muff

English

Wikipedia

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /mʌf/
• Rhymes: -ʌf

Etymology 1

Probably from Dutch mof (“muff, mitten”).

Noun

muff (plural muffs)

1. (historical) A piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm.
   • 1907, Robert Chambers, chapter 1/2, The Younger Set^[1]:

     Selwyn …, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around […] to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure […] and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.

2. (slang) Female pubic hair; the vulva.
3. (glassblowing) A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
4. The feathers sticking out from both sides of the face under the beak of some birds.
5. (slang) shortened form of muffin.

Synonyms

• whiskers, beard, muff and beard (bird feathers):

Translations

a piece of fur or cloth for keeping the hands warm

• Finnish: puuhka (fi), muhvi (fi)
• French: manchon (fr) m
• German: Muff (de) m
• Hungarian: muff (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: muffe (nb) m and f

  Nynorsk: muffe (nn) f

• Polish: mufka (pl) f
• Portuguese: regalo (pt) m
• Russian: муфта (ru) (múfta) f
• Serbian: rukovnica f

pubic hair

• Finnish: pehko (slang), tussu (slang)
• Portuguese: pentelho (pt) m

• Russian: мохнатка (ru) (moxnatka) f (slang)

a blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet

Related terms

• muff-diver
• muff-diving
• muff pistol

Etymology 2

Origin unknown; perhaps a specialised use of Etymology 1, above.

Noun

muff (plural muffs)

1. (colloquial) A fool, a stupid person. [from 19th c.]
2. (slang, chiefly sports) An error, a mistake. [from 19th c.]

Translations

an error

Verb

muff (third-person singular simple present muffs, present participle muffing, simple past and past participle muffed)

1. (sports) To drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc.); to play badly. [from 19th c.]
2. To mishandle; to bungle. [from 1920s]
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review Books 2006, p. 69:

     Here was the superlative opportunity to make a generous and lasting settlement from a position of strength; but the pieds noirs, like the Israelis, and from not altogether dissimilar motives, were to muff it.

Translations

in American football, to drop or mishandle the ball

by extension, to mishandle any situation

• Finnish: tunaroida, möhliä, töpätä

---

German

Pronunciation

• IPA: [mʊf]

Verb

muff

1. Imperative singular of muffen.
2. (colloquial) First-person singular present of muffen.

---

Hungarian

Etymology

From German Muff, from Dutch mof ("muff"), from Middle Dutch moffel, from Middle French moufle ("mitten"), from Medieval Latin muffula ("fur-lined glove"), of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmufː/

Noun

muff (plural muffok)

1. (archaic) muff ("handwarmer")
2. (slang) vagina
3. (slang) woman

Declension

declension of muff singular plural nominative muff muffok accusative muffot muffokat dative muffnak muffoknak instrumental muffal muffokkal causal-final muffért muffokért translative muffá muffokká terminative muffig muffokig essive-formal muffként muffokként essive-modal - - inessive muffban muffokban superessive muffon muffokon adessive muffnál muffoknál illative muffba muffokba sublative muffra muffokra allative muffhoz muffokhoz elative muffból muffokból delative muffról muffokról ablative mufftól muffoktól

possessives of muff possessor singular possession plural possession 1st person sing. muffom muffjaim 2nd person sing. muffod muffjaid 3rd person sing. muffja muffjai 1st person plural muffunk muffjaink 2nd person plural muffotok muffjaitok 3rd person plural muffjuk muffjaik