From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Muffle \Muf"fle\ (m[u^]f"f'l), noun The bare end of the nose between the nostrils; -- used esp. of ruminants.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Muffle \Muf"fle\, verb (used with an object) [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 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.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Muffle \Muf"fle\, verb (used without an object) [Cf. F. maffle, mumble, D. moffelen.] To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Muffle \Muf"fle\, noun [F. moufle, prop., a mitten, from the resemblance in shape. See {Muffle}, verb (used with an object), {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.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: a kiln with an inner chamber for firing things at a low temperature
verb
1: conceal or hide; "smother a yawn"; "muffle one's anger"; "strangle a yawn" [syn: {smother}, {stifle}, {strangle}, {repress}]
2: deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping [syn: {mute}, {dull}, {damp}, {dampen}, {tone down}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
128 Moby Thesaurus words for "muffle": 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
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