sb. and a. rare. [a. F. sourdine, f. sourd deaf, dull: cf. SORDINE.]
A. sb. A muted trumpet.
a. 1678. Marvell, Upon Appleton House, lii. Misc. Poems (1681), 90. Death-Trumpets creak in such a Note, And ’tis the Sourdine in their Throat.
B. adj. Muffled, subdued. Also fig.
1898. N. Y. Times, 2 July (Cent.). The art of making a commonplace event striking by telling it in hints, as in the sourdine little tragedy of ‘A Modern Melodrama.’
1904. Agnes & Egerton Castle, in Windsor Mag., Dec., 166/2. A singular little tune, half sourdine, half pizzicato.
