v. [UN-2 4.]
1. trans. (and refl.). To divest of something that muffles or conceals the face.
1611. Cotgr., Desaffubler, to vnmuffle, vnhood, vnhoodwinke.
1629. Davenant, Albovine, IV. i. Were my lean Iaws unmuffled you should see me mump.
a. 1652. Brome, Queen & Concubine, IV. iv. Take off his false beard;… And let the woman be unmuffled.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), I. 442. He muffled up my head all round, as with the hood of a great-coat…. In this guise he held me some time…. He then unmuffled and let me go.
1838. Lytton, Alice, VII. iv. The rest … unmuffled themselves of cloaks.
1851. Hawthorne, Twice-told T., II. i. 21. ‘Villain, unmuffle yourself!’ cried he.
fig. and in fig. context. 1652. Benlowes, Theoph., XI. lxxii. Unmuffle, ye dim clouds, and disinherit From black usurping mists his spirit.
1685. Ld. Halifax, Char. Trimmer (1688), 28. ’Twill be worth his pains to see if he [sc. a papist] can unmuffle himself from the Mask of Infallibility.
1886. W. Alexander, St. Aug. Holiday, etc. 137. And darkness was unmuffled, and was ripp’d Like crape from heaven’s jewell’d hilt.
b. To remove the muffling of (a drum).
1828–32. Webster.
2. intr. To remove or cast off a muffling.
1634. Milton, Comus, 331. Unmuffle ye faint stars, and thou fair Moon,… Stoop thy pale visage through an amber cloud.
1830. trans. Aristoph., Birds, 941. Pisthetærus. What means this? What muffling is this? Prometheus. After a while I will unmuffle.
