muff
See also: Muff
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
Probably from Dutch mof (“muff, mitten”).
Noun edit
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) Female pubic hair; female genitals (vulva, vagina), like muffin. See 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 edit
- whiskers, beard, muff and beard (bird feathers):
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
a piece of fur or cloth for keeping the hands warm
|
pubic hair
a blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet
a short hollow cylinder surrounding an object such as a pipe
References edit
- “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 edit
Unknown; perhaps a specialised use of Etymology 1, above; or perhaps related to Dutch muffen (“to dote”) and German muffen (“to sulk”).
Noun edit
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 edit
Verb edit
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 edit
by extension, to mishandle any situation
Etymology 3 edit
Shortening.
Noun edit
muff (plural muffs)
German edit
Pronunciation edit
Verb edit
muff
Hungarian edit
Etymology edit
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 edit
Noun edit
muff (plural muffok)
Declension edit
| 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 edit
- 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 edit
Etymology edit
From German Muffe, a Low German subform of Muff.
Noun edit
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 edit
| Declension of muff | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
| Nominative | muff | muffen | muffar | muffarna |
| Genitive | muffs | muffens | muffars | muffarnas |
Derived terms edit
- rattmuff (“steering wheel cover made of fabric”)