mute 
mute 1 (mut), a. and . [< ME. meat, mewet, < 
F. miiet = Sp. Pg. mudo = It. >to, < L. mutnx. 
dumb; cf. Skt. miika, dumb; appar. < mu, L. 
niu, Gr. uv, a sound uttered with closed lips: 
see mum'-, etc.] I. a. 1. Silent; not speaking; 
not uttering words. 
Whan thei were alle to-geder, thei were alle stille and 
mewet as though thei hadde be dombe. 
Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 172. 
3914 
mute 2 t (mut), r. [Also meute (and moult, molt, 
wont), < L. mutare, change, contr. of *movitare, 
freq. of movere, move: see move. Cf. molft, 
mew 3 ."] I. intrans. To change the feathers; 
mew ; molt, as a bird. 
II. trans. To shed; molt, as feathers. 
Not one of my dragon's wings left to adorn me! 
Have I muted all my feathers ? 
Fletcher and Shirley, Night- Walker, iv. 4. 
But I was mute for want of person I could converse with, mute 3 
Dampier, Voyages, II. i. 100. 
2. Incapable of utterance; not having the 
power of speech ; dumb ; hence, done, made, 
etc., without speech or sound. 
With mute caresses shall declare 
The tenderness they cannot speak. 
Bryant, Crowded Street. 
He felt that mule appeal of tears. 
WhMier, Witch's Daughter. 
3. In gram, and philol. : (a) Silent; not pro- 
nounced: as, the b in dumb is mute. (6) Involv- 
ing a complete closure of the mouth-organs in 
utterance : said of certain alphabetic sounds : 
see II., 2. 4. In mineral., applied to metals 
which do not ring when struck. 5. In entom., 
not emitting audible sounds : opposed to sonant, 
stridulating, shrilling, etc. : said of insects. 6. 
Showing no sign ; devoid; destitute. [Bare.] 
I came into a place mute of all light. 
Longfellow, tr. of Dante's Inferno, v. 28. 
In mutet, to one's self ; inwardly. 
to mewet spake I so that nought asterte 
By no condicion, worde that might be Irani, '. 
Court of Love, 1. 148. 
Mute swan, the European Cygnus olor.To Stand mute, 
in law, to make no response when arraigned and called on 
to answer or plead. 
Regularly, a prisoner is said to stand mute when, being 
arraigned for treason or felony, he either (1) makes no an- 
swer at all ; or (2) answers foreign to the purpose, or with 
such matter as is not allowable, and will not answer other- 
wise ; or (3), upon having pleaded not guilty, refuses to 
put himself upon the country. Blacketone, Com., IV. xxv. 
= 8yn. 1 and 2. Dumb, etc. See silent. 
II. n. 1. A person who is -speechless or 
silent; one who does not speak, from physical 
inability, unwillingness, forbearance, obliga- 
tion, etc. (a) A dumb person ; one unable to use articu- 
late speech from some infirmity, either congenital or ac- 
quired, as from deafness ; a deaf-mute. (6) A hired atten- 
dant at a funeral. 
The hatchment must be put up, and mutes must be 
stationed at intervals from the hall door to the top of the 
stairs. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, I. 47. 
(c) In some Eastern countries, a dumb porter or door- 
keeper, usually one who has been deprived of speech. 
Either our history shall with full mouth 
Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave, 
Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth, 
Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph. 
SAa*., Hen. V., i. 2. 232. 
(d) In theaters, one whose part is confined to dumb-show ; 
also, a spectator ; a looker-on. 
Yon that look pale and tremble at this chance, 
That are but mutes or audience to this act. 
Shak., Hamlet, v. 2. 845. 
(e) In law, a person who makes no response when ar- 
raigned and called on to plead or answer. 
To the Indictment here upon he [John Biddle] prays 
Council might be allowed him to plead the illegality of it ; 
which being denied him by the Judges, and the Sentence of 
a mute threatened, he at length gave into Court his Excep- 
tions ingrossed in Parchment. 
Wood, Athenas Oxon., II. 304. 
2. In gram, and philol., an alphabetic utter- 
ance involving a complete closure of the mouth- 
organs; a cheek; a stop; an explosive. The 
name is especially appropriate as applied to the surd or 
breathed consonants, (, p, k, since these involve a momen- 
tary suspension of utterance, no audible sound being pro- 
duced during the continuance of the closure, whose char- 
acter is shown only by its explosion upon a following 
sound, or, much more imperfectly, by its implosion upon 
a preceding sound ; but it is also commonly given to the 
corresponding sonant or voiced consonants, d, b, g, and 
even to the nasals, n, m, ng. 
3. In music: (a) In stringed musical instru- 
ments of the viol family, a clip or weight of 
brass, wood, or ivory that can be slipped over 
the bridge so as to deaden the resonance with- 
out touching the strings; a sordino. (6) In met- 
al wind-instruments, a pear-shaped leathern 
pad which can be inserted into the bell to 
check the emission of the tone. 
mute 1 (mut), v. t.; pret. and pp. muted, ppr. 
muting. [< mute*-, n."] I. In music, to deaden 
or muffle the sound of, as an instrument. See 
mute' 1 -, n., 3. 
Beethoven mutes the strings of the orchestra in the slow 
movement of his 3rd and 6th P. F. Concertos. 
Grove's Diet. Music, II. 439. 
Her voice wa: musically thrilling in that low muted 
tone of the very heart, impossible to deride or disbelieve. 
G. Meredith, The Egoist, xxxv. 
2. To check fermentation in. See mutage. 
i 3 (mut), n. [Formerly also meute; < ME. 
mute, *meute, < OF. muete, meute, mute, an in- 
iitti'Vt/, y/tcttte, \ vy-L . HtitcM;, NWWWI *) o" 
closure for hawks, a mew, also a kennel for 
hounds, the lodge of a beast (as the form of a 
hare, etc.), a shift or change of hounds, a pack 
of hounds, = It. muta, a shift of hounds, a pack 
of hounds, < ML. muta, a mew, mota (after 
Rom.), a pack of hounds, etc.; the same in 
form as OF. muete, meute, ML. mota, a mili- 
tary rising, expedition, revolt, sedition, etc., < 
ML. muta, a change, < L. mutare, change, and 
ult. < L. movere, pp. motus, move: see mute 2 
and mew 3 .} 1. A mew for hawks. 
The cloisters became the camps of their retainers, the 
stables of their coursers, the kennels of their hounds, the 
meutes of their hawks. ililman. 
2f. A pack of hounds. 
Thenne watz hit lif vpon list to lytheu the houndez, 
When alle the mute hade hym met. 
Sir Oau-ayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1720. 
3f. The cry of hounds. 
Hit watz the myriest mute that euer men herde. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 1915. 
mute* (mut), V. ; pret. and pp. muted, ppr. 
muting. [< ME. mitten, mueten, < OF. mutir, 
esmeutir, esmeltir, F. emeutir = It. smaltare, 
mute, dung, < OHG. smelzan, MHG. smelzen, 
G. schmelzen = MD. smelten, smilten, smelt, 
liquefy : see smelt.} I. intrans. To pass excre- 
ment : said of birds. 
For you, Jacke, I would have you imploy your time, till 
my comming, in watching what houre of the day my hawke 
mutes. Return from Parnassus (1606). (Nares.) 
I could not fright the crows 
Or the least bird from muting on my head. 
B. Jonson. 
II. trans. To void, as dung: said of birds. 
Mine eyes being open, the sparrows muted warm dung 
into mine eyes. Toblt li. 10. 
mute 4 (mut), n. [< Mittie*, t).] The dung of 
fowls. 
And nigh an ancient obelisk 
Was raised by him, found out by Fisk, 
On which was written, not in words, 
But hieroglyphic mute of birds, 
Many rare pithy saws. > 
S. Butler, Hudibras, II. iii. 400. 
mute 5 (mut), n. [Origin obscure.] See the quo- 
tation. [Prov. Eng.] 
A mule of the male kind out of a she-ass by a horse, 
though some will have it that a mule so bred is termed 
a mute without reference to sex. HaUiwell. 
mute-Milt, " An obsolete form of moot-hill. 
mutely (mut'li), adv. In a mute manner; si- 
lently ; without uttering words or sounds. 
muteness (mut'nes), . The state of being 
mute; dumbness; forbearance from speaking, 
or inability to speak. 
muti (mo'ti), n. [Appar. < Hind, muth, Prakrit 
mutthi, fish, hand.] A small Indian falcon, 
Microliierax ccerulescens, carried in the hand in 
falconry. 
mutic (mu'tik), a. [< OL. muticus, curtailed: 
see mutieous."] Same as mutieous, 2. 
Mutica (mu'ti-ka), n.pl. [NL., neut. pi. of OL. 
muticus, curtailed : see niuticbus.'] One of the 
divisions of the Entomophaaa, or insectivorous 
Edentata, established for the reception of the 
South American ant-eaters of the genera Myr- 
mecopJtaga and Cyclothurus. 
mutieous (mu'ti-kus), a. [< OL. muticus, cur- 
tailed, docked; cf. L. mutilus, maimed : see mu- 
tilate.] 1. In bot., without any pointed process 
or awn: opposed to mucronate, cuspidate, aris- 
ta te, and the like. 2. In ro67., unarmed, as a 
digit not provided with a claw, the shank of a 
bird not furnished with a spur, or the jaw of a 
mammal without teeth: opposed to unguiculate, 
calcarate,' dentate, etc. Also mutic. 
mutigigella (mu"ti-ji-jel'a), n. [NL., from a 
native name (f).] The Abyssinian ichneumon, 
Herpestes mutigigella. 
Mutilatat (mii-ti-la'ta), n.pl. [NL., neut. pi. 
of L. mutilatus, pp. of mutilare, mutilate: see 
mutilate.'] An old division of mammals formed 
for those which have no hind limbs, as the ce- 
taceans and sirenians. 
mutilate (mu'ti-lat), v. t.; pret. and pp. muti- 
lated, ppr, mutilating. [< L. mntilatus, pp. of 
Mutilla 
mutilare (> It. mutilare = Sp. Pg. mutilar = 
F. mutiler), maim, < mutilus, maimed; cf. Gr. 
fiirv'Aof, /tiiTUof, curtailed.] 1. To cut off a 
limb or any important part of; deprive of any 
characteristic member, feature, or appurte- 
nance, so as to disfigure; maim: as, to mutilate 
a body or a statue ; to mutilate a tree or a pic- 
ture. 
Oonsalvo was affected even to tears at beholding the 
mutilated remains of his young and gallant adversary. 
Prescott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 12. 
Of the nine pillars of the upper verandah only two re- 
main standing, and these much mutilated, while all the six 
of the lower storey have perished. 
J. Feryusson, Hist. Indian Arch., p. 141. 
2. Figuratively, to excise, erase, or expunge 
any important part from, so as to render in- 
complete or imperfect, as a record or a poem. 
As I haue declared you before in my preface, I will not 
in any worde wyllinglye mangle or mutilate that honour- 
able man's worke. Sir T. More, Works, p. 1291. 
Among the mutilated poets of antiquity, there is none 
whose fragments are so beautiful as those of Sappho. 
Addison. 
= Syn. 1. Mutilate, Maim, Cripple, Mangle, Diifgure. 
Mutilate emphasizes the injury to completeness and to 
beauty : as, to mutilate a statue. Maim and cripple note 
the injury to the use of the members of the body, maim 
suggesting perhaps more of unsightliness, pain, and actual 
loss of members, and cripple more directly emphasizing 
the diminished power of action : as, crippled in the left arm. 
Manyle expresses a badly hacked or torn condition : as, 
a mangled finger or arm. Disfigure covers simply such 
changes of the external form as injure its appearance or 
beauty : one may be fearfully mangled in battle, so as to 
be disfigured for life, and yet finally escape being mutilat- 
ed or maimed, or even crippled. 2. Mutilate, Garble, Mis- 
quote. To mutilate is to take parts of a thing, so as to 
leave it imperfect or incomplete ; to garble is to take parts 
of a thing in such a way as to make them convey a false 
impression ; to misquote is to quote incorrectly, whether 
intentionally or not : as, to mutilate a hymn ; to garble a 
passage from an official report ; to garble another's words ; 
to minyuote a text of Scripture. Garble has completely lost 
its primary meaning. 
mutilate (mu'ti-lat), a. and . [= F. inutile 
= Pg. mutilado = It. mutilate, < L. mutilatus, 
pp. of mutilare: see mutilate, v."] I. a. If. Same 
as mutilated,. 
He ... caused him to be ... shamefully mutulate. 
Sir T. Elyot, The Governour, iii. 6. 
Cripples, mutilate in then- own persons, do come out per- 
fect in their generations. Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vli. 2. 
2. Specifically, deprived of hind limbs, as a 
cetacean or a sirenian. See Mutilata. 
II. n. A member of the Mutilata; a cetacean 
or a sirenian. 
mutilated (mu'ti-la-ted), p. a. [< mutilate + 
-erf 2 .] 1. Deprived of some important or char- 
acteristic part. 2. In entom., cut short ; great- 
ly abbreviated Mutilated elytra or wine-cov- 
ers, those elytra or wing-covers which are so short as to 
appear aborted, as in some Orthoptera and Coleoptera. 
Mutilated wheel, in mach., 
a form of gearing consisting 
of a wheel from a part of the 
perimeter of which the cogs 
are removed, usually em- 
ployed to impart an inter- 
mittent motion to other cog- 
wheels, or a reciprocating 
motion to a rack-bar. E. H. 
Knight. 
mutilation (mu-ti-la'- 
shon), n. [< F. mutila- 
tion = Sp. mutilacion = 
Pg. mutilayao = It. mu- 
tilazione, < LL. mutila- 
tio(n-), < L. mutilare. Forms of Mutilated Gearing. 
mutilate: nee mutilate.) 
The act of mutilating, or the state of being 
mutilated; deprivation of a necessary or im- 
portant part, as a limb. 
Mutilations are not transmitted from father unto son. 
Sir T. Browne, Vulg. Err., vii. 2. 
The loss or mutilation of an able man is also a loss to 
the commonweal. Raleigh, Hist. World, V. iii. 2. 
The laws against mutilation of cattle laws really di- 
rected against the damage done to a beast which in a per- 
fect state was the general medium of exchange ... 
prove that such a mode of payment was still common in 
the opening of the eighth century in Wessex. 
J. R. Green, Conq. of Eng., p. 218. 
mutilator (mu'ti-la-tpr), M. [< F. mutilateur = 
Pg. mutilador = It. mutilatore, < L. as if *mu- 
tilator, < mutilare, mutilate: see mutilate.] One 
who mutilates. 
The ban of excommunication was issued against the Ex- 
arch [Eutychius of Ravenna], the odious mutilator and de- 
stroyer of those holy memorials. 
Milman, Latin Christianity, iv. 9. 
Mutilla (mu-til'ii), n. [NL. (Linna>us, 1758).] 
The typical genus of Mutillida, characterized 
by the simple antennae of both sexes, and the 
ovate eyes, more or less acutely emarginate in 
the male. It is a very large and wide-spread genus, 
