Mute

9 definitions found

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

  Mute \Mute\ (m[=u]t), v. t. [L. mutare to change. See {Molt}.]
     To cast off; to molt.
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           Have I muted all my feathers?            --Beau. & Fl.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mute \Mute\, v. t. & i. [F. mutir, ['e]meutir, OF. esmeltir, fr.
     OD. smelten, prop., to melt. See {Smelt}.]
     To eject the contents of the bowels; -- said of birds. --B.
     Jonson.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mute \Mute\, n.
     The dung of birds. --Hudibras.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mute \Mute\, a. [L. mutus; cf. Gr. my`ein to shut, Skr. m[=u]ta
     bound, m[=u]ka dumb: cf. OE. muet, fr. F. muet, a dim. of OF.
     mu, L. mutus.]
     1. Not speaking; uttering no sound; silent.
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              All the heavenly choir stood mute,
              And silence was in heaven.            --Milton.
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     Note: In law a prisoner is said to stand mute, when, upon
           being arranged, he makes no answer, or does not plead
           directly, or will not put himself on trial.
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     2. Incapable of speaking; dumb. --Dryden.
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     3. Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by
        complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the
        passage of breath; -- said of certain letters. See 5th
        {Mute}, 2.
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     4. Not giving a ringing sound when struck; -- said of a
        metal.
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     {Mute swan} (Zool.), a European wild white swan ({Cygnus
        olor} syn. {Cygnus gibbus}), which produces no loud notes,
        in distinction from the {Trumpeter swan}.
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     Syn: Silent; dumb; speechless.
  
     Usage: {Mute}, {Silent}, {Dumb}. One is silent who does not
            speak; one is dumb who can not, for want of the proper
            organs; as, a dumb beast, etc.; and hence,
            figuratively, we speak of a person as struck dumb with
            astonishment, etc. One is mute who is held back from
            speaking by some special cause; as, he was mute
            through fear; mute astonishment, etc. Such is the case
            with most of those who never speak from childhood;
            they are not ordinarily dumb, but mute because they
            are deaf, and therefore never learn to talk; and hence
            their more appropriate name is deaf-mutes.
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                  They spake not a word;
                  But, like dumb statues, or breathing stones,
                  Gazed each on other.              --Shak.
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                  All sat mute,
                  Pondering the danger with deep thoughts.
                                                    --Milton.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Mute \Mute\, n.
     1. One who does not speak, whether from physical inability,
        unwillingness, or other cause. Specifically:
        (a) One who, from deafness, either congenital or from
            early life, is unable to use articulate language; a
            deaf-mute.
        (b) A person employed by undertakers at a funeral.
        (c) A person whose part in a play does not require him to
            speak.
        (d) Among the Turks, an officer or attendant who is
            selected for his place because he can not speak.
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     2. (Phon.) A letter which represents no sound; a silent
        letter; also, a close articulation; an element of speech
        formed by a position of the mouth organs which stops the
        passage of the breath; as, {p}, {b}, {d}, {k}, {t}.
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     3. (Mus.) A little utensil made of brass, ivory, or other
        material, so formed that it can be fixed in an erect
        position on the bridge of a violin, or similar instrument,
        in order to deaden or soften the tone.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  mute
       adj 1: expressed without speech; especially because words would be
              inappropriate or inadequate; "a mute appeal"; "a
              silent curse"; "best grief is tongueless"- Emily
              Dickinson; "the words stopped at her lips unsounded";
              "unspoken grief"; "choking exasperation and wordless
              shame"- Thomas Wolfe [syn: {tongueless}, {unspoken}, {wordless}]
       2: lacking power of speech [syn: {tongueless}]
       3: unable to speak because of hereditary deafness [syn: {dumb},
           {silent}]
       n 1: a deaf person who is unable to speak [syn: {deaf-mute}, {deaf-and-dumb
            person}]
       2: a device used to soften the tone of a musical instrument
       v : deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping [syn: {muffle},
            {dull}, {damp}, {dampen}, {tone down}]

