Muffle

v. t. [imp. & p. p. MUFFLED; p. pr. & vb. n. MUFFLING.] [Prov. Ger. muffeln, müffeln, fr. muff, muff, q. v.; D. moffelen, to pilfer; It. camuffare, to disguise, for capo-muffare, to muffle the head.] 1. To wrap up in something that conceals; especially, to wrap, as the face or more, in thick and disguising folds; to cover thickly and doubly; hence, to blindfold; to cover; to conceal. They were in former ages muffled in darkness and superstition. Arbuthnot. He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes. Dryden. The face lies muffled up within the garment. Addison. 2. To wrap with something that dulls, or renders sound inaudible; to deaden the sound of; as, to muffle the strings of a drum, the row-locks of a boat, or that part of the oar which rests on the row-lock.

v. i. [Prov. Ger. muffeln, D. moffelen.] To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.

n. [Fr. moufle, Sp. mufla, It. muffola, Ger. muffel, D. moffel, from L. Lat. muffula, muff, from the resemblance of its form. See MUFF.] (Chem. & Metal.) An oven-shaped vessel, used for the purification of gold and silver by means of a cupel made of bone ashes.

n. The bare end of the nose between the nostrils, when covered with a mucous membrane;—applied especially to ruminating animals. Barrow.