Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Muff |
MuffNoun1. A warm tubular covering for the hands. 2. Dropping the ball (in baseball or football). Verb1. Fail to catch, as of a ball. 2. Make a mess of, destroy or ruin. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "muff" was first used: 1599. (references) |
Note: Muff \Muff\, transitive verb. [imperfect & past participle. Muffed; Muffing.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | To dream of wearing a muff, denotes that you will be well provided for against the vicissitudes of fortune. For a lover to see his sweetheart wearing a muff, denotes that a worthier man will usurp his place in her affections. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Muff (A). A dull, stupid person. Sir Henry Muff, one of the candidates in Dudley's interlude, called The Rival Candidates (1774), is a stupid, blundering dolt. He is not only unsuccessful in his election, but he finds that his daughter has engaged herself during his absence. Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Slang | Verb, noun. Source: Originally was the name of a game played with a hacky-sack that was similar to the game "horse" that is played with a basket-ball. Definition: To mess up, to make a mistake. Context: Used to indicated that a group member has done something wrong, or taken a wrong action and thus made a fool of himself. Social Source: Nerds in Lake Oswego. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Slang in 1811 | MUFF. The private parts of a woman. To the well wearing of your muff, mort; to the happy consummation of your marriage, girl; a health. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Synonyms: MuffSynonyms: fumble (n), ball up (v), blow (v), bobble (v), bollix (v), bollix up (v), bollocks (v), bollocks up (v), botch (v), botch up (v), bumble (v), bungle (v), flub (v), fluff (v), foul up (v), fuck up (v), louse up (v), mess up (v), mishandle (v), muck up (v), screw up (v), spoil (v). (additional references) |
| Synonyms by domain: muffing (european union, industry). |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Bungler | No conjurer, flat, muff, slow coach, looby, lubber, swab; clod, yokel, awkward squad, blanc-bec; galoot. |
Impotence | Cripple, old woman, muff, powder puff, creampuff, wimp, mollycoddle; eunuch. |
Woman | Sissy, betty, cot betty, cotquean, henhussy, mollycoddle, muff, old woman. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Muff |
| English words defined with "muff": Muffed, Muffetee, Muffing. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "muff": rotating chuck. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "muff": Muffish. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Muff" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. German (fustiness, mildew, muff, mustiness), Hungarian (mink, muff, wool), Swedish (muff, sleeve). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Two degrees colder, me without my muff. (Good Morning, Vietnam; writing credit: Mitch Markowitz) I got the muff punt (Roadracers; writing credit: Robert Rodriguez; Tommy Nix) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Young Muff 14 (2002) Ebony Muff Divers (1998) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Servant conversing with seated woman in muff reading by fireplace. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Eleanor Robson Belmont, three-quarter length portrait in hat and fur muff. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | He put a little Saxony figure on the mantel, holding a muff over her naked belly |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Muff" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 64.00% of the time. "Muff" is used about 25 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 64% | 16 | 87,710 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 20% | 5 | 157,705 |
| Noun (proper) | 12% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 4% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 25 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "muff" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Muff | Last name | 1,000 | 14,809 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
Expressions using "muff": ear muff ♦ foot muff ♦ muff a catch ♦ muff it. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
muff | 1,087 | lesbian muff | 12 |
muff diving | 474 | free muff diving | 12 |
muff diver | 154 | muff shot | 12 |
hairy muff | 107 | graham muff | 12 |
ear muff | 91 | muff diving movie | 11 |
muff dive | 52 | muff rate | 11 |
big muff | 31 | young muff | 11 |
mature muff | 24 | bare muff | 11 |
free muff diving pic | 23 | furry muff | 11 |
free muff | 22 | gallery muff | 10 |
lesbian muff diving | 22 | muff diving gallery | 10 |
miss mob muff muffy | 21 | muff eating | 10 |
muff diving pic | 20 | hunter muff | 10 |
teen muff | 19 | muff munchers | 9 |
radio ear muff | 17 | massive muff | 9 |
shaved muff | 16 | big muff pi | 9 |
