muff
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Probably from Dutch mof (“muff, mitten”).
Noun
muff (plural muffs)
- (historical) A piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm.
- 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
- 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.
- (vulgar, slang) The vulva or vagina; pubic hair around it.
- Synonyms: muffin; see also Thesaurus:vagina
- (by extension, vulgar, slang) A woman or girl.
- (glassblowing) 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.
Synonyms
- whiskers, beard, muff and beard (bird feathers):
Derived terms
Translations
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References
- “muff, n.1.”, in OED Online , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
- “muff”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Etymology 2
Unknown; perhaps a specialised use of Etymology 1, above; or perhaps related to Dutch muffen (“to dote”) and German muffen (“to sulk”).
Noun
muff (plural muffs)
- (colloquial) A fool, a stupid or poor-spirited person. [from 19th c.]
- 1860, William Makepeace Thackeray, Lovel the Widower:
- 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?
- (slang, chiefly sports) An error, a mistake; a failure to hold a ball when once in the hands. [from 19th c.]
- A bird, the whitethroat.
Translations
Verb
muff (third-person singular simple present muffs, present participle muffing, simple past and past participle muffed)
- (sports) To drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc.); to play badly. [from 19th c.]
- To mishandle; to bungle. [from 1920s]
- 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 69:
- 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.
Translations
Etymology 3
Shortening.
Noun
muff (plural muffs)
- (slang) A muffin.
- 2010, Lindsay G. Arthur, The Litigators, page 63:
- Skinny lattes and a couple of blueberry muffs.
German
Pronunciation
Verb
muff
Hungarian
Etymology
From German Muff, from Dutch mof ("muff"), from Middle Dutch moffel, from Middle French moufle ("mitten"), from Medieval Latin muffula ("fur-lined glove"), of unknown origin.
Pronunciation
Noun
muff (plural muffok)
Declension
Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony) | ||
---|---|---|
singular | plural | |
nominative | muff | muffok |
accusative | muffot | muffokat |
dative | muffnak | muffoknak |
instrumental | muffal | muffokkal |
causal-final | muffért | muffokért |
translative | muffá | muffokká |
terminative | muffig | muffokig |
essive-formal | muffként | muffokként |
essive-modal | — | — |
inessive | muffban | muffokban |
superessive | muffon | muffokon |
adessive | muffnál | muffoknál |
illative | muffba | muffokba |
sublative | muffra | muffokra |
allative | muffhoz | muffokhoz |
elative | muffból | muffokból |
delative | muffról | muffokról |
ablative | mufftól | muffoktól |
non-attributive possessive - singular |
muffé | muffoké |
non-attributive possessive - plural |
mufféi | muffokéi |
Possessive forms of muff | ||
---|---|---|
possessor | single possession | multiple possessions |
1st person sing. | muffom | muffjaim |
2nd person sing. | muffod | muffjaid |
3rd person sing. | muffja | muffjai |
1st person plural | muffunk | muffjaink |
2nd person plural | muffotok | muffjaitok |
3rd person plural | muffjuk | muffjaik |
Further reading
- muff in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh. A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (‘The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’, abbr.: ÉrtSz.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN
Swedish
Etymology
From German Muffe, a Low German subform of Muff.
Noun
muff c
- a muff (for keeping hands warm)
- a sleeve ((tubular) covering or lining, e.g. for connecting pipes)
- (slang) muff (female pubic hair, female genitalia)
Declension
Declension of muff | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | muff | muffen | muffar | muffarna |
Genitive | muffs | muffens | muffars | muffarnas |
Derived terms
- rattmuff (“steering wheel cover made of fabric”)
References
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/ʌf
- Rhymes:English/ʌf/1 syllable
- English terms derived from Dutch
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with historical senses
- English terms with quotations
- English vulgarities
- English slang
- en:Glassblowing
- English terms with unknown etymologies
- English colloquialisms
- en:Sports
- English verbs
- en:Genitalia
- en:Hair
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio links
- German non-lemma forms
- German verb forms
- German colloquialisms
- Hungarian terms derived from German
- Hungarian terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Hungarian/ufː
- Rhymes:Hungarian/ufː/1 syllable
- Hungarian lemmas
- Hungarian nouns
- Hungarian terms with archaic senses
- Hungarian slang
- hu:Clothing
- Swedish terms borrowed from German
- Swedish terms derived from German
- Swedish terms derived from Low German
- Swedish lemmas
- Swedish nouns
- Swedish common-gender nouns
- Swedish slang