mju:t adj., n., & v. --adj. 1
silent, refraining
from or temporarily
bereft of
speech. 2
not emitting
articulate sound. 3 (of a
person or animal)
dumb. 4 not expressed in speech (mute protest). 5 a (of a letter) not
pronounced. b (of a consonant)
plosive. 6 (of hounds) not giving
tongue. --n. 1 a dumb person (a
deaf mute). 2 Mus. a a
clamp for damping
the resonance of the strings of a
violin etc. b a pad or
cone for damping the sound of a wind
instrument. 3 an unsounded
consonant. 4 an
actor whose part is in a dumb
show. 5 a dumb
servant in
oriental countries. 6 a hired
mourner. --v.tr. 1
deaden, muffle, or
soften the sound of (a
thing,
esp. a
musical instrument). 2 a
tone down,
make less intense. b (as muted adj.) (of colours etc.) subdued (a muted green). ømute
button a
device on a
telephone etc. to temporarily
prevent the
caller from
hearing what is
being said at the receiver's
end. mute
swan the
common white swan. øømutely adv. muteness n. [ME f. OF muet, dimin. of mu f. L mutus, assim. to L]
