muf|fle

muf|fle¹ «MUHF uhl», verb, -fled, -fling, noun.

–v.t.

1. to wrap in something in order to soften or stop the sound: »

to muffle oars, to muffle a drum. A bell can be muffled with cloth.

2. to dull or deaden (a sound). »

I heard voices, too, speaking with a hollow sound, and as if muffled by a rush of wind or water (Charlotte Brontë).

3. to wrap or cover up in order to keep warm and dry: »

She muffled her throat in a warm scarf.

4. to wrap up the head of (a person) in order to keep him from speaking.

5. Figurative. to wrap or pull over so as to conceal: »

to muffle one's face with a scarf. Alas, that love, whose view is muffled still Should, without eyes, see pathways to his will (Shakespeare).

6. to dim (light): »

through the dim length of the apartment, where crimson curtains muffled the glare of sunshine (Hawthorne).

–v.i.

to wrap oneself in garments or other covering.

–n.

1. a muffled sound.

2. a thing that muffles.

3. Obsolete. a boxing glove: »

Just like a black eye in a recent scuffle (For sometimes we must box without a muffle) (Byron).

4. Scottish. a mitten: »

A muffle has only two divisions; one for the thumb and the other for the four fingers (D. Nicholson).

╂[< Old French mofler to stuff < moufle thick glove, mitten. Compare etym. under muff.]

muf|fle² «MUHF uhl», noun.

the thick, bare part of the upper lip and nose of cows, moose, rabbits, and certain other animals.

╂[< French mufle; origin unknown]

muf|fle³ «MUHF uhl», noun.

1. an oven or arched chamber in a furnace or kiln, used for heating substances without direct contact with the fire: »

Pottery and porcelain are fired in a muffle.

2. a furnace containing such a chamber.

╂[< French moufle, probably a use of moufle mitten]