Adjacent Words

Mute definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MUTE, a. [L. mutus.]
1. Silent; not speaking; not uttering words, or not having the power of utterance; dumb. Mute may express temporary silence, or permanent inability to speak.
To the mute my speech is lost.
In this phrase, it denotes unable to utter words. More generally, it denotes temporarily silent; as, all sat mute.
All the heavenly choir stood mute.
2. Uttering no sound; as mute sorrow.
3. Silent; not pronounced; as a mute letter.
MUTE, n. In law, a person that stands speechless when he ought to answer or plead.
1. In grammar,a letter that represents no sound; a close articulation which intercepts the voice. Mutes are of two kinds, pure and impure. The pure mutes instantly and entirely intercept the voice, as k, p and t, in the syllables ek,ep, et. The impure mutes intercept the voice less suddenly, as the articulations are less close. Such are b,d and g, as in the syllables eb, ed,eg.
2. In music, a little utensil of wood or brass, used on a violin to deaden or soften the sounds.
MUTE, v.i. To eject the contents of the bowels, a birds.
MUTE, n. The dung of fowls.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: expressed without speech; "a mute appeal"; "a silent curse"; "best grief is tongueless"- Emily Dickinson; "the words stopped at her lips unsounded"; "unspoken grief"; "choking exasperation and wordless shame"- Thomas Wolfe [syn: mute, tongueless, unspoken, wordless]
2: unable to speak because of hereditary deafness [syn: dumb, mute, silent] n
1: a deaf person who is unable to speak [syn: mute, deaf- mute, deaf-and-dumb person]
2: a device used to soften the tone of a musical instrument v
1: deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping [syn: muffle, mute, dull, damp, dampen, tone down]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective (muter; mutest) Etymology: Middle English muet, mut, from Anglo-French, from mu, mute, from Latin mutus, probably from mu, representation of a muttered sound Date: 1513 1. unable to speak ; lacking the power of speech 2. characterized by absence of speech: as a. felt or experienced but not expressed <touched her hand in mute sympathy> b. refusing to plead directly or stand trial <the prisoner stands mute> 3. remaining silent, undiscovered, or unrecognized 4. a. contributing nothing to the pronunciation of a word <the b in plumb is mute> b. contributing to the pronunciation of a word but not representing the nucleus of a syllable <the e in mate is mute> • mutely adverb • muteness noun II. noun Date: 1530 1. stop 9 2. a person who cannot or does not speak 3. a device attached to or inserted into a musical instrument to soften or alter its tone III. transitive verb (muted; muting) Date: 1883 1. to muffle, reduce, or eliminate the sound of 2. to tone down ; soften, subdue <mute a color> IV. intransitive verb (muted; muting) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French *meutir, short for ameutir, alteration of Old French esmeltir, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Dutch smelten to melt, make fluid, defecate (of birds) Date: 15th century of a bird to evacuate the cloaca

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj., n., & v. --adj. 1 silent, refraining from or temporarily bereft of speech. 2 not emitting articulate sound. 3 (of a person or animal) dumb. 4 not expressed in speech (mute protest). 5 a (of a letter) not pronounced. b (of a consonant) plosive. 6 (of hounds) not giving tongue. --n. 1 a dumb person (a deaf mute). 2 Mus. a a clamp for damping the resonance of the strings of a violin etc. b a pad or cone for damping the sound of a wind instrument. 3 an unsounded consonant. 4 an actor whose part is in a dumb show. 5 a dumb servant in oriental countries. 6 a hired mourner. --v.tr. 1 deaden, muffle, or soften the sound of (a thing, esp. a musical instrument). 2 a tone down, make less intense. b (as muted adj.) (of colours etc.) subdued (a muted green). Phrases and idioms: mute button a device on a telephone etc. to temporarily prevent the caller from hearing what is being said at the receiver's end. mute swan the common white swan. Derivatives: mutely adv. muteness n. Etymology: ME f. OF muet, dimin. of mu f. L mutus, assim. to L