graham mac muff | 16 | electronic ear muff | 9 |
muff pic | 15 | muff lickers | 8 |
action diving hot muff | 13 | wet muff | 8 |
muff xxx | 13 | hot muff | 8 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "muff"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | manshon, ngathtësi (angularity, atony, awkwardness, backwardness, clumsiness, torpor), katranisje, këllëf gëzofi për duart, i paaftë (bumbling, disabled, guiltless, helpless, impaired, impotent, inapt, incapable, incompetent, inefficient, inept, spado, unable, unskilful, weak), budalla (anserine, anserous, asinine, ass, blunderhead, booby, brainless, cabbage-head, chuckle-head, clod, cloddish, clod-poll, cockeyed, daft, dense, Dick, dim witted, dimwit, dumb, dumbbell, fathead, fool, gaby, gaga, goof, goofy, goon, Goosey, gowk, half wit, idiot, idle-headed, imbecile, jobbernowl, jolterhead, josser, juggins, loon, mindless, moke, mutton head, mutton-headed, nerd, nincompoop, ninny, ninny-hammer, nitwit, noddy, noodle, numskull, nut, owl, pin head, pumpkin-head, sheep's head, silly, slow witted, softhead, soft-headed, softy, spoony, stupid, tomfool, tom-noddy, witless). (various references) | |
Arabic | عمل بغير براعة (boggle, tinker), الموفة غطاء أنبوبي مكسو بالفراء, أداء غير بارع, شخص قليل البراعة. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | сбърквам (be wrong, go amiss, mistake, slip up, step off), грешка (blooper, blunder, boss, break, defect, demerit, dereliction, error, fault, inaccuracy, inexactitude, lapse, misdoing, misstep, mistake, slip up, slipping, snafu), обърквам (abash, addle, baffle, bedevil, befuddle, bewilder, complicate, confound, confuse, discomfit, disconcert, disjoint, dislocate, distract, embarrass, embroil, flatten, flummox, fluster, foil, fuddle, gravel, jumble, maze, mess about, mess around, mess up, muddle, muss, nonplus, obfuscate, overwhelm, perplex, pose, put off, put out, puzzle, sew up, snarl, stonker, throw out, tumble, vex, wilder), оплесквам (besmear, dash, dub, foozle, foul up, hash, louse up, make a mess, make sad work of, mess, muddle, screw up, slobber, spatter, splash, sully), несръчен човек (gawk), непрактичен човек, не улучвам, забърквам (baffle, complicate, embroil, involve, mix up, perplex, snarl up, tangle), изпускам (elide, emit, exhale, exhaust, exude, give off, heave, leave out, let fall, let out, lose, omit, ooze, pour, put forth, quit, release, run, shoot, throw out, utter, vent). (various references) | |
Chinese | 笨拙的人. (various references) | |
Czech | zpackat (bitch up, Bumble, bungle, foul up, goof up, screw up), rukávník, nemotora (gawk, lubber, lump), nemehlo (bumpkin), hudlařit. (various references) | |
Danish | muffe (bell, boot, bushing, collar, dog, hub, nipple, sleeve, sliding dog, socket). (various references) | |
Dutch | mof (electric socket), wikkel (wrapper). (various references) | |
Farsi | ناشی (Awkward, Gauche, Ill, Jackleg, Laity, Maladroit, Rube, Unperfect), خیطی بالااوردن , دست پوش , دست گرم کن , بدبازیکن . (various references) | |
Finnish | muhvi (bell, coupling, forming tube, hub, pipe coupling, sleeve, socket). (various references) | |
French | manchon. (various references) | |
German | muff (fustiness, mildew, mustiness), verpatzen (fault, make a mess of, mess up, mull, snafu, spoil, to crabUS, to muff, to mull, to snafu). (various references) | |
Greek | μανσόν. (various references) | |
Hebrew | מעטפת (casing, cloak, mantle), לקלקל (blight, break down, bungle, foul up, louse, spoil, vitiate), לפספס (botch, crumb, lose, miss the target, separate), ל"תרשל (be negligent, neglect, slack), ל"חטיא (misfire), לא יצלח (dud, duffer, good for nothing, unfit, wastrel), שלומיאל (good for nothing, worthless person). (various references) | |
Hungarian | muff (mink, wool), balek (angel, dupe, gull, jay, lamb, muggins, pigeon, pushover, sap, softy, sucker), pali (cod, cove, gent, gull, jay, jock, mug, pigeon, pushover, sucker), mellérúgás, melléfogás (blunder, blundering, boner, side dish, slip up, trip), melléütés, mamlasz (chuckle-head, Cully, daw, fat-head, feather brain, featherbrain, feather-head, fumbler, gawk, geese, goose, noodle, numb-skull, numskull, oaf, simple sammy, simpleton, softie, softy, spoon), mafla (boob, booby, doltish, sheepish), karmantyú (cuff, cup, sleeve, socket), kapcsolóhüvely (busing), balfogás, balfasz (fumbler, half-assed, jerk, mug, screw-up), balfácán (dildo, fumbler, jerk, klutz, punk, sad sack, sap, screw-up, twit), ügyetlen alak (buffer), élhetetlen alak (sad sack, wash-out). (various references) | |
Italian | manicotto (coupling, sleeve). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | マネーフロー分析 (kind of bicycle favored by housewives running errands around their neighborhood, mafia, maharaja, Mahatma, mahogany, Mahomet, malaria, Malibu, Mama, management, manager, mannequin, mannequin girl, manometer, maracas, maraschino, marathon, Maya, mayonnaise, monetarism, money laundering, money market, money-flow analysis, moneymaker, muffin, muffler, scarf). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | マフ . (various references) | |
