muff Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a warm tubular covering for the hands
  2. noun (sports) dropping the ball
    fumble.
  3. verb fail to catch, as of a ball
  4. verb make a mess of, destroy or ruin
    muck up; foul up; blow; botch up; botch; bollix; fumble; mishandle; bollocks; bumble; ball up; bobble; bollocks up; spoil; bollix up; fuck up; fluff; flub; bodge; louse up; mess up; screw up; bungle.
    • I botched the dinner and we had to eat out
    • the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement

WordNet

Muff noun
Etymology
Cf. LG. muff, D. mof, G., Dan., & Sw. muff, F. moufle mitten, LL. muffula, MHG. mouwe sleeve, D. mouw, and E. muffle, v.
Definitions
  1. A soft cover of cylindrical form, usually of fur, worn by women to shield the hands from cold.
  2. (Mech.) A short hollow cylinder surrounding an object, as a pipe.
  3. (Glass Manuf.) A blown cylinder of glass which is afterward flattened out to make a sheet.
  4. Perhaps a different word; cf. Prov. E. maffle to slammer. A stupid fellow; a poor-spirited person. Colloq. "A muff of a curate." Thackeray.
  5. See 4. (Baseball) A failure to hold a ball when once in the hands.
  6. (Zoöl.) The whitethroat. Prov. Eng.
Muff transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Muffed ; present participle & verbal noun Muffing
Definitions
  1. To handle awkwardly; to fumble; to fail to hold, as a ball, in catching it.

Webster 1913