What is "mute"

Mute \Mute\, n. The dung of birds.
--Hudibras.

Mute \Mute\ (m[=u]t), v. t. [L. mutare to change. See Molt.] To cast off; to molt.

Have I muted all my feathers?
--Beau. & Fl.

Mute \Mute\, v. t. & i. [F. mutir, ['e]meutir, OF. esmeltir, fr. OD. smelten, prop., to melt. See Smelt.] To eject the contents of the bowels; -- said of birds.
--B. Jonson.

Mute \Mute\, a. [L. mutus; cf. Gr. my`ein to shut, Skr. m[=u]ta bound, m[=u]ka dumb: cf. OE. muet, fr. F. muet, a dim. of OF. mu, L. mutus.]

1. Not speaking; uttering no sound; silent.

   All the heavenly choir stood mute, And silence was in heaven.
   --Milton.

   Note: In law a prisoner is said to stand mute, when, upon being arranged, he makes no answer, or does not plead directly, or will not put himself on trial.

2. Incapable of speaking; dumb.
   --Dryden.

3. Not uttered; unpronounced; silent; also, produced by complete closure of the mouth organs which interrupt the passage of breath; -- said of certain letters. See 5th Mute, 2.

4. Not giving a ringing sound when struck; -- said of a metal.

   Mute swan (Zo["o]l.), a European wild white swan ( Cygnus olor syn. Cygnus gibbus), which produces no loud notes, in distinction from the Trumpeter swan.

   Syn: Silent; dumb; speechless.

   Usage: Mute, Silent, Dumb. One is silent who does not speak; one is dumb who can not, for want of the proper organs; as, a dumb beast, etc.; and hence, figuratively, we speak of a person as struck dumb with astonishment, etc. One is mute who is held back from speaking by some special cause; as, he was mute through fear; mute astonishment, etc. Such is the case with most of those who never speak from childhood; they are not ordinarily dumb, but mute because they are deaf, and therefore never learn to talk; and hence their more appropriate name is deaf-mutes.

   They spake not a word; But, like dumb statues, or breathing stones, Gazed each on other.
   --Shak.

   All sat mute, Pondering the danger with deep thoughts.
   --Milton.

Mute \Mute\, n.

1. One who does not speak, whether from physical inability, unwillingness, or other cause. Specifically:

   1. One who, from deafness, either congenital or from early life, is unable to use articulate language; a deaf-mute.

   2. A person employed by undertakers at a funeral.

   3. A person whose part in a play does not require him to speak.

   4. Among the Turks, an officer or attendant who is selected for his place because he can not speak.

2. (Phon.) A letter which represents no sound; a silent letter; also, a close articulation; an element of speech formed by a position of the mouth organs which stops the passage of the breath; as, p, b, d, k, t.

3. (Mus.) A little utensil made of brass, ivory, or other material, so formed that it can be fixed in an erect position on the bridge of a violin, or similar instrument, in order to deaden or soften the tone.

late 14c., mewet "silent," from Old French muet "dumb, mute" (12c.), diminutive of mut, mo, from Latin mutus "silent, speechless, dumb," probably from imitative base *meue- (cognates: Sanskrit mukah "dumb," Greek myein "to be shut," of the mouth). Form assimilated in 16c. to Latin mutus.

"deaden the sound of," 1861, from mute (n.). Related: Muted; muting.

1570s, "stage actor in a dumb show;" 1610s as "person who does not speak," from mute (adj.). Musical sense first recorded 1811 of stringed instruments, 1841, of horns.

Etymology 1

1. 1 Not having the power of speech; dum

2. (from 15th

3. ) 2 silent; not making a soun

4. (from 15th c.) 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. n. 1 (context phonetics now historical English) A stopped consonant; a stop. (from 16th c.) 2 (context obsolete theatre English) An actor who does not speak; a mime performer. (16th-19th c.) 3 A person who does not have the power of speech. (from 17th c.) 4 A hired mourner at a funeral; an undertaker's assistant. (from 18th c.) 5 (context music English) An object for dulling the sound of an instrument, especially a brass instrument, or damper for pianoforte; a sordin

5. (from 18th c.) vb. 1 (context transitive English) To silence, to make quiet. 2 (context transitive English) To turn off the sound o

6. Etymology 2

   n. The faeces of a hawk or falcon. vb. (context now rare English) Of a bird: to defecate. (from 15th c.) Etymology 3

   vb. (context transitive English) To cast off; to moult.

1. adj. expressed without speech; especially because words would be inappropriate or inadequate; "a mute appeal"; "a silent curse"; "best grief is tongueless"- Emily Dickinson; "the words stopped at her lips unsounded"; "unspoken grief"; "choking exasperation and wordless shame"- Thomas Wolfe [syn: tongueless, unspoken, wordless]

2. lacking power of speech [syn: tongueless]

3. unable to speak because of hereditary deafness [syn: dumb, silent]

1. n. a deaf person who is unable to speak [syn: deaf-mute, deaf-and-dumb person]

2. a device used to soften the tone of a musical instrument

v. deaden (a sound or noise), especially by wrapping [syn: muffle, dull, damp, dampen, tone down]

A mute is a device fitted to a musical instrument to alter the sound produced: by affecting the timbre, reducing the volume, or most commonly both.

The MUTE Network (or MUTE-net) is an unmaintained peer-to-peer file sharing network developed with anonymity in mind.

The MUTE client is open source software released under the Public domain and includes support for the Linux, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows computer operating systems.

All MUTE compatible clients use RSA encryption to exchange keys, and AES (128 bits) to encrypt stream data.

"Mute" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. It was written by Richard Matheson, based on his own short story of the same name.

Mute is a compilation album released in 2000 on Hush Records. The disc of instrumental music is a sampler of the label's roster.

Mute is a 2005 American short drama film directed by Melissa Joan Hart and written by Kristin Lipiro. The film stars Emily Hart, Emily Deschanel and Dylan Neal.

"Mute" is a short story by author Stephen King, first appearing in Playboy Magazine in 2007 and in 2008 included in his collection Just After Sunset. In 2013, it was adapted into a short film by British director Jacqueline Wright, starring Patrick Ryecart.

Mute is a Colombian cuisine soup from Boyacá and Santander departments. The word may be used as slang for a whole corn soup in other areas. In Santander cuisine, ingredients include pork parts, corn, and vegetables. In Boyaca, beef and potato seem to be used more commonly. Goat meat can also used.

• Mute (film)
• Mute (upcoming film)

Mute is a British online magazine that covers a wide spectrum of subjects related to cyberculture, artistic practice, left wing politics, urban regeneration, biopolitics, direct democracy, net art, the commons, horizontality and UK arts.

Founded in 1994 by art school graduates Simon Worthington and Pauline van Mourik Broekman, the magazine is an experimental hybrid of web and print formats, publishing articles weekly online, contributed by both staff and readers, and a biannual print compilation combining selections from current issues and other online content with specially commissioned and co-published projects. Contributors to Mute have included Heath Bunting, James Flint (novelist), Hari Kunzru, Anthony Davies and Simon Ford, Stewart Home, Kate Rich, Jamie King, Nils Norman and Peter Linebaugh. The magazine was supported by the Arts Council of England from 1999 to 2012.

In 2009, the magazine produced an anthology, Proud to be Flesh: A Mute Magazine Anthology of Cultural Politics After the Net (ISBN 978-1-906496-28-9), published by Autonomedia.