MUFF

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does muff mean? 

• MUFF (noun)
  The noun MUFF has 2 senses:

1. a warm tubular covering for the hands

2. (sports) dropping the ball

  Familiarity information: MUFF used as a noun is rare.

• MUFF (verb)
  The verb MUFF has 2 senses:

1. fail to catch, as of a ball

2. make a mess of, destroy or ruin

  Familiarity information: MUFF used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MUFF (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A warm tubular covering for the hands

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("muff" is a kind of...):

hand wear; handwear (clothing for the hands)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(sports) dropping the ball

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

fumble; muff

Hypernyms ("muff" is a kind of...):

bloomer; blooper; blunder; boner; boo-boo; botch; bungle; flub; foul-up; fuckup; pratfall (an embarrassing mistake)

Domain category:

American football; American football game (a game played by two teams of 11 players on a rectangular field 100 yards long; teams try to get possession of the ball and advance it across the opponents goal line in a series of (running or passing) plays)

ball; baseball; baseball game (a ball game played with a bat and ball between two teams of nine players; teams take turns at bat trying to score runs)

Derivation:

muff (fail to catch, as of a ball)

• MUFF (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they muff    ... he / she / it muffs   
Past simple: muffed   
Past participle: muffed   
-ing form: muffing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fail to catch, as of a ball

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "muff" is one way to...):

fail; neglect (fail to do something; leave something undone)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

muff ((sports) dropping the ball)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make a mess of, destroy or ruin

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

ball up; blow; bobble; bodge; bollix; bollix up; bollocks; bollocks up; botch; botch up; bumble; bungle; flub; fluff; foul up; fuck up; fumble; louse up; mess up; mishandle; muck up; muff; screw up; spoil

Context example:

the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement

Hypernyms (to "muff" is one way to...):

fail; go wrong; miscarry (be unsuccessful)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

She pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob heavily into it.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I can hardly keep my hands warm even in my muff.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

These turnovers were an institution, and the girls called them 'muffs', for they had no others and found the hot pies very comforting to their hands on cold mornings.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I jumped up, took my muff and umbrella, and hastened into the inn-passage: a man was standing by the open door, and in the lamp-lit street I dimly saw a one-horse conveyance.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Inquiries and communications concerning brothers and sisters, the situation of some, the growth of the rest, and other family matters now passed between them, and continued, with only one small digression on James's part, in praise of Miss Thorpe, till they reached Pulteney Street, where he was welcomed with great kindness by Mr. and Mrs. Allen, invited by the former to dine with them, and summoned by the latter to guess the price and weigh the merits of a new muff and tippet.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

A touch of a spurred heel made his horse first start and rear, and then bound away; the dog rushed in his traces; all three vanished, I took up my muff and walked on.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

All this is visible to you by the light of an oil lamp hanging from the ceiling, and by that of an excellent fire, near which I sit in my cloak and bonnet; my muff and umbrella lie on the table, and I am warming away the numbness and chill contracted by sixteen hours' exposure to the rawness of an October day: I left Lowton at four o'clock a.m., and the Millcote town clock is now just striking eight.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I had brushed my black stuff travelling-dress, prepared my bonnet, gloves, and muff; sought in all my drawers to see that no article was left behind; and now having nothing more to do, I sat down and tried to rest.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I put down my muff on the stile, and went up to the tall steed; I endeavoured to catch the bridle, but it was a spirited thing, and would not let me come near its head; I made effort on effort, though in vain: meantime, I was mortally afraid of its trampling fore-feet.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The carriage stopped, as I had expected, at the hotel door; my flame (that is the very word for an opera inamorata) alighted: though muffed in a cloak—an unnecessary encumbrance, by-the-bye, on so warm a June evening—I knew her instantly by her little foot, seen peeping from the skirt of her dress, as she skipped from the carriage-step.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)