Meaning

The protruding part of an animal's head which includes the nose, mouth and jaws..

Definitions by Sense

1. The protruding part of an animal's head which includes the nose, mouth and jaws.
2. (slang, derogatory, by extension) A person's mouth.
3. A device used to prevent an animal from biting or eating, which is worn on its snout.
4. (firearms) The mouth or the end for entrance or discharge of a gun, pistol etc., that the bullet emerges from.
5. (chiefly Scotland) A piece of the forward end of the plow-beam by which the traces are attached.
6. (obsolete, historical) An openwork covering for the nose, used for the defense of the horse, and forming part of the bards in the 15th and 16th centuries.
7. (transitive) To bind or confine an animal's mouth by putting a muzzle, as to prevent it from eating or biting.
8. (transitive, figuratively) To restrain (from speaking, expressing opinion or acting); to gag; to silence; to censor.

Example Sentences

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes, / The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes, […]

Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

Those who want to muzzle everyone else are likely nothing less than pseudovirtuous.

Man is brow-beaten, leashed, muzzled, masked, and lashed by boards and councils, by leagues and societies, by church and state.

Venus her self would sit Muzzling and Gazing them in the Eyes

And now, while they are climbing the pole in another part of the field, and muzzling in a flour-tub in another, the old farmer […] announces to all whom it may concern that a half-sovereign in money will be forthcoming to the old gamester who breaks most heads; […]

The Bear comes directly up to him, Muzzles and Smells to him.

Word Forms

• muzzles
• muzzling
• muzzled

Synonyms for muzzle

Related Words

When Should You Use Muzzle?

Use muzzle when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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