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Muffle   Listen
verb
Muffle  v. t.  (past & past part. muffled; pres. part. muffling)  
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. "The face lies muffled up within the garment." "He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes." "Muffled up in darkness and superstition."
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.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Muffle" Quotes from Famous Books



... spirit within her warred against the lust to repay an eye for an eye. It was the new Gospel against the old Law, and the fierceness of the struggle rent her. Just now, the doing of the kindly act seemed somehow to gratify not only her maternal instinct toward service of love, but, too, to muffle for a little the rebuking voice of ...
— Within the Law - From the Play of Bayard Veiller • Marvin Dana

... hour the watchman would be back from his rounds upon the upper floors, they proceeded to put out of action the more valuable and more complicated machines in the building. It was necessary, of course, that they should be almost silent; so their mode of procedure was to muffle up in an old blanket the most delicate and fragile parts of the machines before smashing them with a heavy hammer ...
— Two Daring Young Patriots - or, Outwitting the Huns • W. P. Shervill

... on armoured trains To the further side of the Channel; Prayers are said in a hundred fanes For its godlike soul, and whenever it rains They muffle its ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, November 4, 1914 • Various

... muffle him, and the wall couldn't muffle him," Benjamin rejoined. "I heard him—and ...
— The Law and the Lady • Wilkie Collins

... Much multa. Much, so tiom. Much, how kiom da. Much, too tro multe. Mucus muko. Mud sxlimo, koto. Muddle (of liquors) malklarigi. Muddle (bungle) fusxi, konfuzi. Muddle (bungle) konfuzo. Mudguard kotsxirmilo. Muff mufo. Muffle envolvi. Mug pokaleto, poteto. Mulberry moruso. Mulct (fine) mona puno, monpuno. Mule mulo. Muleteer mulisto. Mulish obstina. Multiple multoblo. Multiplicand multigato. Multiplication multigado. Multiplied multigita. Multiplier ...
— English-Esperanto Dictionary • John Charles O'Connor and Charles Frederic Hayes

... each bougie up in a piece of asbestos cloth, secure the ends of the cloth with a few turns of copper wire, and place inside the muffle (a small muffle 76x88x163 mm. will hold ...
— The Elements of Bacteriological Technique • John William Henry Eyre

... the inn. Surely the three revolver shots had been overheard; yet the place was as silent as the grave, and quite as ominous. Where were the servants, the caravan boys, the muleteers, the traders and merchants? He dismissed as absurd the theory that the walls of his room were stout enough to muffle the ...
— Peter the Brazen - A Mystery Story of Modern China • George F. Worts

... back, and eyes fixed upon the stage, in absorbed attention. There was no doubting the unconsciousness of the pose; she was as oblivious of the gaze of others as of his own presence, but he felt an irritated longing to muffle her in veils and wrappings; to lift her up and transplant her to the back seat in a box. What business had those idiots to stare at her, as if she were one of the actresses on the stage? He branded the idiots with even stronger ...
— Flaming June • Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey

... sought One who would disengage her soiled and shattered tendrils from the chill comforts of earth, and bathe them in the genial influences of Heaven. The music of her Master's name alone could put gladness into her heart—tempt her to muffle other conflicting feelings and hasten to His feet. "The Master is come!" Nothing could have roused her from her profound grief but this. While her poor earthly comforters are imagining her prostrate at the sepulchre's mouth, giving vent ...
— Memories of Bethany • John Ross Macduff

... minutes we had stripped off the skin. Rod then wrenched off the antlers, cut out the muffle (the end of the nose), and also about a hundred weight of what he considered the choicest of the meat. The rest of it—nine or ten hundred pounds—we could only leave where it had fallen. It would be of no use to us, so ...
— Happy Days for Boys and Girls • Various

... Gracewood's barge had been left at the lauding by the steamer, and I launched it as the dugout disappeared beyond a bend in the creek. I rowed with the utmost caution up the stream, fearful that the quick ear of the Indians might detect the sound of the oars. I took the precaution to muffle the oars, using an old coat I found in the boat for the purpose. At the bend where I had lost sight of the enemy, I held the barge by an overhanging branch, until I had satisfied myself that it was safe to proceed. The dugout was not in sight, and ...
— Field and Forest - The Fortunes of a Farmer • Oliver Optic

