the.com/muzzle
The business end of a gun and the polite end of a dog, sharing one tense word.
means The muzzle is the projecting nose and jaws of an animal, a strap-and-cage device fitted over them to prevent biting, or the front opening of a firearm's barrel; as a verb, to silence or restrain.
from From Old French 'musel' (snout), from Medieval Latin 'musellum,' a diminutive of 'musus' — a snout or muzzle, the same root that gives us 'muzzle' as in nose. The animal sense came first; English borrowed it in the 1300s. From the snout it stretched naturally to the strap that covers a snout, then to the front end of a gun (the place where the barrel opens like a mouth), and finally to the verb 'to muzzle' — to clamp something shut, whether a dog's jaws or a person's tongue.
- muzzle velocity
- Bullets can leave faster than 1,200 meters per second
- flash hider
- Muzzle devices tame blinding fireball, not actual recoil
- animal restraint
- Basket muzzles let dogs pant, bark, drink freely
- to muzzle
- The verb means silencing speech, not just snouts
greyhound racing muzzles — required safety equipment in uk greyhound racing since 1906 to prevent injury during competition
bear muzzle — metal device used in russian bear wrestling performances and medieval european bear baiting events
horse muzzle — fabric or wire basket fitted on horses to prevent eating during transport or in certain training situations