mutter

Formsmutters, muttering, muttered

Pluralmutters

1. 1
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To utter words, especially complaints or angry remarks, indistinctly and in a low voice, almost under one's breath.

   The old man would mutter complaints whenever the train was late.

   Drivers often mutter curses when traffic comes to a standstill.

   Similarmumble, grumble, murmur

   Oppositeshout

   Note

   Here the low voice carries a grievance. What is muttered is usually a complaint, a curse, or grudging thanks. Two prepositions shape it. Muttering to yourself means the words are meant for no one. Muttering at someone means they are aimed but never quite delivered, as with Nadal at the umpire in Jamie Jackson's 2012 Wimbledon report. When the words blur past sense, the incoherent meaning takes over.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   A low, half-suppressed utterance, or a single instance of speaking indistinctly under one's breath.

   A faint mutter of discontent spread through the crowd.

   She replied with a mutter, barely audible over the rain.

   Similarmurmur, mumble, grumble

   Note

   The noun keeps the sound of its origin. Middle English muteren, moteren was imitative, echoing the low noise it names, and its kin share that hush: Low German mustern 'to whisper', German muttern, Old Norse muðla 'to murmur', Latin muttīre. As a noun it often measures how little was said, as in 'with barely a mutter', or takes 'of' to name a mood: a mutter of discontent.

3. 3
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To speak softly and unclearly, with words that run together or come out only half-formed.

   Half-asleep, she would mutter fragments of sentences no one could follow.

   The patient began to mutter, his words slurring into one another.

   Similarmumble, murmur

   Oppositeenunciate, articulate

4. 4
   verbintransitive

   To produce a low, continuous rumbling sound, as distant thunder or heavy machinery does.

   The volcano continued to mutter for days before the eruption.

   Distant guns muttered along the horizon throughout the night.

   Similarrumble, grumble, growl

   Note

   The sound sense has no speaker behind it. A word for a low human voice was transferred to thunder, guns and engines. Pope's Iliad (1715–1720) gives it a classic line, 'the muttering thunder rolls'. The present participle is its most natural form: muttering thunder, an engine muttering in the driveway. The shift is easy for a verb whose roots, told under the noun, already imitated the noise.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   Green peas, especially as a component of Indian dishes such as curries and rice preparations.

   The cook stirred mutter into the spiced tomato base.

   A generous handful of mutter brightened the rice.

   Similarpeas

   Note

   A separate word that only shares the spelling. It comes from Hindi maṭar and has no tie to the imitative verb. It belongs to Indian cooking, where it names the green peas paired with paneer or rice. In English it behaves as a mass noun, like 'peas' with the plural built in. You stir in mutter or add a handful of mutter, never one mutter.

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