Etymology From earlier moofin, probably a diminutive of Low German Muffe ("small cake"; Muffen (plural)), from Middle Low German muffe (“small pastry”). An alternative, and phonologically less plausible theory suggests a connection to Old French (pain) moflet (“roll”, literally “soft (bread)”). Sense “vulva” influenced by muff.
UK A type of flattish bun, usually cut in two horizontally, toasted and spread with butter, etc., before being eaten.
[…] but he had still at intervals a kind listener in Mrs. Phillips, and was by her watchfulness, most abundantly supplied with coffee and muffin.1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 174:
We take a less gloomy view of our errors now our father confessor listens to us over his egg and coffee. We are more distinctly conscious that rude penances are out of the question for gentlemen in an enlightened age, and that mortal sin is not incompatible with an appetite for muffins.1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XVI, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:
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It was felt at once that the mouth did not come over from Sleswig with a band of Saxon pirates whose lips met like the two halves of a muffin.1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC:
Little did poor Doctor Walker imagine as he sat at his breakfast-table next morning that the two sweet girls who sat on either side of him were deep in a conspiracy, and that he, munching innocently at his muffins, was the victim against whom their wiles were planned.1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, Beyond the City:
“A cup of tea and a muffin, please,” he ordered.1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC:
2
A cupcake-shaped baked good (for example of cornbread, banana bread, or a chocolate dough), sometimes glazed but typically without frosting, eaten especially for breakfast (in contrast to a cupcake, which is a dessert).
Aubrey got a bowl of soup, a cup of coffee, beef stew, and bran muffins, and took them to an empty seat by the window. He ate with one eye on the street.1919, Christopher Morley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Haunted Bookshop, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC:
Newland and his wife had had no idea of obeying this injunction; but Mrs. Carfry, with her usual acuteness, had run them down and sent them an invitation to dine; and it was over this invitation that May Archer was wrinkling her brows across the tea and muffins.1920, Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
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[…] to prepare sustenance like roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, vinaigrettes, guacamole, and bananabread muffins.2007, New York, volume 40, page 129:
To start we'll go with an easy choice, a delicious chocolate muffin made with Mexican chocolate that goes well with ice cream or fruit […]2014, Martha Stone, Muffin Tin Menus: 32 Recipes That Are Delicious and Easy to Make, page 1:
Dust the frosted muffins with cocoa powder. […] Store extras in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. The muffins can be frozen if unfrosted, but do not freeze the frosting.2017, Maria Emmerich, Keto Comfort Foods, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 58:
Originally, I planned to write two sections here – one about how you get flat cupcakes and one about how to get tall, domed muffins. It quickly became clear that I was pretty much writing the same thing twice: factors that make cupcakes flat in opposite make muffins domed, unsurprisingly enough.2021, Katarina Cermelj, Baked to Perfection: Delicious gluten-free recipes with a pinch of science, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
Slang, Vulgar The vulva or vagina; pubic hair around it.
I wanna be stuffin' Martha's muffin!1986, “Stuffin' Martha's Muffin”, in Frenzy, performed by Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper:
Is your muffin buttered?2004, Tina Fey, Mean Girls (motion picture), spoken by Jason (Daniel DeSanto):
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She peeled off her clothes and stretched out on a towel. At first she lay still, then slowly Maddie slid a hand down her smooth tummy and into her muffin.2012 September 23, Barely Legal, →ISSN, page 42:
Hobbies, Ice hockey, Lifestyle, Skating, SportsSlang A very weak shot in ice hockey where the puck does not travel fast.
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Canada, Archaic, Slang A young woman who would regularly accompany a particular man during a social season.
I had a charming muffin yesterday. She is engaged to be married, so don't be alarmed.1854, Margaret Oliphant, quoting Laurence Oliphant, Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant and of Alice Oliphant, His Wife, new edition, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1892, page 92:
The fair Canadians may have been too kind in accepting the name and position of "muffins" from the young Britishry; but the latter cannot say they have suffered much in consequence. A muffin is simply a lady who sits beside the male occupant of the sleigh—Sola cum solo, "and all the rest is leather and prunella."[1865, William Howard Russell, Canada: Its Defenses, Condition, and Resources, London: Bradbury and Evans, page 149:
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A long string of two-seated sleighs, a pleasant tête-à-tête drive for many miles snugly ensconced in the buffalo robes with your "muffin" by your side, a halt at some hospitable settler's, and an impromptu dance in his barn, wTith a return journey in the crisp moonlight air, left impressions that are still vivid. ¶ The "muffin" was a social institution of those days, which may or may not have survived. Every young swain by unwritten but acknowledged law was permitted to make his choice of a partner for the season, with whom he danced exclusively, and whom he drove in his sleigh and skated with hand in hand.1904, Arthur Griffiths, Fifty Years of Public Service, London […]: Cassel and Company, Limited, pages 52–53:
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A mechanism used in the Java Network Launching Protocol analogous to the cookie mechanism and which permits a program running in a browser to perform operations on a client machine.
Java programming language
The name/value pairs provided by the PersistenceService are similar to browser cookies. The Java Web Start implementation honors this legacy by naming the pairs "muffins."2001 May 30, “Technical Articles and Tips”, in Sun Developer Network, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2008, JNLP and Java Web Start:
Etymology After the MUFFIN program written by Rich Williams at Apple, supposed to be an acronym of move utility for files in NewDOS.
1
Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences To transfer files between 13-sector and 16-sector Apple II diskettes, as with MUFFIN (Move Utility For Files In NewDOS.)
