Mumble

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mumble \Mum"ble\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Mumbled}; p. pr. & vb. n.
     {Mumbling}.] [OE. momelen; cf. D. mompelen, mommelen, G.
     mummelen, Sw. mumla, Dan. mumle. Cf. {Mum}, a., {Mumm},
     {Mump}, v.]
     1. To speak with the lips partly closed, so as to render the
        sounds inarticulate and imperfect; to utter words in a


        grumbling indistinct manner, indicating discontent or
        displeasure; to mutter.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Peace, you mumbling fool.             --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A wrinkled hag, with age grown double,
              Picking dry sticks, and mumbling to herself.
                                                    --Otway.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To chew something gently with closed lips.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mumble \Mum"ble\ (m[u^]m"b'l), v. t.
     1. To utter with a low, inarticulate voice. --Bp. Hall.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To chew or bite gently, as one without teeth.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Gums unarmed, to mumble meat in vain. --Dryden.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To suppress, or utter imperfectly.
        [1913 Webster] Mumbledy peg

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  mumble
       v 1: talk indistinctly; usually in a low voice [syn: {mutter}, {maunder},
             {mussitate}]
       2: grind with the gums; chew without teeth and with great
          difficulty; "the old man had no teeth left and mumbled his
          food" [syn: {gum}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  122 Moby Thesaurus words for "mumble":
     aspirate, aspiration, bark, bated breath, bawl, bellow, bite,
     blare, blat, blubber, boom, bray, breath, breathe, breathy voice,
     buzz, cackle, champ, chant, chaw, chew, chew the cud, chew up,
     chirp, chomp, coo, crow, drawl, drone, droning, exclaim,
     exhalation, flute, fumble, gabble, gasp, gibber, gibbering, gnash,
     gnaw, grind, growl, grunt, gum, hammer, hiss, jabber, jibber, keen,
     lilt, limp, little voice, low voice, maffle, masticate, maunder,
     maundering, mouth, mouthing, muddle, mumbling, munch, murmur,
     murmuration, murmuring, mussitate, mutter, muttering, nibble, pant,
     pipe, roar, rumble, ruminate, rumor, scream, screech, shriek,
     shuffle, sibilate, sigh, sing, snap, snarl, snort, sob, soft voice,
     speak, speak incoherently, splutter, sputter, squall, squawk,
     squeal, stage whisper, stammer, still small voice, stumble,
     stutter, susurrate, susurration, susurrus, swallow, talk, thunder,
     trumpet, twang, underbreath, undertone, utter, verbalize, vocalize,
     voice, wail, warble, whine, whisper, whispering, yap, yawp, yell,
     yelp
  
  

From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) [jargon]:

  mumble interj. 1. Said when the correct response is too complicated to
     enunciate, or the speaker has not thought it out. Often prefaces a
     longer answer, or indicates a general reluctance to get into a long
     discussion. "Don't you think that we could improve LISP performance by
     using a hybrid reference-count transaction garbage collector, if the
     cache is big enough and there are some extra cache bits for the
     microcode to use?" "Well, mumble ... I'll have to think about it." 2.
     [MIT] Expression of not-quite-articulated agreement, often used as an
     informal vote of consensus in a meeting: "So, shall we dike out the
     COBOL emulation?" "Mumble!" 3. Sometimes used as an expression of
     disagreement (distinguished from sense 2 by tone of voice and other
     cues). "I think we should buy a {VAX}." "Mumble!" Common variant:
     `mumble frotz' (see {frotz}; interestingly, one does not say `mumble
     frobnitz' even though `frotz' is short for `frobnitz'). 4. Yet another
     {metasyntactic variable}, like {foo}. 5. When used as a question
     ("Mumble?") means "I didn't understand you". 6. Sometimes used in
     `public' contexts on-line as a placefiller for things one is barred from
     giving details about. For example, a poster with pre-released hardware
     in his machine might say "Yup, my machine now has an extra 16M of
     memory, thanks to the card I'm testing for Mumbleco." 7. A
     conversational wild card used to designate something one doesn't want to
     bother spelling out, but which can be {glark}ed from context. Compare
     {blurgle}. 8. [XEROX PARC] A colloquialism used to suggest that further
     discussion would be fruitless.
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  mumble
       
          1. Said when the correct response is too complicated to
          enunciate, or the speaker has not thought it out.  Often
          prefaces a longer answer, or indicates a general reluctance to
          get into a long discussion.  "Don't you think that we could
          improve LISP performance by using a hybrid reference-count
          transaction garbage collector, if the cache is big enough and
          there are some extra cache bits for the {microcode} to use?"
          "Well, mumble ... I'll have to think about it."
       
          2. Yet another {metasyntactic variable}, like {foo}.
       
          3. Sometimes used in "public" contexts on-line as a
          placefiller for things one is barred from giving details
          about.  For example, a poster with pre-released hardware in
          his machine might say "Yup, my machine now has an extra 16M of
          memory, thanks to the card I'm testing for Mumbleco."
       
          4. A conversational wild card used to designate something one
          doesn't want to bother spelling out, but which can be
          {glark}ed from context.  Compare {blurgle}.
       
          5. [XEROX PARC] A colloquialism used to suggest that further
          discussion would be fruitless.
       
          (1997-03-27)