... he returned, Louise was ready. But he was not satisfied: she did not know how cold it would be: and he made her put on a heavy jacket under her fur cape, and take a silk shawl, in which, if necessary, she could muffle up her head. He himself carried a travelling-rug for ...
— Maurice Guest • Henry Handel Richardson

... zero—Very cold; take particular care of your nose and extremities: eat the fattest food, and plenty of it 40 deg. below—Intensely cold; keep awake at all hazards, muffle up to the eyes, and test your circulation frequently, that it may not stop somewhere ...
— Northern Travel - Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland • Bayard Taylor

... and lay him on the bed so we can muffle the turtle in a towel while we use the ammonia," ...
— The Heart's Kingdom • Maria Thompson Daviess

... throat disease should take special care to wear suitable underclothing, adapted to the changes of the seasons. Frequent baths are excellent tonics to the skin, and serve indirectly to protect one liable to throat ailments from changes in the weather. It is not prudent to muffle the neck in scarfs, furs, and wraps, unless perhaps during an unusual exposure to cold. Such a dress for the neck only makes the parts tender, and increases the liability to a ...
— A Practical Physiology • Albert F. Blaisdell

... twelve men, with pistols and cutlasses, Mr. Pennant, in the first cutter, and pull down to the south-east. Whatever you find in the shape of a vessel or a boat, capture it, and return to the Bronx. Get off with as little noise as possible, and muffle your oars." ...
— Stand By The Union - SERIES: The Blue and the Gray—Afloat • Oliver Optic

... muffle all your viols; As heroes learn to stand, With faith in God's great justice ...
— Iola Leroy - Shadows Uplifted • Frances E.W. Harper

... luxury, but are so common in vulgar fashion-plates that even the petty shopkeepers in Paris have discarded them at their weddings. One very unusual thing appeared, which caused much talk in Issoudun, namely, a rush-matting on the stairs, no doubt to muffle the sound of feet. In fact, though Max was in the habit of coming in at daybreak, he never woke any one, and Rouget was far from suspecting that his guest was an accomplice in the nocturnal performances ...
— The Celibates - Includes: Pierrette, The Vicar of Tours, and The Two Brothers • Honore de Balzac

... courageous. As we sped along the ridge in the afternoon I seemed to myself like a midge lost in a monstrous net. The dank, dripping trees and the misty hills seemed to muffle and deaden the world. I could not believe that they ever would end; that anywhere there was a clear sky and open country. And I had always the feeling that in those banks of vapour lurked deadly enemies who any moment might steal out and ...
— Salute to Adventurers • John Buchan

... anxiety for, through the rhythm of the dance, we hear the sighs and despairing farewells of hearts forced to suppress their tears. Others reveal to us the discomfort and secret ennui of those guests at a fete, who find it in vain to expect that the gay sounds will muffle the sharp cries of anguished spirits. We sometimes catch the gasping breath of terror and stifled fears; sometimes divine the dim presentiments of a love destined to perpetual struggle and doomed to survive all hope, which, though devoured by jealousy ...
— Life of Chopin • Franz Liszt

... fire-worshippers, they hail the return of light and warmth to the world, is unrivalled. There are a hundred singing like one. They are noisy enough then, and sing, as poets should, with no afterthought. But when they come after cherries to the tree near my window, they muffle their voices, and their faint pip, pip, pop! sounds far away at the bottom of the garden, where they know I shall not suspect them of robbing the great black-walnut of its bitter-rinded store.[P] They are feathered Pecksniffs, to be sure, but then how ...
— The Ontario Readers: The High School Reader, 1886 • Ministry of Education

... side of the structure. This flue conducts the gases of the kilns to the stack, which is symmetrically located with reference to the kiln house. Natural gas is the principal fuel. In addition to these kilns, a small muffle furnace, fired with petroleum, is provided for the determination of melting points, and an electric carbon resistance furnace, with an aluminum muffle for high-temperature work. For crucible-fusion work, a gas-fired ...
— Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXX, Dec. 1910 • Herbert M. Wilson

