/ ˈmʌtə(r); NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
1.
mutter (sth) (to sb / yourself) (about sth) to speak or say sth in a quiet voice that is difficult to hear, especially because you are annoyed about sth :
[ v speech ]
'How dare she,' he muttered under his breath.
[ v ]
She just sat there muttering to herself.
[ vn ]
I muttered something about needing to get back to work.
[also v that ]
2.
mutter (about sth) to complain about sth, without saying publicly what you think
SYN grumble :
[ v ]
Workers continued to mutter about the management.
[also v that ]
■ noun
[ usually sing. ] a quiet sound or words that are difficult to hear :
the soft mutter of voices
••
WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English : imitative; compare with German dialect muttern .