MUFFLE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Muffle

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/mˈəfəl/ Listen

verb

Muffle v. t. (past & past part. muffled; pres. part. muffling)

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. "The face lies muffled up within the garment." "He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes." "Muffled up in darkness and superstition."

To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.

To wrap or fit 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; to muffle the exhaust of a motor vehicle.

Muffle v. i. To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.

noun

Muffle n. The bare end of the nose between the nostrils; used esp. of ruminants.

Muffle n.

Anything with which another thing, as an oar or drum, is muffled; also, a boxing glove; a muff.

(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.

(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.

A pulley block containing several sheaves.

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Etymology of 'Muffle'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Muffle" Quotes from Famous Books

... among them William Cullen Bryant, declaring their intention to vote for Polk, but to repudiate any candidate for Congress who agreed with Polk. Bryant's purpose was palpable and undoubted; but it soon afterward became part of his courage not to muffle plain truth from any spurious notions of party loyalty, and part of his glory not to fail to tell what people ...

— A Political History of the State of New York, Volumes 1-3 • DeAlva Stanwood Alexander

... to her, put his head on her bosom in order to muffle his voice. It was not necessary, however, for he suddenly grew heavy and silent. In awful fear, she looked about sidewise out of the corners of her eyes. She felt that the policemen would issue from some corner, would see Ivan's bandaged ...

— Mother • Maxim Gorky

... always avoided, and so were the betraying foot prints in the snow. They seldom marched in a body to the place of attack, but went thither two or three in a party, some on foot, some on horseback, and some even in carriages. As soon as they had entered a village, their first care was to muffle the church bell, so as to prevent an alarm being rung; or to commence a heavy fire, to give the inhabitants an exaggerated idea of their numbers, and impress them with the feeling that it would be more prudent to stay at home than to venture ...

— The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, Vol. 13, - Issue 371, May 23, 1829 • Various

... even lovelier lilac hue, I cannot guess: why—why deny Such beauty to the passer-by? Out of a bush a nightingale May expound his song; from 'neath that veil A happy mouth no doubt can make English sound sweeter for its sake. But then, why muffle in like this What every blossomy wind would kiss? Why in that little night disguise A daybreak face, ...

— Georgian Poetry 1918-19 • Various

... forgiven me!—even their adoration of my spiritual clearness, can hardly imagine what I was when I came to this prison. The tens of years which have passed over my head and which have whitened my hair cannot muffle the slight agitation which I experience at the recollection of the first moments when, with the creaking of the rusty hinges, the fatal prison doors opened and then closed ...

— The Crushed Flower and Other Stories • Leonid Andreyev

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