muffin

plural muffins

1. UKA type of flattish bun, usually cut in two horizontally, toasted and spread with butter, etc., before being eaten.

   “A cup of tea and a muffin, please,” he ordered.

   1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC

   4 more examples

   […] but he had still at intervals a kind listener in Mrs. Phillips, and was by her watchfulness, most abundantly supplied with coffee and muffin.

   1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XVI, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 174

   We take a less gloomy view of our errors now our father confessor listens to us over his egg and coffee. We are more distinctly conscious that rude penances are out of the question for gentlemen in an enlightened age, and that mortal sin is not incompatible with an appetite for muffins.

   1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter XVI, in Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC

   It was felt at once that the mouth did not come over from Sleswig with a band of Saxon pirates whose lips met like the two halves of a muffin.

   1878 January–December, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], published 1878, →OCLC

   Little did poor Doctor Walker imagine as he sat at his breakfast-table next morning that the two sweet girls who sat on either side of him were deep in a conspiracy, and that he, munching innocently at his muffins, was the victim against whom their wiles were planned.

   1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, Beyond the City

   Synonyms: English muffin

2. A cupcake-shaped baked good (for example of cornbread, banana bread, or a chocolate dough), sometimes glazed but typically without frosting, eaten especially for breakfast (in contrast to a cupcake, which is a dessert).

   […] to prepare sustenance like roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, vinaigrettes, guacamole, and bananabread muffins.

   2007, New York, volume 40, page 129

   5 more examples

   Aubrey got a bowl of soup, a cup of coffee, beef stew, and bran muffins, and took them to an empty seat by the window. He ate with one eye on the street.

   1919, Christopher Morley, “(please specify the page)”, in The Haunted Bookshop, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC

   Newland and his wife had had no idea of obeying this injunction; but Mrs. Carfry, with her usual acuteness, had run them down and sent them an invitation to dine; and it was over this invitation that May Archer was wrinkling her brows across the tea and muffins.

   1920, Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

   To start we'll go with an easy choice, a delicious chocolate muffin made with Mexican chocolate that goes well with ice cream or fruit […]

   2014, Martha Stone, Muffin Tin Menus: 32 Recipes That Are Delicious and Easy to Make, page 1

   Dust the frosted muffins with cocoa powder. […] Store extras in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. The muffins can be frozen if unfrosted, but do not freeze the frosting.

   2017, Maria Emmerich, Keto Comfort Foods, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 58

   Originally, I planned to write two sections here – one about how you get flat cupcakes and one about how to get tall, domed muffins. It quickly became clear that I was pretty much writing the same thing twice: factors that make cupcakes flat in opposite make muffins domed, unsurprisingly enough.

   2021, Katarina Cermelj, Baked to Perfection: Delicious gluten-free recipes with a pinch of science, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN

3. colloquialendearingTerm of endearment.

   I love you, muffin!

   Synonyms: cupcake, babber, babe, precious, bae, baby, babycakes, bubba

4. slangvulgarThe vulva or vagina; pubic hair around it.

   Is your muffin buttered?

   2004, Tina Fey, Mean Girls (motion picture), spoken by Jason (Daniel DeSanto)

   2 more examples

   I wanna be stuffin' Martha's muffin!

   1986, “Stuffin' Martha's Muffin”, in Frenzy, performed by Mojo Nixon and Skid Roper

   She peeled off her clothes and stretched out on a towel. At first she lay still, then slowly Maddie slid a hand down her smooth tummy and into her muffin.

   2012 September 28, Barely Legal, →ISSN, page 42

   Synonyms: muff, axe wound, bearded clam, beaver, berk, bonne bouche, box, bun

5. slangball gamesA less talented player; one who muffs, or drops the ball.
6. dated or LGBTQ slangA charming, attractive young man.
7. datedA small plate, smaller than a twiffler.
8. Northern EnglandUKdialectalespecially ManchesterA roll, bap or cob, which may or may not be flat or toasted.
9. slanghobbiesA very weak shot in ice hockey where the puck does not travel fast.
10. CanadaarchaicslangA young woman who would regularly accompany a particular man during a social season.First known use late 1800s

    I had a charming muffin yesterday. She is engaged to be married, so don't be alarmed.

    1854, Margaret Oliphant, quoting Laurence Oliphant, Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant and of Alice Oliphant, His Wife, new edition, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1892, page 92

    2 more examples

    The fair Canadians may have been too kind in accepting the name and position of "muffins" from the young Britishry; but the latter cannot say they have suffered much in consequence. A muffin is simply a lady who sits beside the male occupant of the sleigh—Sola cum solo, "and all the rest is leather and prunella."

