"one guilty of mutiny, person in military or naval service who openly resists authority of his officers," c. 1600, from French mutinier (16c.), from Middle French meutin "rebellious" (see mutiny (n.)). The earlier noun was mutine (1580s). As a verb from 1680s.

"engaged in or disposed to mutiny," 1570s, from mutine (see mutiny (n.)) + -ous. Related: Mutinously; mutinousness.

"to revolt against lawful authority, with or without armed resistance, especially in the army or navy," 1580s, from mutiny (n.). Alternative mutine is recorded from 1550s. Related: Mutinied; mutinying.

"forcible resistance of or revolt against constituted authority on the part of subordinates," especially "a revolt of soldiers or seamen against their commanding officers," 1560s, with noun suffix -y (4) + obsolete verb mutine "revolt" (1540s), from Middle French mutiner "to revolt," from meutin "rebellious," from meute "a revolt, movement," from Vulgar Latin *movita "a military uprising," from fem. past participle of Latin movere "to move" (from PIE root *meue- "to push away"). The Mutiny on the Bounty took place in 1789.

1901, "stupid or foolish person," probably a shortening of muttonhead (1803) in the same sense; see mutton and compare meathead, etc. Mutt was used by 1898 of a dog, especially a stupid one, and perhaps this is the same word formed independently (muttonhead also was used of stupid animals), or else a separate word of unknown derivation. Wright's "English Dialect Dictionary" (1900) has "Mutton! used in scolding a dog, prob. in allusion to the offence of sheep-worrying."

"That dog ain't no mutt," McManus would say as he stood behind the bar opening oysters; "no an he ain't no rube! Say! he's in it all the time when Charley trims the steaks." [Robert W. Chambers, "The Haunts of Men," 1898]

Used by 1910 in dog fancier publications to refer to a non-purebred animal.

Mutt and Jeff is by 1917 in reference to "a pair of stupid men, affable losers," or to one tall (Mutt) and one short (Jeff), from the comic strip characters from the heyday of the newspaper funny pages, Augustus Mutt and Jim Jeffries, in U.S. cartoonist Henry Conway ("Bud") Fisher's strip, which debuted in 1907.

"a murmur or murmuring," 1630s, from mutter (v.).

early 14c., moteren "to mumble, utter words in a low tone with compressed lips," from a common PIE imitative *mut- "to grunt, mutter" (source also of Old Norse muðla "to murmur," Latin muttire "to mutter," Old High German mutilon "to murmur, mutter; to drizzle"), with frequentative suffix -er. Related: Muttered; muttering.

"flesh of sheep used as food," c. 1300, mouton (c. 1200 as a surname), from Old French moton "mutton; ram, wether, sheep" (12c., Modern French mouton), from Medieval Latin multonem (8c.), probably [OED] from Gallo-Roman *multo-s, accusative of Celtic *multo "sheep" (source also of Old Irish molt "wether," Mid-Breton mout, Welsh mollt), which is perhaps from PIE root *mel- (1) "soft."

The same word also was borrowed into Italian as montone "a sheep," and mutton in Middle English also could mean "a sheep" (early 14c.). Transferred slang sense of "food for lust, loose women, prostitutes" (1510s) led to extensive British slang uses down to the present day for woman variously regarded as seeking lovers or as lust objects. Mutton chop "cut of mutton (usually containing a rib) for cooking" is from 1720; as a style of side whiskers from 1865, so called for the shape (narrow and prolonged at one end and rounded at the other).

"dull or stupid person," 1803, American English, from mutton + head (n.).