sourdine

Etymology

From French sourdine.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /sʊəˈdiːn/

Noun

sourdine (plural sourdines)

1. (music, historical) A muted trumpet.
2. (music, historical) A mute; a damper.

Adjective

sourdine (comparative more sourdine, superlative most sourdine)

1. Muffled, muted; subdued.
   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor, Penguin 2011, p. 436:

     The streets had been considerably quieter in the sourdine Past.

Noun

sourdine f (plural sourdines)

1. mute (something that reduces the emitted sound)
2. (music) mute

Verb

sourdine

1. first-person singular present indicative of sourdiner
2. third-person singular present indicative of sourdiner
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of sourdiner
4. first-person singular present subjunctive of sourdiner
5. second-person singular imperative of sourdiner

Further reading

• “sourdine” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).