Law. (of a person who has been arraigned) making no plea or giving an irrelevant response when arraigned, or refusing to stand trial (used chiefly in the phrase to stand mute).
Fox Hunting. (of a hound) hunting a line without giving tongue or cry.
noun
Offensive. a person incapable of speech.
an actor whose part is confined to dumb show.
Law. a person who stands mute when arraigned.
Also called sordino. a mechanical device of various shapes and materials for muffling the tone of a musical instrument.
Phonetics. a stop.
BritishObsolete. a hired mourner at a funeral; a professional mourner.
verb (used with object),mut·ed,mut·ing.
to deaden or muffle the sound of.
to reduce the intensity of (a color) by the addition of another color.
lawa person who refuses to plead when arraigned on indictment for an offence
any of various devices used to soften the tone of stringed or brass instruments
phoneticsa plosive consonant; stop
a silent letter
an actor in a dumb show
a hired mourner at a funeral
verb(tr)
to reduce the volume of (a musical instrument) by means of a mute, soft pedal, etc
to subdue the strength of (a colour, tone, lighting, etc)
Derived Formsmutely, adverbmuteness, noun
Word Origin for mute
C14: muwet from Old French mu, from Latin mūtus silent
usage
Using this word to refer to people without speech is considered outdated and offensive and should be avoided. The phrase profoundly deaf is a suitable alternative in many contexts
mute
2
verb
(of birds) to discharge (faeces)
noun
birds' faeces
Word Origin for mute
C15: from Old French meutir, variant of esmeltir, of Germanic origin; probably related to smelt1 and melt
late 14c., mewet "silent," from Old French muet "dumb, mute" (12c.), diminutive of mut, mo, from Latin mutus "silent, speechless, dumb," probably from imitative base *meue- (cf. Sanskrit mukah "dumb," Greek myein "to be shut," of the mouth). Form assimilated in 16c. to Latin mutus.
mute
v.
"deaden the sound of," 1861, from mute (n.). Related: Muted; muting.
mute
n.
1570s, "stage actor in a dumb show;" 1610s as "person who does not speak," from mute (adj.). Musical sense first recorded 1811 of stringed instruments, 1841, of horns.
