Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A small cylindrical fur or cloth cover, open at both ends, in which the hands are placed for warmth.
- noun A cluster of feathers on the side of the face of certain breeds of fowl.
- noun Vulgar Slang The vulva.
- intransitive verb To perform or handle clumsily or ineptly; bungle. synonym: botch.
- intransitive verb Sports To fail to make (a catch).
- intransitive verb To perform a task clumsily or ineptly.
- noun A clumsy or bungled action.
- noun Sports A failure to make a catch.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A simpleton; a stupid or weak-spirited person.
- noun An inefficient apprentice craftsman.
- noun Anything done in a clumsy or bungling fashion, as a bad stroke of play in a game of ball; specifically, in ball-playing, failure to hold a ball that comes into one's hands.
- To mumble; speak indistinctly.
- To perform clumsily or badly; fail, as in some attempt in playing a game; muddle; make a mess of.
- Specifically, in ball-playing, to fail to hold (the ball) when it comes into the hands.
- To act clumsily or badly, especially in playing a game, as in receiving a ball into one's hands and failing to hold it.
- noun A cover into which both hands may be thrust in order to keep them warm.
- noun The whitethroat, Sylvia cinerea. Macgillirray. Also
muffet . - noun A cylinder of blown glass ready for slitting and spreading open in the flattening-furnace to form a plate.
- noun A joiningtube or coupler for uniting two pipes end to end.
- noun A lap or fleece of fibrous material, such as the lap of waste cotton, which is taken from the comb of a combing-machine.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A soft cover of cylindrical form, usually of fur, worn by women to shield the hands from cold.
- noun (Mech.) A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object, as a pipe.
- noun (Glass Manuf.) A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
- noun colloq. A stupid fellow; a poor-spirited person.
- noun (Baseball) A failure to hold a ball when once in the hands.
- noun (Zoöl.), Prov. Eng. The whitethroat.
- transitive verb To handle awkwardly; to fumble; to fail to hold, as a ball, in catching it.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun historical A piece of
fur orcloth , usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm. - noun slang Female
pubic hair ; thevulva . - noun glassblowing A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
- noun The feathers sticking out from both sides of the face under the beak of some birds.
- noun slang An
error , amistake . - noun slang shortened form of
muffin . - verb In American football, to drop or mishandle the ball, especially during a punt or kick-off.
- verb By extension, to mishandle any situation.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb fail to catch, as of a ball
- noun a warm tubular covering for the hands
- verb make a mess of, destroy or ruin
- noun (sports) dropping the ball
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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George Romney (1781, discussed above), where her small muff is centered below her sheathed bosom and her modestly hidden hands suggest another story.
Framing Romantic Dress: Mary Robinson, Princess Caroline and the Sex/Text 2006
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Yes, horrid cold; but my muff is so big, I won't carry it.
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Of him whose creation is sufficient to render the year 1849 memorable in the annals of the land much has ere now been written -- that type of a well-to-do British householder, delightful for his follies and endearing by his pluck, something of a lunatic, it must be admitted, yet more of a sportsman, and most of all a "muff" -- _Punch's_ "simple-minded Philistine paterfamilias."
The History of "Punch" M. H. Spielmann
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Millikin, his brother-inlaw, there was not much sympathy: for he pronounced Mr. Milliken to be what is called a muff; and had never been familiar with his elder sister Lavinia, of whose poems he had
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The putting on of the muff was the most humiliating incident of my life.
A Mind That Found Itself An Autobiography Clifford Whittingham Beers 1909
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The putting on of the muff was the most humiliating incident of my life.
A Mind That Found Itself Beers, Clifford W. 1908
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In fact, Ivy is what Japs calls a muff and a stick. '
Beechcroft at Rockstone Charlotte Mary Yonge 1862
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The muff is a boy who from natural disposition, or early training, or both, is mild, diffident, and gentle.
The Gorilla Hunters 1859
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Between him and Millikin, his brother-in-law, there was not much sympathy: for he pronounced Mr. Milliken to be what is called a muff; and had never been familiar with his elder sister Lavinia, of whose poems he had a mean opinion, and who used to tease and worry him by teaching him French, and telling tales of him to his mamma, when he was a schoolboy home for the holidays.
The Christmas Books of Mr. M.A. Titmarsh William Makepeace Thackeray 1837
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Sure, the nickname was probably assigned long before "muff" acquired its current connotations, but I assumed the Muffys would have all quietly dropped it long ago in favor of something a little less, um, gynecological - Buffy, or Cookie, or something.
Muffy Slimbolala 2006
slumry commented on the word muff
As a child, I always thought muffs were among the coolest things in the Sears Roebuck catalog. Hardly necessary in our climate, however.
July 12, 2007
yarb commented on the word muff
You were right though, muffs are very cool.
October 25, 2007
seanahan commented on the word muff
Also a verb to describe dropping the football when it was punted to you.
October 25, 2007
bilby commented on the word muff
A village in County Donegal, Ireland. Each summer, usually during the first week in August, the village celebrates Muff Festival.
January 2, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word muff
A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet. --from the definitions.
January 15, 2013