From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmuzzlemuz‧zle1 /ˈmʌzəl/ noun [countable] 1 HBAthe nose and mouth of an animal, especially a dog or horse2 DHPa cover that you put over a dog’s mouth to stop it from biting people3 PMWthe open end of a gun, where the bullets come out
Examples from the Corpus
muzzle• Don't forget a muzzle is very helpful in those early days.• I glanced at the blasting muzzles on my left and realized that we were beginning to line up on the barrels.• The dog lifted his muzzle to pick up a scent.• The silenced muzzle of a gun stabbed out of the darkness and spat twice.• One carried a rifle by its stock, a. 30 -. 30, the muzzle bouncing off his toe.• Two small batteries fitted the butt while the beam escaped at the muzzle.• If the muzzle has been properly tied the ferret will be free to lick but not to bite.• You could actually see the shockwave zip out of the muzzle.• I could see the muzzle flashes in the tree line fifty yards away, which blocked our take-off path.muzzlemuzzle2 verb [transitive] 1 PREVENTto prevent someone from saying what they think in public SYN gag an attempt by the government to muzzle the country’s media2 DHPto put a muzzle over a dog’s mouth so that it cannot bite people→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
muzzle• He reeled away as Barnabas was dragged into the back seat and muzzled.• The people might be made to kneel, but the elements were not quite so easy to muzzle.• The Arab avant-garde was carefully muzzled and its rowdiest members sent off, willingly or unwillingly, to London and Paris.• Democracy activists have been effectively muzzled by these tough new laws.• Newspapers had been muzzled by wartime censorship.• Against this background, the muzzling of 16 reformist newspapers can only be seen as an assault on popular sovereignty.• Attempts to muzzle the country's media have failed.• Frequently, employees are muzzled, threatened with dismissal or fired.• That is why the politicians want to muzzle us and control what we write and you read.Origin muzzle1 (1300-1400) Old French musel, from muse “mouth of an animal”, from Medieval Latin musus 