What's the difference between cover and muffle?

Cover


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To overspread the surface of (one thing) with another; as, to cover wood with paint or lacquer; to cover a table with a cloth.
  • (v. t.) To envelop; to clothe, as with a mantle or cloak.
  • (v. t.) To invest (one's self with something); to bring upon (one's self); as, he covered himself with glory.
  • (v. t.) To hide sight; to conceal; to cloak; as, the enemy were covered from our sight by the woods.
  • (v. t.) To brood or sit on; to incubate.
  • (v. t.) To shelter, as from evil or danger; to protect; to defend; as, the cavalry covered the retreat.
  • (v. t.) To remove from remembrance; to put away; to remit.
  • (v. t.) To extend over; to be sufficient for; to comprehend, include, or embrace; to account for or solve; to counterbalance; as, a mortgage which fully covers a sum loaned on it; a law which covers all possible cases of a crime; receipts than do not cover expenses.
  • (v. t.) To put the usual covering or headdress on.
  • (v. t.) To copulate with (a female); to serve; as, a horse covers a mare; -- said of the male.
  • (n.) Anything which is laid, set, or spread, upon, about, or over, another thing; an envelope; a lid; as, the cover of a book.
  • (n.) Anything which veils or conceals; a screen; disguise; a cloak.
  • (n.) Shelter; protection; as, the troops fought under cover of the batteries; the woods afforded a good cover.
  • (n.) The woods, underbrush, etc., which shelter and conceal game; covert; as, to beat a cover; to ride to cover.
  • (n.) The lap of a slide valve.
  • (n.) A tablecloth, and the other table furniture; esp., the table furniture for the use of one person at a meal; as, covers were laid for fifty guests.
  • (v. i.) To spread a table for a meal; to prepare a banquet.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In a debate in the House of Commons, I will ask Britain, the US and other allies to convert generalised offers of help into more practical support with greater air cover, military surveillance and helicopter back-up, to hunt down the terrorists who abducted the girls.
  • (2) Photograph: Guardian The research also compiled data covered by a wider definition of tax haven, including onshore jurisdictions such as the US state of Delaware – accused by the Cayman islands of playing "faster and looser" even than offshore jurisdictions – and the Republic of Ireland, which has come under sustained pressure from other EU states to reform its own low-tax, light-tough, regulatory environment.
  • (3) The surface of all cells was covered by a fuzzy coat consisting of fine hairs or bristles.
  • (4) Five patients have been examined by defecography before and four after closure of a loop ileostomy performed to cover healing of the pouch and ileoanal anastomoses.
  • (5) A failure to reach a solution would potentially leave 200,000 homes without affordable cover, leaving owners unable to sell their properties and potentially exposing them to financial hardship.
  • (6) It was an artwork that fired the imaginations of 2 million visitors who played with, were provoked by and plunged themselves into the curious atmosphere of The Weather Project , with its swirling mist and gigantic mirrors that covered the hall's ceiling.
  • (7) But because current donor contributions are not sufficient to cover the thousands of schools in need of security, I will ask in the commons debate that the UK government allocates more.
  • (8) The degree of infection and incidence of different genera covering the same period were identical in both series.
  • (9) At first it looked as though the winger might have shown too much of the ball to the defence, yet he managed to gain a crucial last touch to nudge it past Phil Jones and into the path of Jerome, who slipped Chris Smalling’s attempt at a covering tackle and held off Michael Carrick’s challenge to place a shot past an exposed De Gea.
  • (10) The Sports Network broadcasts live NHL, Nascar, golf and horse racing – having also recently purchased the rights for Formula One – and will show 154 of the 196 games that NBC will cover.
  • (11) As to complications they recorded in one case mucosal bleeding after gastrofiberoptic polypectomy and in one case a covered perforation of the sigmoid at the site of colonoscopic polypectomy.
  • (12) The pressure is ramping up on Asda boss Andy Clarke, who next week will reveal the chain’s sales performance for the quarter covering Christmas.
  • (13) This week MediaGuardian 25, our survey of Britain's most important media companies, covering TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, music and digital, looks at BSkyB.
  • (14) When allegations of systemic doping and cover-ups first emerged in the runup to the 2013 Russian world athletics championships, an IOC spokesman insisted: “Anti-doping measures in Russia have improved significantly over the last five years with an effective, efficient and new laboratory and equipment in Moscow.” London Olympics were sabotaged by Russia’s doping, report says Read more We now know that the head of that lauded Moscow lab, Grigory Rodchenko, admitted to intentionally destroying 1,417 samples in December last year shortly before Wada officials visited.
  • (15) Chapman and the other "illegals" – sleeper agents without diplomatic cover – seem to have done little to harm American national security.
  • (16) This hydrostatic pressure may well be the driving force for creating channels for acid and pepsin to cross the mucus layer covering the mucosal surface.
  • (17) A retrospective study of autopsy-verified fatal pulmonary embolism at a department of infectious diseases was carried out, covering a four-year period (1980-83).
  • (18) Over the same period, breeding in drums dropped from 14%-25% to 4.7%, even though the drums were not treated or covered.
  • (19) The study covered 500 children from Warsaw's primary schools--250 children aged 6-8 years and 250 aged 13-15 years.
  • (20) The smaller interfaces cover about 700 A2 of the subunit surface.