Korean | 머". (various references) | |
Manx | muffey, milley (blemish, blemish as work, blur, blur as vision, botch, corrupt, corruption, debauch; marring, deflower, despoil, despoliation; thousand, disfigure, disfigurement, impair, impairment, mar, murder, ruin, spoil, spoiling, tarnish). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | uffmay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | regalo (luxury, treat). (various references) | |
Romanian | manşon (chuck, collar, nut, sheath, sleeve, thimble), scãpare (deliverance, escape, escapement, getaway, leakage, liberation, negligence, omission, recourse, rescue, riddance, salvation, slip), ratare (unfulfilment), rata (pass up), loviturã ratatã, cuplaj (gear, hook up), bucşã (axle box, cannon, nut, pap). (various references) | |
Russian | упустить реплика, гильза (cartridge case, case, shell, sleeve), ошибка (aberration, bungle, bust, error, failing, fallacy, fault, faux pas, gaffe, inaccuracy, lapse, misdeed, misstep, mistake, slip, slip up, slipup, slip-up, stumble, trip), неумелый (amateurish, atechnic, blundering, bumbling, inapt, inexpert, shiftless, unskilful), нескладный (cumbersome, cumbrous, doggerel, gangling, oafish, three-cornered, unwieldy), муфта (clutch, coupling, ferrule, nut, sleeve, thimble, union), промах (bloomer, boner, slip-up). (various references) | |
Scottish | mùtan, mutan (a muff). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | muf, upropastiti (blight, destroy, havoc, make a hash of cutting, muck up, murder, ruin, screw up, spoil, vitiate, wrack), stidne dlake, neuspeh (abort, boner, bust, failure, fizzle), ćuba (crest, tuft). (various references) | |
Spanish | manguito (sleeve, union). (various references) | |
Swedish | tabbe (bloomer, boner, boob, clinker, cock up, faux pas, gaffe, goof, howler, slip), muff (sleeve), klåpare (blunderer, botcher, bungler, dabbler, dub, fumbler, slob). (various references) | |
Thai | ช่องคลอ" (axe wound, box, bush, chuff, fadge, fur burger, Jack and Danny), ทำผิ"พลา" (botch, fluff), ความผิ"พลา" (fallibility, fluff), ขนที่อวัยวะเพศ (thatch). (various references) | |
Turkish | manşon, el kürkü, boru bileziği, beceriksizlik (awkwardness, bungle, clumsiness, fecklessness, foozle, gaucherie, inaptitude, incompetence, inefficacy, ineptitude, ineptness, lubberliness, rudeness, unhandiness), becerememek (boggle, botch, bungle, bust, do badly, fail, goof, goof up, make sorry show, muddle), acemilik (awkwardness, clumsiness, greenness, ineptitude, inexperience, rawness, verdancy), acemice iş yapmak (bungle). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | гільза (cannon, collet), муфта (clutch, collar, nut, sleeve, socket, thimble), псувати (alloy, bedevil, blemish, blight, blur, break, corrupt, cripple, debase, deface, deform, degrade, deprave, destroy, deteriorate, discount, disfigure, do for, envenom, erode, flaw, make miserable, mess, mismanage, muddle, perish, prejudice, punish, queer, spoil, vitiate, waste), промахнутися (blunder, boss, overshoot), промах (atrocity, blunder, boss). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | người vụng về (booby, bumpkin, butter-fingers, fumbler, lout, lubber, swabber, swobber), người chậm chạp (laggard, lubber, slowcoach), cú đánh hụt. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Dutch | 700-Modern | mof. (various references) |
| Medieval Latin | 700-1500 | muffula. (various references) |
| Old French | 900-1400 | mofle, moufle. (various references) |
| French | 1500-Modern | moufle. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "muff": muffed, muffin, muffing, muffins, muffle, muffled, muffler, mufflered, mufflers, muffles, muffling, muffs. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "muff": earmuff. (additional references) | |
Words containing "muff": earmuffs, ragamuffin, ragamuffins, unmuffle, unmuffled, unmuffles, unmuffling. (additional references) | |
| |
"Muff" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: auff, juff, mafc, mff, miffy, mof, Mofo, mofu, mouf, muf, mufc, muffy, muft, mumf, murf, naff, nuf, nuff, uff, wuff. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "muff" (pronounced mu"f) |
| 2 | -u" f | bluff, buff, cuff, Duff, enough, fluff, gruff, guff, huff, Luff, puff, rebuff, rough, ruff, scuff, Slough, snuff, stuff, tough, Tuff. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "f-f-m-u" | |
-2 letters: mu, um. | |
| Words containing the letters "f-f-m-u" | |
+1 letter: muffs. | |
+2 letters: muffed, muffin, muffle. | |
+3 letters: earmuff, formful, jumpoff, muffing, muffins, muffled, muffler, muffles. | |
+4 letters: earmuffs, fusiform, jumpoffs, moufflon, mufflers, muffling, unmuffle. | |
+5 letters: creampuff, effluvium, fungiform, moufflons, mufflered, unmuffled, unmuffles. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Names: Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Derivations 16. Rhymes | 17. Anagrams 18. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