... said: "I think I will attack them at once," and asked me if I had their horses located. I told him I had. He then gave orders for all of the men to muffle their spurs, and he asked me to take my four men and as soon as the charge was made to make a dash for the horses, cut them off and stampede them. So we made the start, my scouts and I on the extreme right of their entire command. The Lieutenant ...
— Thirty-One Years on the Plains and In the Mountains • William F. Drannan

... threw her arms round him, and while he remained looking over her shoulder, with a face of grotesque perplexity, and saying, "Don't cry, Lyddy, don't cry!" she pressed her face tighter into his withered neck, and tried to muffle her homesick sobs. The sympathies as well as the sensibilities often seem dulled by age. They have both perhaps been wrought upon too much in the course of the years, and can no longer respond to the appeal or distress which they can only dimly realize; even the heart grows old. "Don't ...
— The Lady of the Aroostook • W. D. Howells

... overpower the senses with doleful and funereal images in the hour of weakness and bereavement, when the soul needs all her force to rise above the gloom of earth, and to realize the mysteries of faith? Why shut the friendly sunshine from the mourner's room? Why muffle in a white shroud every picture that speaks a cheerful household word to the eye? Why make a house look stiff and ghastly and cold as a corpse? In some of our cities, on the occurrence of a death in the family, all the ...
— Household Papers and Stories • Harriet Beecher Stowe

... though a clever fellow, was a bore of the first description. Moreover, he looked always like a schoolboy. I remember a picture of him being handed about at Dalkeith House. It was a miniature I think by Sanders,[10] who had contrived to muffle Lewis's person in a cloak, and placed some poignard or dark lanthorn appurtenance (I think) in his hand, so as to give the picture the cast of a bravo. "That like Mat Lewis?" said Duke Henry, to whom it had passed in turn; "why, that is like a MAN!" Imagine the effect! Lewis was at his elbow.[11] ...
— The Journal of Sir Walter Scott - From the Original Manuscript at Abbotsford • Walter Scott

... with the red cords of American artillerymen. Their identification is a surprise to the dreamer, because one rather expects these figures to sulk in the deeper shadows and screen their dark, bearded faces with the broad brims of black felt hats or muffle themselves to the chin in long, flowing black cloaks that hide rapiers and stilettos and other properties of ...
— "And they thought we wouldn't fight" • Floyd Gibbons

... furnaces required, the "wind" and "muffle" furnaces. These are built of brick, fire-brick, of course, being used for the lining. They are connected with a chimney that will provide a good draught. Figure 6 shows a section of the wind furnace, fig. 7 a section of the muffle furnace, and fig. 8 a general view of a group comprising a muffle ...
— A Textbook of Assaying: For the Use of Those Connected with Mines. • Cornelius Beringer and John Jacob Beringer

... the parable about the absent master of a house; and Peter asks, "Lord? (Sir?) speakest thou this parable unto us, or also unto all?" Who would not have hoped an ingenuous reply, "To you only," or, "To everybody"? Instead of which, so inveterate is his tendency to muffle up the simplest things in mystery, he replies, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward," &c., &c., and entirely evades reply to the ...
— Phases of Faith - Passages from the History of My Creed • Francis William Newman

... humped-up, rabbity look to the powerful hind quarters. This combined suggestion of the rabbit and the tiger was peculiarly daunting in its effect. The strange beast's head was round and cat-like, but with high, tufted ears, and a curious, back-brushed muffle of whiskers under the throat. Its eyes, wide and pale, shone with a cold ferocity and unconquerable wildness. Its legs, singularly large for the bulk of its body, and ending in broad, razor-clawed, furry pads of feet, would have seemed clumsy, but for the impression of tense steel springs and ...
— The Watchers of the Trails - A Book of Animal Life • Charles G. D. Roberts