Remember, MUFFINing a diskette won't harm your 13 sector diskette, and you can always boot 13 sector diskettes using BASICS.1980, Apple II, the DOS Manual: Disk Operating System:
This presents no problem other than, of course, any 13 sector CCA files having to be MUFFINed to 16 sectors.1981, The Book of Apple Computer Software, The Book Company, page 93:
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This does not apply to normal programs; they can be MUFFINed over and used with no trouble.1981 May, John Sharp, “DOS Differences”, in HARDCORE - The Journal of the British Apple Systems User Group, volume 1, number 3, page 17:
The software is supplied in DOS 3.2.1 format, and I had no problem in MUFFINing it to DOS 3.3 format.1982, Byte, page 220:
Must be MUFFINed to a DOS 3.3 disk before use.1982, Nibble:
It will run on a 48K APPLE 11+, after BRUNning Integer Basic-Disk from WAP Library disk 14 (which should be MUFFINed over to the DOS 3.3. disk on which this One-Oven program, as well as MUFFIN from your Master disk, have also been saved).1982 November, George V. Kinal, “"One Oven Muffin" Updated”, in Washington Apple Pi, volume 4, number 11, page 44:
muffin
verb
Etymology From earlier moofin, probably a diminutive of Low German Muffe ("small cake"; Muffen (plural)), from Middle Low German muffe (“small pastry”). An alternative, and phonologically less plausible theory suggests a connection to Old French (pain) moflet (“roll”, literally “soft (bread)”). Sense “vulva” influenced by muff.
1
To eat muffins.
I dined yesterday at | three on mutton chops and 1/2 pint of E[ast] I [ndian] sherry, and then tead and muffined at 8.1837, Benjamin Disraeli, Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1835-1837, Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press, published 1982, →ISBN, page 319:
And now comes a recipe guaranteed to keep the family happily muffined.1965 October 12, “Gingerbread Muffins Start Day Off Right”, in The Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alta., page 39:
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NANCY SCRAPES OFF the mold without complaining because it is like a gift from Carl, and she doesn’t have the heart to tell him she is muffined out …1987 January 27, Concetta Doucette, “Savings”, in Impact (Albuquerque Journal Magazine), volume 10, number 15, page 13:
HAVE YOU muffined out, had more than your share of croissants?1988 February 28, Bea Lewis, “For Teatime Or Anytime”, in The Newsday Magazine, page 35:
We met about 8:00 A.M. for the usual continental breakfast – I am getting over muffined!2005, Marlin E. Misner, editor, History of the Reagan Home: The Boyhood Home in Dixon, Illinois, →ISBN, page 35:
‘So what I can get you to celebrate. Bit of cake?’ ‘I’m all muffined up, thanks!’2007, Jane Sigaloff, The Romancipation of Maggie Hunter, Red Dress Ink, →ISBN, page 159:
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To feed muffins to.
But one or two evil-disposed characters muttered they might be sure the lady had her own turn to serve, and they might be sure they wasn't "teaed and muffined and sandwiched for nothing!"1866, Emma Jane Worboise, “The St. Beetha’s Temperance Society”, in St. Beetha’s; or, The Heiress of Arne, London: “Christian World” Office, […]; Jackson, Walford, and Hodder, […], →OCLC, page 213:
We were caffeined and muffined and then asked to seat ourselves at any of several large round tables.1999, Working Woman, page 96:
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Well, you know, my mother always told me to welcome new neighbors with muffins, and I just realized you’ve already been here six months and I still haven’t gotten around to baking muffins for you … Well anyway, that’s all I wanted to tell you — consider yourself muffined!2001, Nancy Huston, Dolce Agonia, Toronto, Ont.: McArthur & Company, →ISBN, page 102:
Grandma Bessie saw me and muffined me.2023, Earl Laman, chapter 20, in Being With…, Meadville, Pa.: Fulton Books, →ISBN:
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To become like a muffin; to increase in size.
A pale band of flesh muffined up over her shorts, her lively top not quite up to the task of covering it, and Chrissy tugged at the fabric ineffectively.2009 August, Sophie Littlefield, A Bad Day for Sorry, New York, N.Y.: Minotaur Books, →ISBN, page 48:
In spite of wearing the largest size of body armor available, her ample breasts were simply much too big, and deliciously muffined over the top.2009 December, James Axler [house name; Nick Pollotta], “Prologue”, in Time Castaways (Deathlands), Worldwide Library, page 16:
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Baby fat muffined over the top of Rebecca’s jeans.2013, E[lizabeth] F[rancine] Winters, chapter 15, in Sharks and Minnows (book one of The Jolie Chronicles), Kenspeckle Productions, LLC, →ISBN, page 173:
Allan Grace was lean, but his neck muffined out over the crisp white collar.2014, Terry Dowling, “The Four Darks”, in Ellen Datlow, editor, Fearful Symmetries: An Anthology of Horror, ChiZine Publications, →ISBN, page 117:
Beers rested on bellies that muffined over shorts.2014, David Mason, Walk Across Australia: The First Solo Crossing, Rosenberg Publishing, →ISBN:
It may have been Nurse Agnes’ looping signature that touched him off, or the way flesh muffined from the pumps of the fat lady that boarded the bus at his stop every morning: a spark is a spark, and one was as good as any other.2016, Adam Biles, Feeding Time, Galley Beggar Press, →ISBN:
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To make like a muffin.
Twanty-two harrin’ and t’ree ship’s biscuits, muffined like! Ah, yew doan’t know what muffined biscuits be!1920, The Windsor Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women, page 418:
WE HAVE too many raisins in our cake; / Our bread is muffined.1924, Edmund Vance Cooke, “Fat”, in Companionable Poems, page 183:
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Toques high as Queen Mary’s or low as a pillbox, extended and thickened and muffined at the edge.1944, Harper’s Bazaar, page 63:
Muffined Eggs with Mushrooms1990, Caleb Pirtle, The Land Where We Belong, Leisure Time Publishing, →ISBN, page 91: