[*** \mathrm{mute}^1] |myo͞ot|

1. refraining from speech or temporarily speechless:

〈人が〉黙った, 無言の(silent)

e.g. Irene, the talkative one, was now mute.

not expressed in speech:

〘法〙 〈人が〉黙秘した

e.g. she gazed at him in mute appeal.

characterized by an absence of sound; quiet:

e.g. the great church was mute and dark.

2. dated or offensive (of a person) lacking the faculty of speech:

｟やや古｠ 〈人が〉(障害で)口の利けない(｟遠回しに｠ speech-impaired); 〈猟犬が〉ほえない

e.g. he'd been bullied into silence—people often wondered if he was actually mute.

3. (of a letter) not pronounced:

〘音声〙 〈文字が〉発音されない, 黙字の; 閉鎖音の

e.g. mute e is generally dropped before suffixes beginning with a vowel.

1. dated or offensive a person lacking the faculty of speech:

｟やや古｠ 口の利けない人

e.g. the child remained as silent as a mute.

historical (in some Asian countries) a servant who was deprived of the power of speech.

historical an actor in a dumbshow.

historical a professional attendant or mourner at a funeral:

e.g. an undertaker's mute.

2. a clamp placed over the bridge of a stringed instrument to deaden the resonance without affecting the vibration of the strings.

(楽器に取り付ける)弱音［消音］器, ミュート

a pad or cone placed in the opening of a brass or other wind instrument to soften the sound.

3. a device on a television, telephone, or other appliance that temporarily turns off the sound:

(テレビ･オーディオ機器などの)消音(機能)

e.g. she put the remote on mute.

verb with object

deaden, muffle, or soften the sound of:

〈音など〉を下げる, 和らげる; …を消す

e.g. her footsteps were muted by the thick carpet.

muffle the sound of (a musical instrument), especially by the use of a mute:

〈物･楽器〉の音を弱める［消す］

e.g. when muted and blown hard the trombone produces a very nasal and metallic sound.

reduce the strength or intensity of:

〈行為･批判など〉を抑える, 鎮める

e.g. his professional contentment was muted by personal sadness.

mutely |ˈmyo͞otlē| adverb

muteness |ˈmyo͞otnəs| noun

Middle English: from Old French muet, diminutive of mu, from Latin mutus.

To describe a person without the power of speech as mute (especially as in deaf-mute) is today likely to cause offense and is often regarded as outdated. Nevertheless, there is no directly equivalent term for mute in general use, apart from speech-impaired. The term profoundly deaf may be used to imply that a person has not developed any spoken language skills.

[*** \mathrm{mute}^2] |myo͞ot|

noun archaic

a pack of hounds:

e.g. the abbot had a mute of hounds.

late Middle English: from Anglo-Norman mut, mute, moute ‘pack of hounds trained for hunting’, from Latin movere ‘to move’.