(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.
Mute
Definition:
(v. t.) To cast off; to molt.
(v. t. & i.) To eject the contents of the bowels; -- said of birds.
(n.) The dung of birds.
(a.) Not speaking; uttering no sound; silent.
(a.) Incapable of speaking; dumb.
(a.) Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; -- said of certain letters. See 5th Mute, 2.
(a.) Not giving a ringing sound when struck; -- said of a metal.
(n.) One who does not speak, whether from physical inability, unwillingness, or other cause.
(n.) One who, from deafness, either congenital or from early life, is unable to use articulate language; a deaf-mute.
(n.) A person employed by undertakers at a funeral.
(n.) A person whose part in a play does not require him to speak.
(n.) Among the Turks, an officer or attendant who is selected for his place because he can not speak.
(n.) A letter which represents no sound; a silent letter; also, a close articulation; an element of speech formed by a position of the mouth organs which stops the passage of the breath; as, p, b, d, k, t.
(n.) A little utensil made of brass, ivory, or other material, so formed that it can be fixed in an erect position on the bridge of a violin, or similar instrument, in order to deaden or soften the tone.
Example Sentences:
(1) Such conditions may influence the personality of offspring of deaf-mute people.
(2) No wonder public discussion of this most unexpected scientific development has so far been muted and respectful, waiting for the expert community that discovered the anomaly by accident – the Opera experiment at Gran Sasso was devised to isolate different varieties of neutrino, not to test Einstein – to work out what it all means, or doesn't.
(3) But its protests were far more muted than the complaints which saw off plans for drills there earlier this year.
(4) to produce speech for the mute, man-machine communication through speech in industry control, data processing systems and uses in audiological diagnostics.
(5) Ten months on, reactions are likely to be more muted.
(6) When it transpired that he had, if not in the way he might have wanted, he and his corner leapt in the air, before the realization of the ugly mood of the crowd muted the celebrations.
(7) Likewise, his criticism of Uganda's anti-homosexuality bill , which proposed the death penalty for same-sex acts, was muted.
(8) Nobody is sure what dangerous chemical imbalance this would create but the Fiver is convinced we'd all be dust come October or November, the earth scorched, with only three survivors roaming o'er the barren landscape: Govan's answer to King Lear, ranting into a hole in the ground; a mute, wild-eyed pundit, staring without blinking into a hole in the ground; and a tall, irritable figure standing in front of the pair of them, screaming in the style popularised by Klaus Kinski, demanding they take a look at his goddamn trouser arrangement, which he has balanced here on the platform of his hand for easy perusal, or to hell with them, for they are no better than pigs, worthless, spineless pigs.
(9) Additional studies revealed that the muted effects of PTHrP occurred via a PTH-independent mechanism.
(10) Winning a majority muted that speculation without eradicating the ambitions that fuelled it.
(11) Eight of 9 Mute swans (Cygnus olor) untied in the river acrossing the central part of Tottori-city died within the period of 40 days of summer in 1989.
(12) While calling for an end to the violence and democratic reform, western and other Arab countries have mostly muted their criticism of the killings and repression in Syria for fear of destabilising the country, which plays a strategic role across the Middle East.
(13) Another sci-fi film, Mute, which he describes as "my love letter to Blade Runner", is already in development and will be filmed in Berlin.
(14) It appeared, however, that she was muting her resistance to an expanded if limited ECB role, clearing the way for central bank and International Monetary Fund interventions that might take the edge off the immediate emergency and provide a breathing space for a more systemic political response.
(15) Indeed, the language of the ethic of care may give a voice to nurses who previously felt morally mute.
(16) Lysosomal enzyme secretion in response to thrombin treatment was partially reduced in muted platelets and markedly reduced in mocha platelets.
(17) Sandwood Bay in Scotland Photograph: Alamy Am Buachaille, a rocky sea stack, stood guard-like to one side, the giant grey slabs which cut into the sea were bathed in frothing waves, and the dim glow of the Cape Wrath lighthouse sent out a muted white beam beyond the cliffs to my right.
(18) Even in the wake of Newtown, the shift toward gun safety policies has been relatively muted .
(19) Violence, public and domestic, in peace and war, is muted by the modulated tones of civilised life.
(20) If I had been seeing red upon learning the dark projections for my health, my world was returning to its known colors, now muted with that knowledge that comes eventually for everyone: that the body is not the friend you thought was.