Etymology From Middle English muet, from Anglo-Norman muet, moet, Middle French muet, from mu (“dumb, mute”) + -et, remodelled after Latin mūtus.
1
Not having the power of speech; dumb.
Thus, while the mute Creation downward bend / Their sight, and to their Earthy Mother tend, / Man looks aloft; and with erected Eyes / Beholds his own hereditary Skies. / From ſuch rude Principles our Form began; / And Earth was Metamorphos'd into Man.1717, John Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 4:
2
Silent; not making a sound.
He ask’d, but all the Heav’nly Quire ſtood mute, / And ſilence was in Heav’n: […]1667, John Milton, “Book III”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature I2, verso, lines 217–218:
[…] The heathens have broken into Thy Temple, and Thou art silent! Esau mocks Thy Children, and Thou remainest mute! Show thyself, arise, and let Thy Voice resound, Thou mutest among all the mute!1956, Ernst Kaiser and Eithne Wilkins (?, translators), Lion Feuchtwanger (German author), Raquel: The Jewess of Toledo (translation of Die Jüdin von Toledo), Messner, page 178
3
Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; said of certain letters.
4
Not giving a ringing sound when struck; said of a metal.
As for the poor honest Maid, whom all the Story is built upon, and who ought to be one of the principal Actors in the Play, she is commonly a Mute in it:1668 OF Dramatick Poesie, AN ESSAY. By JOHN DRYDEN Esq; (John Dryden)
3
A person who does not have the power of speech.
The girl left, and presently returned, followed by two male mutes, to whom the Queen made another sign.1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
4
A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant.
He asked about the undertaking business, and how many mutes went down with Lady Estrich’s remains […]1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter IX, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume II, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 95:
The little box was eventually carried in one hand by the leading mute, while his colleague, with a finger placed on the lid, to prevent it from swaying, walked to one side and a little to the rear.1950, Mervyn Peake, Gormenghast, London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, →OCLC:
1 more example
Then followed a long silence during which the mute turned to them and said, ‘Of course you'll be wanting an urn, sir?’1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 481:
5
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordine.
6
An electronic switch or control that mutes the sound.
Another related primary control is called a mute, which is simply a switch that kills the signal altogether, allowing for a speedier turn-off than turning the fader all the way down rapidly. Mutes are probably more commonly used during multitrack music recording than during film mixing because in music all tracks are on practically all of the time, whereas workstations produce silence when there is no desired signal […]2012, Tomlinson Holman, Sound for Film and Television, page 174:
7
A mute swan.
The trumpeters' fate seems likely to get tangled with that of the mute swan. Currently there's enough habitat for both species, but that may change if trumpeters flourish and mutes aren't controlled. Right now mutes are thriving.1998, Bob Devine, National Geographic Society (U.S.), Alien invasion: America's battle with non-native animals and plants:
8
Internet An action of muting, especially in a discussion forum as a penalty for breaking rules.
I Mute as a hauke dothe whan ſhe hath endued her gorge.1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “The Table of Verbes”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […] [Richard Pynson] fynnysshed by Iohan Haukyns, →OCLC, 3rd boke, folio cccvi, recto, column 1; reprinted Geneva: Slatkine Reprints, October 1972, →OCLC:
And I knewe not that there were Sparrowes in the wall, and mine eyes being open, the Sparrowes muted warme doung into mine eyes, […]1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Tobit 2:10:
2 more examples
The Birds were large, fine, and neat accordingly; looking as like the Men in my Country, as one Pea do's like another; for they eat and drank like Men, muted like Men, endued or digested like Men, farted like Men, but stunk like Devils, […]1653, Francis Rabelais [i.e., François Rabelais], translated by [Thomas Urquhart, Peter Anthony Motteux], “How the Ringing Island had been Inhabited by the Siticines, who were Become Birds”, in The Works of Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physick: Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds, and Sayings of Gargantua, and His Sonne Pantagruel. […], London: […] [Thomas Ratcliffe and Edward Mottershead] for Richard Baddeley, […], →OCLC; republished in volume II, London: […] Navarre Society […], [1948], →OCLC, 5th book, page 292:
All the pigeons, to the number of thirty-five, flew to and fro over the men's heads and muted upon them from mid-air; […]1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
mute
noun
Etymology From Middle French muetir, probably a shortened form of esmeutir, ultimately from Proto-Germanic.
1
The faeces of a hawk or falcon.
On which was written not in words, But hieroglyphic mute of birds1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “[The First Part of Hudibras]”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678; republished in A[lfred] R[ayney] Waller, editor, Hudibras: Written in the Time of the Late Wars, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, 1905, →OCLC:
The Wart was familiar with the nests of Spar-hawk and Gos, the crazy conglomerations of sticks and oddments which had been taken over from squirrels or crows, and he knew how the twigs and the tree foot were splashed with white mutes, old bones, muddy feathers and castings.1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter III, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone):
mute
verb
Etymology From Latin mutare (“to change”).
1
To cast off; to moult.
Have I muted all my feathers?1633 May 21 (licensing date; Gregorian calendar), John Fletcher, James Shirley, “The Night-Walker, or The Little Thief. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, →OCLC, Act IV, scene iv: