Main definitions of muff in English

: muff¹ muff²

muff¹

See synonyms for muff

Translate muff into Spanish

noun

1A tube made of fur or other warm material into which the hands are placed for warmth.
‘Through Salt Lake City and Middle America womenswear is urban grunge: purple muffs, denim waistcoats, spearmint leather blousons and animals on mohair jumpers.’
- ‘When they got back they hung up their coats, hats and muffs and went to the dining room for luncheon.’
- ‘The traffic in eggs and the demand for breast feathers for ladies' muffs and headgear reduced the bird's numbers to a low ebb.’
- ‘Camille took a dark tweed coat with matching muff and tam from the wardrobe.’
- ‘In the morning of the next day, a girl in a pretty blue winter dress with a fur muff on her hands, came up the garden paths, smiling in pleasure.’
- ‘An alternative to gloves, one that served me extremely well through 14 years of guiding waterfowl hunts, was a hand-warming muff worn around the waist.’
- ‘If Gweneviere's hands were cold, she would simply snuggle them into her mink muff.’
- ‘She looked oddly out of place standing before the uniformed soldiers, attired in quilted jacked and layered winter dress, wearing a fur hat, both hands thrust inside her fur muff.’
- ‘Spent the day writing and the afternoon standing in my overgrown back garden wearing a frilly white skirt and having shots taken of my muff to illustrate a piece about pubes in the first issue of Scarlet.’
- ‘The three male passengers, one older and two young, wore long coats while the young woman wore a bright red fur-lined mantle, sable hat, and muff.’
- ‘Her bony hands were kept in a brown fur muff that completely matched her jacket.’
- ‘The women gaily waved their large muffs in reply.’
- ‘With her fingers inside the thumbless muffs, she couldn't work the snaps, and that was so frustrating!’
- ‘For example, muffs of fox were carried ostentatiously by followers of Charles James Fox.’
- ‘‘Some winter blankets and muffs for the children,’ she said.’
1. 1.1A warm or protective covering for other parts of the body.
  ‘The muffs provide hearing protection with a Noise Reduction Rating of 24 dB.’
  ‘While your customers can get by with foam earplugs or muffs, Bane recommends protection that is more sophisticated.’
  ‘Browning offers Duo Ear Plugs for use on indoor and outdoor ranges as well as a full line of ear muffs, including an electronic muff.’
  ‘There were people in warm, woollen scarves and thick, tall boots, and there were others in large, heavy overcoats and fluffy ear muffs.’
  ‘With the current cold conditions, he will need to replace that considerable growth with a good warm chin muff!’
  ‘The muffs sport low profile cups with soft, foam ear cushions and a unique cut-out shape to reduce stock interference.’
  ‘These muffs allow shooters to clearly hear range commands and conduct normal conversations even at indoor shooting facilities, while protecting their hearing ability from damage.’
  ‘Second, given the cost of guns and ammunition, buyers often tend to avoid additional purchases of shooting glasses, hearing muffs, earplugs, gunlocks and safes.’
  ‘Especially useful are modern electronic muffs and plugs which permit normal sounds to be heard but which filter out sounds that exceed the safe decibel level.’
  ‘This allows shooters to communicate freely and to hear range commands without removing their muffs, thus creating a safer range environment.’
  ‘Active models have either electronic or mechanical components to limit or cancel noise; passive muffs are simply barriers.’
  ‘The muffs feature special, high-density, slow-recovery foam ear cushions that contour to the ear.’
  ‘The muffs have excellent noise attenuation in that they will bring the decibels down to a tolerable level.’
  ‘Least likely to solve your wardrobe problems is the shoulder muff.’
  ‘He described how he had to put muffs on the ears of his three-month-old son to protect him from the awful sound of all-night bombing.’
  ‘I scoffed to myself behind my woolly face muff and kept marching with the Corporate Soldiers.’
2 vulgar slang A woman's genitals.

Pronunciation

muff

/məf/

Origin

Mid 16th century from Dutch mof, Middle Dutch muffel, from medieval Latin muff(u)la, of unknown ultimate origin.

Main definitions of muff in English

: muff¹ muff²

muff²

See synonyms for muff

Translate muff into Spanish

transitive verb

[with object] informal

Handle (a situation, task, or opportunity) clumsily or badly.
- ‘they muffed several of their biggest projects’
- ‘the catcher muffed a perfect throw home’
- ‘If the Liberal Democrats do not make some handsome gains on Thursday, the party is going to have to ask itself whether that opportunity was muffed.’
- ‘The U.S. muffed that opportunity to nip this kind of behavior, so destructive of the global marketplace, in the bud.’
- ‘The Indian defence also looked off-colour and they were lucky not to concede goals as the Pakistani forwards muffed the chances that came their way.’
- ‘A 50 break with four colours left put Hunter on the verge of victory but he muffed his chance.’
- ‘One question had been put to the stutterer who, predictably, had muffed it badly.’
- ‘It would be overkill to repeat how badly the board muffed the Brown Act in 2001.’
- ‘It's the first time the Yanks have adapted a British show and not completely muffed it.’
- ‘Would he stick to inane celebrity banter and cruise through it or would he do a wannabe Jann Wenner or Michael Parkinson job and completely muff it?’
- ‘Rushing to make opening day, they muffed a few choices of venues.’
- ‘I cannot think of a film project more deserving than Lord of the Rings, even if they did muff crucial sections of Tolkien's text.’
- ‘And then I muff a change and we're both choking down the smell of clutch.’
- ‘In general, Dobbin said, if the President completely mangles a sentence it should be noted in the story, but ‘if he's simply muffing the syntax it seems OK to correct it so as not to torture the reader.’’
- ‘He was off-colour during England's opening match against France, which his country lost in the dying seconds of the 93-minute thriller after skipper David Beckham muffed a penalty.’
- ‘Unless I muffed some really basic addition and subtraction it is clear that excluding the Falluja cluster undermines the statements in the Summary, as I said above.’
- ‘Reporters who cover the military without understanding it don't just muff a few basic facts about what kind of soldier carries what kind of gun, or which service does what.’
- ‘As the leader of a party he muffed his own speech today.’
- ‘Dr Brash has had his opportunity to speak today and he muffed it.’
- ‘In several quick sentences, Henninger, who claims to have grown up on rock music, muffs several simple historical facts about rock 'n' roll.’
- ‘And then the guitar proceeds to hammer out the first lick and muffs one of the critical notes: duh-duh-da-da-doink.’
mishandle, mismanage, mess up, make a mess of, bungle, botch
View synonyms

Pronunciation

muff

/məf/

noun

1 informal A mistake or failure, especially a failure to catch or receive a ball cleanly.
- ‘‘The muff by Snodgrass was only one link in a chain of strange events (leading to the Red Sox victory),’ Lieb wrote.’
- ‘While the direction in both films means we get lots of crazy compositions and flawed framing, at least we don't have to sit through scratches, drop out, or editing muffs.’
- ‘As with most shows, bloopers abound in The West Wing, but the Gag Reel presented here is only about a minute of muffs: actors blowing lines and technical malfunctions of the set.’
- ‘So I deserved what happened next a walk, a few muffs, a couple of hits, and before I knew it the score was tied.’
- ‘The Afton club, known for their heavy hitting, took advantage of several muffs by the St. Croix defense and scored three aces in their first.’
1. 1.1mainly British informal, dated A person who is awkward or stupid, especially in relation to a sport or manual skill.