    [1865, William Howard Russell, Canada: Its Defenses, Condition, and Resources, London: Bradbury and Evans, page 149

    A long string of two-seated sleighs, a pleasant tête-à-tête drive for many miles snugly ensconced in the buffalo robes with your "muffin" by your side, a halt at some hospitable settler's, and an impromptu dance in his barn, with a return journey in the crisp moonlight air, left impressions that are still vivid. ¶ The "muffin" was a social institution of those days, which may or may not have survived. Every young swain by unwritten but acknowledged law was permitted to make his choice of a partner for the season, with whom he danced exclusively, and whom he drove in his sleigh and skated with hand in hand.

    1904, Arthur Griffiths, Fifty Years of Public Service, London […]: Cassel and Company, Limited, pages 52–53

11. Java programming languageA mechanism used in the Java Network Launching Protocol analogous to the cookie mechanism and which permits a program running in a browser to perform operations on a client machine.

    The name/value pairs provided by the PersistenceService are similar to browser cookies. The Java Web Start implementation honors this legacy by naming the pairs "muffins."

    2001 May 30, “Technical Articles and Tips”, in Sun Developer Network, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2008, JNLP and Java Web Start

present singular third person muffins · participle present muffining · participle past muffined · past muffined

1. intransitiveTo eat muffins.

   HAVE YOU muffined out, had more than your share of croissants?

   1988 February 28, Bea Lewis, “For Teatime Or Anytime”, in The Newsday Magazine, page 35

   5 more examples

   I dined yesterday at | three on mutton chops and 1/2 pint of E[ast] I [ndian] sherry, and then tead and muffined at 8.

   1837, Benjamin Disraeli, Benjamin Disraeli Letters: 1835-1837, Toronto; Buffalo; London: University of Toronto Press, published 1982, →ISBN, page 319

   And now comes a recipe guaranteed to keep the family happily muffined.

   1965 October 12, “Gingerbread Muffins Start Day Off Right”, in The Calgary Herald, Calgary, Alta., page 39

   NANCY SCRAPES OFF the mold without complaining because it is like a gift from Carl, and she doesn’t have the heart to tell him she is muffined out …

   1987 January 27, Concetta Doucette, “Savings”, in Impact (Albuquerque Journal Magazine), volume 10, number 15, page 13

   We met about 8:00 A.M. for the usual continental breakfast – I am getting over muffined!

   2005, Marlin E. Misner, editor, History of the Reagan Home: The Boyhood Home in Dixon, Illinois, →ISBN, page 35

   ‘So what I can get you to celebrate. Bit of cake?’ ‘I’m all muffined up, thanks!’

   2007, Jane Sigaloff, The Romancipation of Maggie Hunter, Red Dress Ink, →ISBN, page 159

2. transitiveTo feed muffins to.

   Grandma Bessie saw me and muffined me.

   2023, Earl Laman, chapter 20, in Being With…, Meadville, Pa.: Fulton Books, →ISBN

   3 more examples

   But one or two evil-disposed characters muttered they might be sure the lady had her own turn to serve, and they might be sure they wasn't "teaed and muffined and sandwiched for nothing!"

   1866, Emma Jane Worboise, “The St. Beetha’s Temperance Society”, in St. Beetha’s; or, The Heiress of Arne, London: “Christian World” Office, […]; Jackson, Walford, and Hodder, […], →OCLC, page 213

   We were caffeined and muffined and then asked to seat ourselves at any of several large round tables.

   1999, Working Woman, page 96

   Well, you know, my mother always told me to welcome new neighbors with muffins, and I just realized you’ve already been here six months and I still haven’t gotten around to baking muffins for you … Well anyway, that’s all I wanted to tell you — consider yourself muffined!

   2001, Nancy Huston, Dolce Agonia, Toronto, Ont.: McArthur & Company, →ISBN, page 102

3. intransitiveTo become like a muffin; to increase in size.

   Beers rested on bellies that muffined over shorts.

   2014, David Mason, Walk Across Australia: The First Solo Crossing, Rosenberg Publishing, →ISBN

   5 more examples

   A pale band of flesh muffined up over her shorts, her lively top not quite up to the task of covering it, and Chrissy tugged at the fabric ineffectively.

   2009 August, Sophie Littlefield, A Bad Day for Sorry, New York, N.Y.: Minotaur Books, →ISBN, page 48

   In spite of wearing the largest size of body armor available, her ample breasts were simply much too big, and deliciously muffined over the top.

   2009 December, James Axler [house name; Nick Pollotta], “Prologue”, in Time Castaways (Deathlands), Worldwide Library, page 16

   Baby fat muffined over the top of Rebecca’s jeans.