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

  200 Moby Thesaurus words for "mute":
     abiotic, acoustic tile, allophone, alveolar, anaudic, antiknock,
     aphasic, aphonic, apico-alveolar, apico-dental, articulation,
     aspiration, assimilation, azoic, baffle, baffler, baton, bearer,
     bilabial, bit player, breathless, brief, brusque, cacuminal,
     cerebral, check, close, close-tongued, closemouthed, concise,
     consonant, continuant, curt, cushion, damp, dampen, dampener,
     damper, deaden, deaf-mute, deafen, dental, diapason, diphthong,
     dissimilation, dull, dumb, dumbfounded, dumbstricken, dumbstruck,
     dummy, economical of words, epenthetic vowel, exanimate, explosive,
     extra, figurant, figurante, gag, glide, glottal, glottalization,
     griever, guttural, hush, hushcloth, inanimate, inanimated,
     inarticulate, indisposed to talk, inert, insensate, insensible,
     insentient, keener, labial, labialization, labiodental, labiovelar,
     laconic, lamenter, laryngeal, lateral, lifeless, lingual, liquid,
     manner of articulation, metronome, modification, monochord,
     monophthong, morphophoneme, mourner, muffle, muffler, mum,
     music stand, muzzle, nasal, nonconscious, nonliving, occlusive,
     palatal, pallbearer, parasitic vowel, peak, pharyngeal,
     pharyngealization, phone, phoneme, pitch pipe, plosive,
     professional mourner, prothetic vowel, quiet, quietener, reserved,
     retroflex, rhythmometer, segmental phoneme, semivowel, senseless,
     short, silence, silence cloth, silencer, silent, snug, soft pedal,
     soft-pedal, soften, sonant, sonometer, sonority, sordine, sordino,
     soulless, sound-absorbing material, soundproofing,
     soundproofing insulation, sourdine, sparing of words,
     spear-carrier, speech sound, speechless, stand-in, standby, stick,
     stifle, stop, stricken dumb, subdue, substitute, supe, super,
     supernumerary, support, supporting actor, supporting cast,
     suppress, surd, syllabic nucleus, syllabic peak, syllable, tacit,
     taciturn, terse, tight-lipped, tone down, tone measurer,
     tongue-tied, tongueless, transition sound, triphthong, tuning bar,
     tuning fork, tuning pipe, turn down, unanimated, unconscious,
     understudy, unfeeling, unloquacious, unsaid, unspoken, untalkative,
     velar, vocable, vocalic, vocoid, voice, voiced sound, voiceless,
     voiceless sound, voicing, vowel, walk-on, walking gentleman,
     word-bound, wordless
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MUTE, persons. One who is dumb. Vide Deaf and Dumb.
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MUTE, STANDING MUTE, practice, crim. law. When a prisoner upon his 
  arraignment totally refuses to answer, insists upon mere frivolous 
  pretences, or refuses to put himself upon the country, after pleading not 
  guilty, he is said to stand mute. 
       2. In the case of the United States v. Hare, et al., Circuit Court, 
  Maryland Dist. May sess. 1818, the prisoner standing mute was considered as 
  if he had pleaded not guilty. 
       3. The act of congress of March 3, 1825, 3 Story's L. U. S. 2002, has 
  since provided as follows; Sec. 14, That if any person, upon his or her 
  arraignment upon any indictment before any court of the United States for 
  any offence, not capital, shall stand mute, or will not answer or plead to 
  such indictment, the court shall, notwithstanding, proceed to the trial of 
  the person, so standing mute, or refusing to answer or pleas, as if he or 
  she had pleaded not guilty; and upon a verdict being returned by the jury, 
  may proceed to render judgment accordingly. A similar provision is to be 
  found in the laws of Pennsylvania.  
       4. The barbarous punishment of peine forte et dure which till lately 
  disgraced the criminal code of England, was never known in the United 
  States. Vide Dumb; 15 Vin. Ab. 527. 
       5. When a prisoner stands mute, the laws of England arrive at the 
  forced conclusion that he is guilty, and punish him accordingly. 1 Chit. Cr. 
  Law, 428. 
       6. By the old French law, when a person accused was mute, or stood 
  mute, it was the duty of the judge to appoint him a curator, whose duty it 
  was to defend him, in the best manner he could; and for this purpose, he was 
  allowed to communicate with him privately. Poth. Proced. Crim. s. 4, art. 2, 
  Sec. 1.