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mute Mute, v. t. [L. mutare to change. See Molt.] To cast off; to molt. Have I muted all my feathers? --Beau. & Fl.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mute Mute, v. t. & i. [F. mutir, ['e]meutir, OF. esmeltir, fr. OD. smelten, prop., to melt. See Smelt.] To eject the contents of the bowels; -- said of birds. --B. Jonson.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mute Mute, n. The dung of birds. --Hudibras.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mute Mute, a. [L. mutus; cf. Gr. ? to shut, Skr. m?ta bound, m?ka dumb: cf. OE. muet, fr. F. muet, a dim. of OF. mu, L. mutus.] 1. Not speaking; uttering no sound; silent. All the heavenly choir stood mute, And silence was in heaven. --Milton. Note: In law a prisoner is said to stand mute, when, upon being arranged, he makes no answer, or does not plead directly, or will not put himself on trial. 2. Incapable of speaking; dumb. --Dryden. 3. Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; -- said of certain letters. See 5th Mute, 2. 4. Not giving a ringing sound when struck; -- said of a metal. Mute swan (Zo["o]l.), a European wild white swan (Cygnus gibbus), which produces no loud notes.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mute Mute, n. 1. One who does not speak, whether from physical inability, unwillingness, or other cause. Specifically: (a) One who, from deafness, either congenital or from early life, is unable to use articulate language; a deaf-mute. (b) A person employed by undertakers at a funeral. (c) A person whose part in a play does not require him to speak. (d) Among the Turks, an officer or attendant who is selected for his place because he can not speak. 2. (Phon.) A letter which represents no sound; a silent letter; also, a close articulation; an element of speech formed by a position of the mouth organs which stops the passage of the breath; as, p, b, d, k, t. 3. (Mus.) A little utensil made of brass, ivory, or other material, so formed that it can be fixed in an erect position on the bridge of a violin, or similar instrument, in order to deaden or soften the tone.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mutes, muting, muted) 1. Someone who is mute is silent for a particular reason and does not speak. He was mute, distant, and indifferent... ADJ • Mute is also an adverb. He could watch her standing mute by the phone... ADV: ADV after v • mutely I crouched by him and grasped his hand, mutely offering what comfort I could. ADV: ADV with v 2. Someone who is mute is unable to speak. (OLD-FASHIONED) Marianna, the duke's daughter, became mute after a shock. ADJ 3. If someone mutes something such as their feelings or their activities, they reduce the strength or intensity of them. The corruption does not seem to have muted the country's prolonged economic boom. VERB: V n • muted The threat contrasted starkly with his administration's previous muted criticism... ADJ 4. If you mute a noise or sound, you lower its volume or make it less distinct. They begin to mute their voices, not be as assertive... VERB: V n • muted 'Yes,' he muttered, his voice so muted I hardly heard his reply... ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. 1. Dumb, obmutescent, unable to speak, incapable of speech. 2. Silent, speechless, still. 3. Silent, unpronounced.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

An undertaker's servant, who stands at the door of a person lying in state: so named from being supposed mute with grief.

Moby Thesaurus

abiotic, acoustic tile, allophone, alveolar, anaudic, antiknock, aphasic, aphonic, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, articulation, aspiration, assimilation, azoic, baffle, baffler, baton, bearer, bilabial, bit player, breathless, brief, brusque, cacuminal, cerebral, check, close, close-tongued, closemouthed, concise, consonant, continuant, curt, cushion, damp, dampen, dampener, damper, deaden, deaf-mute, deafen, dental, diapason, diphthong, dissimilation, dull, dumb, dumbfounded, dumbstricken, dumbstruck, dummy, economical of words, epenthetic vowel, exanimate, explosive, extra, figurant, figurante, gag, glide, glottal, glottalization, griever, guttural, hush, hushcloth, inanimate, inanimated, inarticulate, indisposed to talk, inert, insensate, insensible, insentient, keener, labial, labialization, labiodental, labiovelar, laconic, lamenter, laryngeal, lateral, lifeless, lingual, liquid, manner of articulation, metronome, modification, monochord, monophthong, morphophoneme, mourner, muffle, muffler, mum, music stand, muzzle, nasal, nonconscious, nonliving, occlusive, palatal, pallbearer, parasitic vowel, peak, pharyngeal, pharyngealization, phone, phoneme, pitch pipe, plosive, professional mourner, prothetic vowel, quiet, quietener, reserved, retroflex, rhythmometer, segmental phoneme, semivowel, senseless, short, silence, silence cloth, silencer, silent, snug, soft pedal, soft-pedal, soften, sonant, sonometer, sonority, sordine, sordino, soulless, sound-absorbing material, soundproofing, soundproofing insulation, sourdine, sparing of words, spear-carrier, speech sound, speechless, stand-in, standby, stick, stifle, stop, stricken dumb, subdue, substitute, supe, super, supernumerary, support, supporting actor, supporting cast, suppress, surd, syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable, tacit, taciturn, terse, tight-lipped, tone down, tone measurer, tongue-tied, tongueless, transition sound, triphthong, tuning bar, tuning fork, tuning pipe, turn down, unanimated, unconscious, understudy, unfeeling, unloquacious, unsaid, unspoken, untalkative, velar, vocable, vocalic, vocoid, voice, voiced sound, voiceless, voiceless sound, voicing, vowel, walk-on, walking gentleman, word-bound, wordless