"muff" definition, meaning, and origin

Noun historical

A piece of fur or cloth, usually with open ends, used for keeping the hands warm.
- Selwyn, sitting up rumpled and cross-legged on the floor, after having boloed Drina to everybody's exquisite satisfaction, looked around at the sudden rustle of skirts to catch a glimpse of a vanishing figure—a glimmer...
The vulva or vagina; pubic hair around it.
- .
Synonyms: muffin axe wound bearded clam beaver berk bonne bouche box bun bush cavern clunge coin slot cooch coochie cookie cooter cooze crack crevice cunny cunt fanny fish lips foo-foo
A woman or girl.
A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
The feathers sticking out from both sides of the face under the beak of some birds.
A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object such as a pipe.

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

A fool, a stupid or poor-spirited person.
- Can you fancy that such an old creature (an old muff, as you call him, you wicked, satirical man!) could ever make en impression on my heart? - 1860, William Makepeace Thackeray, Lovel the Widower:
- […]being good is so much like being a muff, generally. - 1901, E. Nesbit, The Wouldbegoods:
An error, a mistake; a failure to hold a ball when once in the hands.
A bird, the whitethroat.

Unknown; perhaps a specialised use of Etymology 1, above; or perhaps related to Dutch muffen (“to dote”) and German muffen (“to sulk”).

A muffin.
- Skinny lattes and a couple of blueberry muffs. - 2010, Lindsay G. Arthur, The Litigators, page 63:
A term of endearment.
- “They’re^([sic]) ARE thinking how sexy you look, Muff”. She heard it as plain as day. She turned, half expecting to see her Jim grinning at her. […] “Oh James!” Marsha smiled, […] - 1996 October 13, JD, “Restless Pt....
- Darien started lovin' her. "Oh yes, please more Muffin." Serena licked her lips. […] "OH YOUR^([sic]) MY MINX." "AND YOUR MY MUFF." - 2000 April 2, Minaka Dee Delight, “Here's a Hentai Fanfiction”, in...
- “Hello?” / “Hey, muff.” / “Ew.” She laughs and the sound shoots straight between my legs. “I didn’t think you could make muffin worse, but you did it. Congratulations.” - 2017 October 23, JB Salsbury, “Braeden”, in The...

Clipping of muffin.

To drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc.); to play badly.
To mishandle; to bungle.
- But then, supposing this was the real sign? … They had muffed three already; they daren’t muff the fourth. - 1953, C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair:
- 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. - 1977,...