Word Direct Answers

What does "muffle" mean?

Muffle: To wrap up in something that conceals or protects; to wrap, as the face and neck, in thick and disguishing 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.

Additional senses

  1. 2.To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.
  2. 3.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.
  3. 4.To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.
  4. 5.Anything with which another thing, as an oar or drum, is muffled; also, a boxing glove; a muff.
  5. 6.(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.
  6. 7.(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.
  7. 8.A pulley block containing several sheaves. Knight.

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