Muffle


Definition:

  • (n.) The bare end of the nose between the nostrils; -- used esp. of ruminants.
  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (v. t.) To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.
  • (v. t.) To wrap 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.
  • (v. i.) To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.
  • (v. t.) Anything with which another thing, as an oar or drum, is muffled; also, a boxing glove; a muff.
  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (v. t.) 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.
  • (v. t.) A pulley block containing several sheaves.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Weirdly, the muffled Doppler effects of several thousand passing SUVs was quite soothing.
  • (2) True diastolic pressure is usually closer to the disappearance point of Korotkoff sounds than to the muffling phase.
  • (3) Hence his fondness for placing the camera far away from its subjects: Hidden coolly watches as a child's small world falls apart, his cries muffled by the intervening space; and Code Unknown concludes by showing how life, likened by Haneke to a flea circus, indifferently unravels on a Paris boulevard.
  • (4) The presence of a muffled voice led to radiologic and indirect laryngoscopic examination confirming the diagnosis.
  • (5) The effect of El Niño during these years compounded the muffling effect of greenhouse gases and lead to exceptionally hot global temperatures.
  • (6) I heard about three or four shots fired, but they were muffled, as if taking place indoors,” one witness told Agence France-Presse.
  • (7) Common symptoms include fever, swollen neck, difficult swallowing, muffled voice and hyperextension of the head and neck.
  • (8) In places there were moans and muffled cries beneath the ruins, spurring frantic efforts to dig people out with bare hands and improvised tools.
  • (9) The determinations of calcium, magnesium, and phosphorus in dentine showed no significant differences between LTA, muffle furnace ashing (MFA), and wet ashing.
  • (10) The policemen closed the doors, but the muffled screams continued outside.
  • (11) The samples of the mentioned tissues were dried and ashed in the muffle furnace.
  • (12) Questions will undoutedly be asked about Brown's vocal capabilities – once described by Guardian critic Alexis Petridis as "a muffled, gloomy honk, like a despondent goose wearing a balaclava" – and whether the band, now in middle-age, will be able to capture the heady excitement of their early days.
  • (13) For some it sounded muffled and far away, as though somewhere in the distance a big balloon had popped.
  • (14) Once again, Vince Cable is a rather lonely prophet worrying where this will lead, but this time a voice of warning somewhat muffled by collective responsibility.
  • (15) Fabricant, who was strongly involved in the Tory campaign in Eastleigh, tweeted: "The Conservative voice is muffled and not crisp.
  • (16) But instead of a traditional riot or at least some minor destruction, the place was filled with well-behaved individuals, talking in the "inside voices" with muffled jubilation (even when the US won!).
  • (17) Abnormal or muffled heart sounds associated with pericarditis and epicarditis was the most common sequela, occurring in 40 cases.
  • (18) The polite approach of London Citizens has so far yielded muffled responses, but the issue will be raised at a November board meeting: if there is no decisive yes, expect the gloves to come off, and more direct action, including a shoppers' boycott.
  • (19) Inadequate velopharyngeal function, whether congenital or subsequent to palatal repair, may be masked by the presence of other speech problems in this syndrome, particularly by the "muffled" voice quality which appears to be associated with an elevated and retracted tongue posture.
  • (20) Extreme sore throat, pooling of oral secretions, muffled voice, and elevated temperature were uncommon.