Literary notes about muffled (AI summary)
The word "muffled" in literature often conveys a sense of obscured sound or emotion, adding layers of suspense or introspection to a scene. Authors use it to suggest voices or sounds that are intentionally restrained or softened, as when agitation seeps into speech [1] or drunkenness clouds a character’s voice [2]. It also paints ears with the quality of distance or suppression, like the far-off ring of a bell [3] or the subdued thud of oars against water [4]. At times, the term deepens the imagery by implying concealment—whether a character is bundled up in a cloak that hides their identity [5, 6] or when nature itself seems to hold its breath behind a muted sky [7].
- “Tell them I'm gone—gone to Stoniton,” he said in a muffled tone of agitation—sprang into the saddle, and set off at a gallop.
— from Adam Bede by George Eliot - His eyes were dim and watery; his hands were unsteady; his voice was choked and muffled with drink.
— from Lady Audley's Secret by M. E. Braddon - A bell rings, but with such a muffled note that it seems to come from far away.
— from Project Gutenberg Compilation of Short Stories by Chekhov by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov - I thought I heard a sound—the muffled sound of oars, so I listened, and then shouted.
— from Dracula's Guest by Bram Stoker - PRIMERA SCENE I Don Luis Mejía, embozado (Don Luis, muffled in his cloak)
— from Don Juan Tenorio by José Zorrilla - She sits in the corner, muffled in her veil, and neither speaks nor looks up—timid as a wild chamois!
— from A Hero of Our Time by Mikhail Iurevich Lermontov - An unvaried pall of cloud muffled the whole expanse of sky from zenith to horizon.
— from The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
