muff

plural muffs

1. A piece of fur or cloth, usually open at both ends, used to keep 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 of ruddy hair and the white curve of a youthful face, half-buried in a muff.

   1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter I, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

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

   .

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

3. slangvulgarA woman or girl.
4. artsA blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
5. The feathers sticking out from both sides of the face under the beak of some birds.
6. A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object such as a pipe.

plural muffs

1. colloquialA fool, a stupid or poor-spirited person.First known use 19th c.

   […]being good is so much like being a muff, generally.

   1901, E. Nesbit, The Wouldbegoods

   1 more example

   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

2. slanghobbiesAn error, a mistake; a failure to hold a ball when once in the hands.First known use 19th c.
3. A bird, the whitethroat.

present singular third person muffs · participle present muffing · participle past muffed · past muffed

1. hobbiesTo drop or mishandle (the ball, a catch etc.); to play badly.First known use 19th c.
2. To mishandle; to bungle.First known use 1920s

   The play got off to a bad start when the actresses muffed the opening lines.

   2 more examples

   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, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 69

plural muffs

1. slangA muffin.

   Skinny lattes and a couple of blueberry muffs.

   2010, Lindsay G. Arthur, The Litigators, page 63

2. rareslangA term of endearment.

   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 alt.hentai.sailor-moon (Usenet), archived from the original on 13 Apr 2026

   2 more examples

   “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. 2”, in alt.sex.stories (Usenet), archived from the original on 13 Apr 2026

   “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 Final Fight (Fighting; 8), published 2023, →ISBN

plural Muffs

1. A surname.
2. A diminutive of the female given name Myfanwy.

1. A village in County Donegal, Ireland.
2. An unincorporated community in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, United States.