mute

• (UK) enPR: myo͞ot, IPA^(key): /mjuːt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːt
• Homophone: moot (in some dialects)

From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin mūtus.

mute (comparative muter, superlative mutest)

1. Not having the power of speech; dumb. [from 15th c.]
   • 1717 Ovid: Metamorphoses, translated by John Dryden et al.

     Thus, while the mute creation downward bend / Their sight, and to their earthly mother tend, / Man looks aloft; and with erected eyes / Beholds his own hereditary skies. / From such rude principles our form began; / And earth was metamorphos'd into Man.

2. Silent; not making a sound. [from 15th c.]
   • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton

     All the heavenly choir stood mute, / And silence was in heaven.

   • 1956, Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins (?, translators), Lion Feuchtwanger (German author), Raquel: The Jewess of Toledo (translation of Die Jüdin von Toledo), Messner, page 178:

     “ […] The heathens have broken into Thy Temple, and Thou art silent! Esau mocks Thy Children, and Thou remainest mute! Show thyself, arise, and let Thy Voice resound, Thou mutest among all the mute!”

3. Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.
4. Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.

mute (plural mutes)

1. (phonetics, now historical) A stopped consonant; a stop. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: occlusive, plosive, stop

2. (obsolete, theater) An actor who does not speak; a mime performer. [16th-19th c.]
   • 1668 OF Dramatick Poesie, AN ESSAY. By JOHN DRYDEN Esq; (John Dryden)

     As for the poor honest Maid, whom all the Story is built upon, and who ought to be one of the principal Actors in the Play, she is commonly a Mute in it:

3. A person who does not have the power of speech. [from 17th c.]
4. A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant. [from 18th c.]
   • 1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast

     The little box was eventually carried in one hand by the leading mute, while his colleague, with a finger placed on the lid, to prevent it from swaying, walked to one side and a little to the rear.

   • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 481:

     Then followed a long silence during which the mute turned to them and said, ‘Of course you'll be wanting an urn, sir?’

5. (music) An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine. [from 18th c.]
6. An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound.
   • 2012, Tomlinson Holman, Sound for Film and Television (page 174)

     Another related primary control is called a mute, which is simply a switch that kills the signal altogether, allowing for a speedier turn-off than turning the fader all the way down rapidly. Mutes are probably more commonly used during multitrack music recording than during film mixing because in music all tracks are on practically all of the time, whereas workstations produce silence when there is no desired signal […]

mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)

1. (transitive) To silence, to make quiet.
2. (transitive) To turn off the sound of.

   Please mute the music while I make a call.

• muter

• autism
• dumb

From Middle French muetir, probably a shortened form of esmeutir, ultimately from Proto-Germanic.

mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)

1. (now rare) Of a bird: to defecate. [from 15th c.]
   • 1946, George Orwell, Animal Farm, Signet Classics, pages 40–41:

     All the pigeons, to the number of thirty-five, flew to and fro over the men's heads and muted upon them from mid-air;...

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

mute (plural mutes)

1. The faeces of a hawk or falcon.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Hudibras to this entry?)

From Latin mutare (“to change”).

mute (third-person singular simple present mutes, present participle muting, simple past and past participle muted)

1. (transitive) To cast off; to moult.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     Have I muted all my feathers?

From muta +‎ -e.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmute/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: mu‧te
• Rhymes: -ute

mute

1. mutely, speechlessly

mute

1. first-person singular present indicative of muter
2. third-person singular present indicative of muter
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of muter
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of muter
5. second-person singular imperative of muter

• émut, émût
• meut
• muet

mute

1. Feminine plural of adjective muto.

mute f pl

1. plural of muta

mute f

1. mouth

mūte

1. vocative masculine singular of mūtus

From Proto-Indo-European *mnt-, *ment- (“to chew; jaw, mouth”). Cognate with Latin mentum (“chin”) and mandō (“to chew”), Ancient Greek μάσταξ (mástax, “jaws, mouth”) and μασάομαι (masáomai, “to chew”), Welsh mant (“jawbone”), Hittite [script needed] (mēni, “chin”), Proto-Germanic *munþaz (“mouth”) (English mouth, German Mund, Dutch mond, Swedish mun, Icelandic munnur, Gothic 𐌼𐌿𐌽𐌸𐍃 (munþs)).

• IPA^(key): [mutɛ]

mute f (5th declension)

1. (anatomy) mouth (orifice for ingesting food)

   mutes orgāni ― mouth organs

   aizvērt muti ― to close one's mouth

   plātīt muti ― to keep one's mouth open, to gape

   turēt mutē konfekti ― to have candy in one's mouth

   mutes kaktiņi ― corners of the mouth

   mutes harmonikas ― harmonica (musical instrument)

2. orifice, opening, entrance

   krāsns mute ― the mouth of the oven

3. face

   mazgāt muti ― to wash one's mouth (= face)

   bērni ar netīrām mutēm ― children with dirty mouths (= faces)

4. kiss

   dot mutes ― to give mouths (= kisses)

• mutīgs
• mutisks

mute

1. Alternative form of muet

mute

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of mutar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of mutar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of mutar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of mutar.