... 'Muffle your horses' heads and see to the priming of your pistols,' muttered Alice. She always will play boys' parts, and she makes Ellis cut her hair short on purpose. Ellis is a very ...
— The Story of the Treasure Seekers • E. Nesbit

... fallen leaves. The weather was clear and cold, but the snow had shrunk to subnormal on the foothills. The Weather God was still favouring the enemy. It was very still, though occasionally shells burst over the Grappa. But the hills muffle ...
— With British Guns in Italy - A Tribute to Italian Achievement • Hugh Dalton

... to make the tour of the house and premises?" said Sir Hugo. "The ladies must muffle themselves; there is only just about time to do it well before sunset. You ...
— Daniel Deronda • George Eliot

... his brow, as though to clear the thoughts behind of their last murkiness after a drunken slumber. He stretched himself wearily as though stiff from his unyielding bed of sun-baked earth. Then he moved down the trail toward the Meeting House, selecting the scorched grass at the side of it to muffle the ...
— The Law-Breakers • Ridgwell Cullum

... to the edge of the woods: stopped, listened, walked back and forth a few times, then returned towards Evan, but now, like the other man, taking care to muffle his steps in the grass alongside. Evan could only see him at moments now. He was on Evan's side of the road. Evan drew back ...
— The Deaves Affair • Hulbert Footner

... and even—may this little indiscretion be 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 ...
— The Crushed Flower and Other Stories • Leonid Andreyev

... he may go. He needn't think I'll take 'im back; I won't have nothin' to say to 'im, never!' Ad' I'll quarrel 'bout you too; an' when all ov 'em is done fussin' 'bout me comin' back, I'll steal to you in a dark night, an' lay a plan to meet on Lickin' River; an' we'll take a skiff an' muffle oars till we get to the Ohio; an' I knows jus' whar to go in any dark night, an' we 'll be free together. I didn't tell Jim I's gwine to make massa b'leve all my lies to get you; for I tell you, Liz, I ain't got whole freedom ...
— A Woman's Life-Work - Labors and Experiences • Laura S. Haviland

... muffle the sound of the carriage wheels upon the stones, to have made our passage a silent one past the spot where a soul was about to take flight. Francesca, I ...
— The Child of Pleasure • Gabriele D'Annunzio

... have befallen your old shipmate," said Andrews; "if he does not come back, we must make the attempt without him. I marked well the entrance of the harbour. If we muffle our oars, and keep close under the fort, we may slip out without being observed. Are you inclined to make ...
— Will Weatherhelm - The Yarn of an Old Sailor • W.H.G. Kingston

... "tiptoed" is here used to indicate the extreme caution of Cap'n Cod's entrance, and his evident desire to effect it as noiselessly as possible. As he could only tiptoe on one foot, however, and had neglected to muffle the iron-shod peg that served him in place of the other, his progress was attended with more than its usual amount of noise. He appeared relieved to find Winn awake, and advancing with a cordial greeting, he laid the ...
— Raftmates - A Story of the Great River • Kirk Munroe

... muffle, good Graccus, do not taint thy sence With sight of these infectious animalles, 'Less[233] reason in thee have the upper hand To governe sence, to see and shun the sight. Here's new discovered sins, past all the rest; Men strive to practice how ...
— A Collection Of Old English Plays, Vol. IV. • Editor: A.H. Bullen

... opened one and from it selected a pair of pink stockings and slipped them on Peaches; then tiny, soft buckskin moccasins embroidered and tied with ribbons to match the hose. Peaches squealed and clapped her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound; but Mrs. Harding heard and came to the door. Mickey asked ...
— Michael O'Halloran • Gene Stratton-Porter

... exploits, until by coffee-time he had unrolled for me the richest tapestry of gayeties that I remember, and I sat without breath, tearful and aching, while the two negroes had retired far into the kitchen to muffle their emotions. ...
— Lady Baltimore • Owen Wister

... ears all my senses seemed confused, and I stood motionless. Then I heard Bungay utter a smothered oath, and knew he had wheeled about in the darkness. Unable to distinguish the slightest outline of his figure, I was yet impressed with the thought that he was endeavoring to muffle the girl, to prevent her uttering a second cry. Impelled by this intuition I flung out my arm hastily, and by rare good luck it came ...
— My Lady of the North • Randall Parrish

