Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary - mute

 I. adjective  (~r; ~st)  Etymology: Middle English muet, mut, from Anglo-French, from mu, ~, from Latin mutus, probably from mu, representation of a muttered sound  Date: 1513  1. unable to speak ; lacking the power of speech  2. characterized by absence of speech: as  a. felt or experienced but not expressed touched her hand in ~ sympathy  b. refusing to plead directly or stand trial the prisoner stands ~  3. remaining silent, undiscovered, or unrecognized  4.  a. contributing nothing to the pronunciation of a word the b in plumb is ~  b. contributing to the pronunciation of a word but not representing the nucleus of a syllable the e in mate is ~  • ~ly adverb  • ~ness noun  II. noun  Date: 1530  1. stop 9  2. a person who cannot or does not speak  3. a device attached to or inserted into a musical instrument to soften or alter its tone  III. transitive verb  (~d; muting)  Date: 1883  1. to muffle, reduce, or eliminate the sound of  2. to tone down ; soften, subdue ~ a color  IV. intransitive verb  (~d; muting)  Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French *meutir, short for ameutir, alteration of Old French esmeltir, of Germanic origin; akin to Middle Dutch smelten to melt, make fluid, defecate (of birds)  Date: 15th century of a bird to evacuate the cloaca