as, to muffle the strings of a drum, or that part of an oar which rests in the rowlock.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(muffles, muffling, muffled) If something muffles a sound, it makes it quieter and more difficult to hear. Blake held his handkerchief over the mouthpiece to muffle his voice... She heard a muffled cough behind her. VERB: V n, V-ed

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Wrap, cover, shroud, envelop. 2. Blindfold. 3. Wrap up, cover, conceal, involve, disguise.

Moby Thesaurus

acoustic tile, antiknock, antlia, apply to, baffle, baffler, beak, beezer, bill, black out, blanket, block, bugle, bundle up, canopy, censor, choke, choke off, cloak, clothe, cloud, conceal, conk, cope, cover, cover up, cowl, curtain, cushion, damp, dampen, dampener, damper, deaden, deafen, dull, dumbfound, eclipse, enfold, enshroud, envelop, film, gag, hap, hood, hugger-mugger, hush, hush up, hush-hush, hushcloth, kill, lay on, lay over, mantle, mask, mellow, muffle up, muffler, mute, muzzle, nares, neb, nib, nose, nostrils, nozzle, obduce, obscure, occult, olfactory organ, overlay, overspread, pecker, proboscis, protect, put on, put to silence, quash, quiet, quieten, quietener, repress, rhinarium, rostrum, schnozzle, screen, scum, shield, shroud, shush, shut down on, silence, silence cloth, silencer, sit on, smeller, smother, snoot, snout, soft pedal, soft-pedal, soften, sordine, sordino, sound-absorbing material, soundproofing, soundproofing insulation, sourdine, spread over, squash, squelch, stifle, still, stop, strangle, strike dumb, subdue, superimpose, superpose, suppress, swaddle, swathe, throttle, tone down, trunk, veil, wrap, wrap up