... there wasn't quite so much in one's life—to muffle! [He pulls the cork. She tosses the pillow on to the settee, a little irritably.] ...
— The Gay Lord Quex - A Comedy in Four Acts • Arthur W. Pinero

... magnetic iron. His assays were of the rudest: he broke at least one crucible per day, lamenting the while that he had been supplied with English articles, instead of creusets de Bourgogne. And no wonder! He treated them by a strong blast in a furious coal-fire without previous warming. His muffle was a wreck, and such by degrees became the condition of all his apparatus. However, as we sought, so we found: hardly a Bedawi lad in camp but unpouched some form of metallic specimens. The Shaykhs ...
— The Land of Midian, Vol. 1 • Richard Burton

... dead in his beauty— Oh that a linnet should die in the spring! Bury him, comrades, in pitiful duty, Muffle the ...
— The Posy Ring - A Book of Verse for Children • Various

... come on board in the afternoon. He had to communicate with a person on shore, while I had to look-out for the spies. It was a darkish night, but there was very little wind, so that it was necessary to muffle our oars in order that our approach might not be perceived. As we pulled over the still waters, in which here and there the reflection of a star might be seen, as it peeped out between the clouds, we could just ...
— Hurricane Hurry • W.H.G. Kingston

... "I intend to muffle the sweeps and row the schooner up to the head of the creek there, from which point we can command the pile of sandal-wood with our gun. Then I shall land with all the men except two, who shall take care of the schooner and be ready with the ...
— The Coral Island - A Tale Of The Pacific Ocean • R. M. Ballantyne

... where giant cannon were forged into smooth, sleek instruments of death, came noise: unchecked, unmuffled, blasphemous din. But something odd was afoot. There was a sudden hush. It seemed as if a giant hand had covered the metal city to muffle its screams. ...
— The Whispering Spheres • Russell Robert Winterbotham

... darkness. We think of God, we remember Him, but He seems afar off. The evil which weighs us down—the pain of body, the agony of soul, the sadness and dejection of heart and mind, "the madness that worketh in the brain," muffle the voice and all but still the trembling pulse, and we are not able so much as to lift our drooping heads and tear-dimmed eyes to see the gentle Shepherd standing faithfully at our side. It is our failure to discern and apprehend ...
— The Shepherd Of My Soul • Rev. Charles J. Callan

... the table with a thick coating of some coarse-grained flux mixed to form a paste, or with a coating of some more easily fusible glass, and then subjecting it to the action of a strong fire, either open or in a muffle. As soon as the coating is fused, and the table is red-hot, it is withdrawn and rapidly cooled. The superficial layer of flux separates itself in this operation from the underlying glass surface, and leaves behind the evidence of its attachment to the same in ...
— Scientific American Supplement, No. 358, November 11, 1882 • Various

... would not allow them to move: the oars were then carefully lifted over the gunnel, and their clothes laid in the rollocks, to muffle the sound; the boat was pushed from the landing-place into the middle of the narrow inlet. The tide was ebbing, and with their oars raised out of the water, ready to give way if perceived, they allowed the boat to drift out of ...
— Newton Forster - The Merchant Service • Captain Frederick Marryat

... pushed up not a living thing was seen. Another boat somewhat larger in build was already in the creek, and there was a post to which craft could he made fast whilst the owners landed. Kay dexterously performed this office, and taking Cuthbert by the arm, bid him muffle his face in the collar of his cloak, and walk cautiously and with circumspection. They quickly reached the great block of buildings of which the Houses of Parliament formed the most conspicuous feature; and diving down a narrow entry, Kay paused suddenly before a low-browed door, ...
— The Lost Treasure of Trevlyn - A Story of the Days of the Gunpowder Plot • Evelyn Everett-Green



Words linked to "Muffle" :   kiln, stamp down, muffler, smother, soften, stifle, curb, dull, damp, dampen



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