mutter

A repressed or obscure utterance; an instance of muttering.

Noun

  1. A repressed or obscure utterance; an instance of muttering.
    • The prisoners were docile, and accepted their lot with barely a mutter.

Origin

From Middle English muteren, moteren, of imitative origin. Compare Low German mustern, musseln (“to whisper”), German muttern (“to mutter; whisper”), Old Norse muðla (“to murmur”). Compare also Latin muttīre, mutīre.

Forms

mutters

Noun Entry 2

  1. Peas.

Origin

Etymology tree Proto-New Indo-Aryan *𑀫𑀝𑁆𑀝𑀭 (*maṭṭara) Hindi मटर (maṭar)bor. English mutter Borrowed from Hindi मटर (maṭar).

Forms

matar

Derived

mutter paneer

Verb

  1. To utter words, especially complaints or angry expressions, indistinctly or with a low voice and lips partly closed; to say under one's breath.
    • You could hear the students mutter as they were served sodden spaghetti, yet again, in the cafeteria.
    • The beggar muttered words of thanks, as passersby dropped coins in his cup.
    • This set – the set of Rosol's life – was studded with aces and menacing ground-strokes that left Nadal an impotent spectator often muttering to himself and at the umpire regarding a perceived misdemeanour by his...
  2. To speak softly and incoherently, or with imperfect articulations.
    • The asylum inmate muttered some doggerel about chains and pains to himself, over and over.
    • Meantime your filthy foreigner will stare, / And mutter to himself. - 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the...
  3. To make a sound with a low, rumbling noise.
    • April could hear the delivery van's engine muttering in the driveway.
    • Thick lightnings flash, the muttering thunder rolls. - 1715–1720, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book VIII”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for...

Forms

mutters muttering muttered

Synonyms

growl grumble mumble babble murmur ramble stutter putter rumble fumfer mutter mouth

Hypernyms

utter communicate

Derived

amutter mutterance mutteration mutterer mutteringly muttersome muttery unmuttered