mufflern.

1536 M. Bryan Let. in H. Ellis Orig. Lett. Eng. Hist. (1827) 2nd Ser. II. 80 She hath neither..handcerchers, nor mofelers, nor begens.

1540 in J. Strype Eccl. Memorials (1721) I. App. cxiv. 311 The Kings Majesty had brought..a muffley furred, to geve the Quene.

1560 Bible (Geneva) Isa. iii. 21 The rings and the mufflers.

1598 B. Yong tr. J. de Montemayor Diana 19 Pulling off her muffler [Sp. rebozo], mine eies behelde a face, whose countenance [etc.].

1651 Bp. J. Taylor Rule of Holy Dying (1686) iii. §4. 75 The image of the Goddess Angerona was with a muffler upon her mouth placed upon the Altar of Volupia, to represent, that those persons who bear their sicknesses and sorrows without murmurs, shall certainly pass from sorrow to pleasure.

1694 P. A. Motteux Wks. F. Rabelais (1737) v. xxvii. 118 Mufflers.., which they call Masks.

1820 W. Scott Abbot III. i. 24 From some awkwardness in her management of the muffler, she was unable again to adjust it with that dexterity which was a principal accomplishment of the coquettes of the time.

1984 J. Nunn Fashion in Costume 46 The muffler or chin clout..was a square of material folded diagonally and worn over the mouth and chin and sometimes the nose.

1594 J. Lyly Mother Bombie iii. iii. sig. E Silena, I praie you looke homeward, it is a colde aire, and you want your mufler.

1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 35 Cloath'd with long Breeches to their Toes, and Mufflers on their Hands and Face.

1787 M. Cutler Jrnl. 11 Mar. in W. P. Cutler & J. P. Cutler Life, Jrnls. & Corr. M. Cutler (1888) I. 200 Very unwell. Went to meeting with my muffler.

1874 J. A. Symonds Sketches Italy & Greece (1898) I. ii. 45 The mufflers in which his father..has wrapped the child.

1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 15 Sept. 1156/2 Gentlemen's..Cashmere Mufflers..Silk Mufflers [etc.].

1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings 168 The outfit [consisted of]..Arctic overshoes, fur cap and earmuffs, with..woollen muffler.

1934 M. Callaghan Such is my Beloved i. 5 He did not look like a priest with the muffler wrapped around his neck.

1988 M. Moorcock Mother London i. 45 Mr Kiss..took down his..long muffler.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry V iii. vi. 29 Fortune, looke you is painted, Plind with a mufler before her eyes.

1609 E. Hoby Let. to Mr. T. H. 43 By this you may see, (if the muffler of Superstition hath not cleane hoodwinked your eyes) the weaknes of your first ground.

1621 F. Quarles Hadassa xvi. sig. L3 Like as a prisner muffl'd at the tree,..At last (vnlook'd for) comes a slow Reprieue, And makes him (euen as dead) once more aliue: Amaz'd, he rends deaths Muffler from his eyes.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. i. 320 While nights black muffler hoodeth vp the skies, The silly blind-man misseth not his eyes.

1633 D. Rogers Treat. Two Sacraments Gospell i. 89 Oh Lord! strip me starke naked, plucke off my mufflers, shame me.

1653 W. Hemings Fatal Contract What man art thou, That hast thy count'nance clouded with thy cloak?.. If thy intents deserve a Muffler too, Withdraw, and act them not.

1869 A. C. Swinburne in Fortn. Rev. May 560 Passages in which the special experience of the writer is thrust forward under the mask and muffler of allegoric rhapsody.

1979 T. Hughes Last Load in Moortown Diary (1989) 47 A muffler of still cloud padding the stillness.

1747 Daily Advertiser Feb. in A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang (1890) II. 72/2 Mufflers are provided that will effectually secure them from the inconvenience of black eyes, broken jaws, and bloody noses.

1755 Connoisseur No. 52. ⁋9 He..is sturdy enough to encounter Broughton without mufflers.

1827 Sporting Mag. 20 72 The mufflers were introduced and some capital first-rate sparring was exhibited.

1891 Licensed Victualler's Mirror 30 Jan. 7 (Farmer) There were few, if any, men of about his height and weight who could stand before him with the mufflers.

1952 P. Wilson How to Watch Boxing ii. 33 A hard puncher will score a knock-out with either 6 or 8 oz. ‘mufflers’.

1982 S. B. Flexner Listening to Amer. 107 Broughton used a type of padded glove in his practice or sparring bouts, then..in 1748 devised what he called mufflers, larger, more padded gloves.

1824 S. R. Meyrick Crit. Inq. into Antient Armour I. 25 Sleeves..terminating with gloves, manakins, or mufflers, which cover the outsides of the hands and fingers.

1845 C. Dickens Chimes i. 11 His chilly hands..poorly defended from the searching cold by threadbare mufflers of grey worsted, with a private apartment only for the thumb and a common room or tap for the rest of the fingers.

1883 S. W. Beck Gloves 14 The mufflers themselves are very singular.

1845 C. Dickens Cricket on Hearth ii. 68 Bedlam broke loose!.. We shall arrive at the strait-waistcoat and mufflers soon.

1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. II. xxix. 287 Stockings were drawn over the oars as mufflers.

1956 G. E. Evans Ask Fellows who cut Hay xviii. 146 Clappers half-muffled, refers to the practice..of attaching buffs or mufflers—leather pads—to the striking sides of the clappers.

1990 Drums & Drumming Feb. 69/4 We played the drum with and without a ring muffler.

1875 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. II. 1494/2 Muffler, a soft cushion employed to terminate or soften a note.

1980 New Grove Dict. Music & Musicians XII. 452/1 Moderator pedal (muffler pedal, celeste), a pedal that introduces a strip of cloth between the hammers and strings of a piano to produce a muted effect.

1895 I. K. Funk et al. Standard Dict. Eng. Lang. II. Muffler, a device to render noiseless the escape of steam from a vacuum-brake, exhaust-pipe, or safety-valve.

1896 Cosmopolitan Feb. 420/2 The noise of the exhaust is stifled in a muffler.

1897 G. D. Hiscox Gas Engines 86 Back-firings in the muffler and exhaust pipe.

1915 W. Irwin Men, Women & War 52 The grey motor cycles and automobiles streaked past, their mufflers cut out, chugging the message of death.

1931 Economist 28 Feb. 431/2 There is reason to believe that..mufflers, chassis springs,..and accessories are all being manufactured or obtained in France.

1973 J. M. White Garden Game 136 There was a horrible grinding and clanking under the car..and I did mental arithmetic about the bill for a new muffler.

1987 Hot Rod Aug. 28/3 A good dual-exhaust system and free-flowing mufflers are part of the program if you want your engine to perform properly.

1868 Sussex Gloss. in D. E. Hurst Horsham (1889) Muffler, a long-tail tit.

1889 O. V. Aplin Birds Oxfordshire 214 (Local Names) Muffler = Great-crested Grebe.

1984 W. B. Lockwood Oxf. Bk. Brit. Bird Names 106/2 Muffler, an Oxon. term for the Great Crested Grebe. It alludes to the crest, muffle being a local expression for a tuft of feathers.