   2013, E[lizabeth] F[rancine] Winters, chapter 15, in Sharks and Minnows (book one of The Jolie Chronicles), Kenspeckle Productions, LLC, →ISBN, page 173

   Allan Grace was lean, but his neck muffined out over the crisp white collar.

   2014, Terry Dowling, “The Four Darks”, in Ellen Datlow, editor, Fearful Symmetries: An Anthology of Horror, ChiZine Publications, →ISBN, page 117

   It may have been Nurse Agnes’ looping signature that touched him off, or the way flesh muffined from the pumps of the fat lady that boarded the bus at his stop every morning: a spark is a spark, and one was as good as any other.

   2016, Adam Biles, Feeding Time, Galley Beggar Press, →ISBN

4. transitiveTo make like a muffin.

   Muffined Eggs with Mushrooms

   1990, Caleb Pirtle, The Land Where We Belong, Leisure Time Publishing, →ISBN, page 91

   3 more examples

   Twanty-two harrin’ and t’ree ship’s biscuits, muffined like! Ah, yew doan’t know what muffined biscuits be!

   1920, The Windsor Magazine: An Illustrated Monthly for Men and Women, page 418

   WE HAVE too many raisins in our cake; / Our bread is muffined.

   1924, Edmund Vance Cooke, “Fat”, in Companionable Poems, page 183

   Toques high as Queen Mary’s or low as a pillbox, extended and thickened and muffined at the edge.

   1944, Harper’s Bazaar, page 63

present singular third person muffins · participle present muffining · participle past muffined · past muffined

1. historicaltransitivecomputingAlternative letter-case form of MUFFIN.

   (The package may also be “muffined” by those users who wish to take advantage of the greater disk capacity available using the new Apple DOS 3.3).

   1981 July 6, Joel Pitt, “InfoWorld Software Review: Micro-Painter: Apple Coloring Program”, in InfoWorld, section “Usefulness”, page 16

   2 more examples

   Print II is supplied on a DOS 3.2 disk (it can be muffined to DOS 3.3 ), which contains programs to customize Print II for specific memory configurations and several simple demonstration programs.

   1982, Microcomputing, page 157

   Second, any material that is indicated as 3.2 DOS must either be muffined to 3.3 DOS, or booted after using the Basics Utility to reconfigure your DOS to 13-sector.[…]DOS 3.2 is used in this mode, but files may be muffined to DOS 3.3 if desired.

   1983, InCider, pages 83 and 92

1. rareA female given name.
2. A surname.

present singular third person Muffins · participle present Muffining · participle past Muffined · past Muffined

1. Alternative letter-case form of MUFFIN.

   No disk swapping or Muffining.

   1984, Nibble

   2 more examples

   Microsoft’s and SDS’s compilers come on 3.2 disks that may be Muffined to 3.3.

   1981, The Book of Apple Computer Software, The Book Company, page 192

   Muffining Integer Basic Plus to DOS 3.3[…]DUAL BOOT is an excellent tool for modifying adventure disks and other disks that can not be Muffined to DOS 3.3 disks.

   1982, Call-A.P.P.L.E.

present singular third person MUFFINs · participle present MUFFINing · participle past MUFFINed · past MUFFINed · alternative Muffin · alternative muffin

1. transitivecomputingTo transfer files between 13-sector and 16-sector Apple II diskettes, as with MUFFIN (Move Utility For Files In NewDOS.)

   Must be MUFFINed to a DOS 3.3 disk before use.

   1982, Nibble

   5 more examples

   Remember, MUFFINing a diskette won't harm your 13 sector diskette, and you can always boot 13 sector diskettes using BASICS.

   1980, Apple II, the DOS Manual: Disk Operating System

   This presents no problem other than, of course, any 13 sector CCA files having to be MUFFINed to 16 sectors.

   1981, The Book of Apple Computer Software, The Book Company, page 93

   This does not apply to normal programs; they can be MUFFINed over and used with no trouble.

   1981 May, John Sharp, “DOS Differences”, in HARDCORE - The Journal of the British Apple Systems User Group, volume 1, number 3, page 17

   The software is supplied in DOS 3.2.1 format, and I had no problem in MUFFINing it to DOS 3.3 format.

   1982, Byte, page 220

   It will run on a 48K APPLE 11+, after BRUNning Integer Basic-Disk from WAP Library disk 14 (which should be MUFFINed over to the DOS 3.3. disk on which this One-Oven program, as well as MUFFIN from your Master disk, have also been saved).

   1982 November, George V. Kinal, “"One Oven Muffin" Updated”, in Washington Apple Pi, volume 4, number 11, page 44