muff
UK/mʌf/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/mɐf/
muff noun: a piece of fur or cloth, usually open at both ends, used to keep the hands warm.
Noun (1)
muff (plural muffs)
- A piece of fur or cloth, usually open at both ends, used to keep the hands warm.
- Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
- The vulva or vagina; pubic hair around it.
- .
- Synonyms:
- muffin, axe wound, bearded clam, beaver, berk, bonne bouche, box, bun, bush, cavern
- A woman or girl.
- A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
- The feathers sticking out from both sides of the face under the beak of some birds.
- A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object such as a pipe.
Noun (2)
muff (plural muffs)
- A fool, a stupid or poor-spirited person.
- Can you fancy that such an old creature (an old muff, as you call him, you wicked, satirical man!) could ever make en impression on my heart?1860, William Makepeace Thackeray, Lovel the Widower
- […]being good is so much like being a muff, generally.1901, E. Nesbit, The Wouldbegoods
- An error, a mistake; a failure to hold a ball when once in the hands.
- A bird, the whitethroat.
Verb
muff (third-person singular simple present muffs, present participle muffing, simple past and past participle muffed)
- To drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc.); to play badly.
- To mishandle; to bungle.
- But then, supposing this was the real sign? … They had muffed three already; they daren’t muff the fourth.1953, C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair
- Here was the superlative opportunity to make a generous and lasting settlement from a position of strength; but the pieds noirs, like the Israelis, and from not altogether dissimilar motives, were to muff it.1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 69
Noun (3)
muff (plural muffs)
- A muffin.
- Skinny lattes and a couple of blueberry muffs.2010, Lindsay G. Arthur, The Litigators, page 63
- A term of endearment.
- “They’re^([sic]) ARE thinking how sexy you look, Muff”. She heard it as plain as day. She turned, half expecting to see her Jim grinning at her. […] “Oh James!” Marsha smiled, […]1996 October 13, JD, “Restless Pt. 2”, in alt.sex.stories (Usenet), archived from the original on 13 Apr 2026
- Darien started lovin' her. "Oh yes, please more Muffin." Serena licked her lips. […] "OH YOUR^([sic]) MY MINX." "AND YOUR MY MUFF."2000 April 2, Minaka Dee Delight, “Here's a Hentai Fanfiction”, in alt.hentai.sailor-moon (Usenet), archived from the original on 13 Apr 2026
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Muff
Muff (plural Muffs)
- A surname.
- A diminutive of the female given name Myfanwy.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Muff
Muff
- A village in County Donegal, Ireland.
- An unincorporated community in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States.
muff meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam
muff in Tamil
- அறிவிலி, குளறுபடிசெய், குழப்புநர், பேதை, மட்டி, முட்டாள்
muff in Bengali
- আনাড়ি ব্যক্তি, তালগোল পাকানো
muff in Malayalam
- mismanage, mishandle, mess up
- അബദ്ധം കാട്ടുക, കെടുകാര്യം ചെയ്യുക, അസമർത്ഥമായി കെൊര്യം ചെയ്യുക, ക്രമരഹിതമായി പ്രവർത്തിക്കുക, വഴുതിപ്പോവുക, കുഴപ്പത്തിലാക്കുക
Synonyms of muff
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of muff
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | muffs |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | muffs |
| present participle | muffing |
| past participle | muffed |
| past | muffed |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Muffs |
Origin of muff
Probably from Dutch mof (“muff, mitten”).
Unknown; perhaps a specialised use of Etymology 1, above; or perhaps related to Dutch muffen (“to dote”) and German muffen (“to sulk”).
Clipping of muffin.
Words formed from muff
Phrases with muff
Words that rhyme with muff
Questions about muff
- What does muff mean?
- Muff means a piece of fur or cloth, usually open at both ends, used to keep the hands warm.
- What is muff in Tamil?
- Muff in Tamil is அறிவிலி, குளறுபடிசெய், குழப்புநர். See Muff meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is muff?
- Muff can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce muff?
- Muff is pronounced /mʌf/ (UK).
- What is the plural of muff?
- The plural of muff is muffs.
Words near muff in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: muff (page history and authors); Muff (page history and authors); muff (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); muff (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); muff (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-muff.ogg.
Cite this entry: “muff.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/muff. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.