different between blunt vs muffle

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /bl?nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt

Etymology 1

From Middle English blunt, blont, from Old English *blunt (attested in the derivative Blunta (male personal name) (> English surnames Blunt, Blount)), probably of North Germanic origin, possibly related to Old Norse blunda (“to doze”) (> Icelandic blunda, Swedish blunda, Danish blunde).

Adjective

blunt (comparative blunter, superlative bluntest)

1. Having a thick edge or point; not sharp.
2. Dull in understanding; slow of discernment; opposed to acute.
3. Abrupt in address; plain; unceremonious; wanting the forms of civility; rough in manners or speech.

   the blunt admission that he had never liked my company
4. Hard to impress or penetrate.
   • December 30, 1736, Alexander Pope, letter to Jonathan Swift

     I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions.

5. Slow or deficient in feeling: insensitive.

Synonyms

• (having a thick edge or point): dull, pointless, coarse
• (dull in understanding): stupid, obtuse
• (abrupt in address): curt, short, rude, brusque, impolite, uncivil, harsh

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

blunt (plural blunts)

1. A fencer's practice foil with a soft tip.
2. A short needle with a strong point.
3. (smoking) A marijuana cigar.
   • 2005: to make his point, lead rapper B-Real fired up a blunt in front of the cameras and several hundred thousand people and announced, “I'm taking a hit for every one of y'all!” — Martin Torgoff, Can't Find My Way Home (Simon & Schuster 2005, p. 461)
4. (Britain, slang, archaic, uncountable) money

   • Down he goes to the Commons, to see the lawyer and draw the blunt […]

5. A playboating move resembling a cartwheel performed on a wave.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English blunten, blonten, from the adjective (see above).

Verb

blunt (third-person singular simple present blunts, present participle blunting, simple past and past participle blunted)

1. To dull the edge or point of, by making it thicker; to make blunt.
2. (figuratively) To repress or weaken; to impair the force, keenness, or susceptibility, of

   It blunted my appetite.

   My feeling towards her have been blunted.

Synonyms

• blunten

Translations

See also

• bluntly
• dull

Old French

Etymology

From Frankish *blund, from Proto-Germanic *blundaz, from Proto-Indo-European *b?lend?-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blont/, [bl?nt]

Adjective

blunt m (oblique and nominative feminine singular blunde)

1. Alternative form of blont

English

Etymology

From Middle English muflen (“to muffle”), aphetic alteration of Anglo-Norman amoufler, from Old French enmoufler (“to wrap up, muffle”), from moufle (“mitten”), from Medieval Latin muffula (“a muff”), of Germanic origin (—first recorded in the Capitulary of Aachen in 817 C.E.), from Frankish *muffël (“a muff, wrap, envelope”) from *mauwa (“sleeve, wrap”) (from Proto-Germanic *maww? (“sleeve”)) + *vël (“skin, hide”) (from Proto-Germanic *fell? (“skin, film, fleece”). Alternate etymology traces the Medieval Latin word to Frankish *molfell (“soft garment made of hide”) from *mol (“softened, forworn”) (akin to Old High German molaw?n (“to soften”), Middle High German molwic (“soft”), English mulch) + *fell (“hide, skin”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?fl?/
• Rhymes: -?f?l

Noun

muffle (plural muffles)

1. Anything that mutes or deadens sound.
2. A warm piece of clothing for the hands.
3. (slang, archaic) A boxing glove.
4. A kiln or furnace, often electric, with no direct flames (a muffle furnace)
5. The bare end of the nose between the nostrils, especially in ruminants.
6. A machine with two pulleys to hoist load by spinning wheels, polyspast, block and tackle.

Translations

Verb

muffle (third-person singular simple present muffles, present participle muffling, simple past and past participle muffled)

1. (transitive) To wrap (a person, face etc.) in fabric or another covering, for warmth or protection; often with up.

   • The face lies muffled up within the garment.

   • He muffled with a cloud his mournful eyes.

   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     muffled up in darkness and superstition

2. (transitive) To wrap up or cover (a source of noise) in order to deaden the sound.

   to muffle the strings of a drum, or that part of an oar which rests in the rowlock

3. (transitive) To mute or deaden (a sound etc.).
   • 1999, George RR Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam 2011, p. 397:

     The singer's voice was muffled by the thick walls, yet Tyrion knew the verse.

4. (intransitive, dated) To speak indistinctly, or without clear articulation.
5. (transitive, dated) To prevent seeing, or hearing, or speaking, by wraps bound about the head; to blindfold; to deafen.

Translations