muffle

Definitions  ·  Examples  ·  Pronunciations  ·  Etymologies  ·  Related  ·  Statistics  ·  Comments  · 
“
The walls of the muffle should be about 1/2 in.

View all »
Definitions (23)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. transitive verb To wrap up, as in a blanket or shawl, for warmth, protection, or secrecy.
  2. transitive verb To wrap or pad in order to deaden the sound: muffled the drums.
  3. transitive verb To deaden (a sound): The sand muffled the hoofbeats.
5 more from this dictionary »

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (8)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

Toggle elsewhere links Elsewhere on the web

View all »
Examples (50)

  • She sat Ronyon down behind the desk and pulled another chair up to face him, making sure her back was to the guards so as to muffle her words even more. —  Angelmass
  • Dick rasped, cupping his hand across his mouth to muffle the words. —  Fox Evil
  • Some users have been able to muffle the sound a bit by pressing slightly on the casing of the computer, which indicates that this a mechanical problem. —  MacFixIt
  • RALLY MODE: Palin's popularity seems to muffle harsh criticism. —  Anchorage Daily News - Alaska News
  • A 2.4 liter four-cylinder in a Lexus is also a world first, but those worried about noise, vibration, and harshness should know that Lexus surely did - and that the car probably has enough dampers, insulation, and seals to muffle five screaming babies. —  Boston.com Most Popular
More examples »
 

Tags

muffle hasn't been tagged yet.

Sign up or sign in to add tags.

Stats

This word has been looked up 104 times.

stop updating
On Twitter

Photos from

flickr images

Add a related word »
Related

Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

hoarse ·  loud ·  audible ·  rhythmic ·  faint ·  thunderous ·  ominous ·  plaintive ·  metallic ·  indistinct ·  husky ·  insistent

Used in the same contextWord Family

muffle:   muffled
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (5)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English muflen, possibly from Old French mofler, to stuff, from mofle, glove; see muff2.
  2. French mufle, perhaps blend of moufle, chubby face (from Old French; see muff2) and museau, muzzle (from Old French musel; see muzzle).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English muffelen, conceal (the face); cf. Dutch moffelen, conceal, pilfer; from the noun (see muffle, n.); perhaps in part confused with muffle, v.
  2. from Dutch moffelen = G. dial, muffeln, mumble; freq. of the verb represented by muff', v. Cf. maffle.
  3. from French mufle, the muffle, from German muffel, a dog or other animal with large hanging lips.
 

Pronunciations
Record your own »
/ˈməfl/
by American Heritage

Charts
frequency chart

Bubble size: how much this word was used in a year

Bubble height: used more or less than expected, vs. all uses evenly distributed

You can expect to see this word a few times a year.

Recently looked up

drunkenly · proctor · rift · linguistic · motor-truck

Recent Favorites

pygopagus · sanglant · Astacus · sweetbread · qualms

Recent Pronunciations

wub wub · merch · these grunts every eight hours · haul it off to our darkest dungeon · send for a doctor