Silencer

Silencer

Noun · /ˈsaɪlənsər/ · a device or person that suppresses sound

Definition

A silencer is anything that reduces, suppresses, or eliminates unwanted noise. Most commonly it refers to a firearm suppressor — a cylindrical device attached to a gun barrel that reduces the sound of the shot by allowing escaping gases to expand and cool before leaving the barrel. In everyday use, a silencer is also the exhaust muffler on a vehicle, keeping engine noise within legal limits. Metaphorically, a silencer is any force — legal, social, or political — that suppresses a voice or stifles expression.

Origin

Silencer is formed from the verb silence plus the agent suffix -er, meaning one who or that which silences. The word silence itself comes from Latin silentium, from silere, to be still. The firearm suppressor sense was popularised after American inventor Hiram Percy Maxim patented his Maxim Silencer in 1909. He borrowed the marketing term from the automotive world, where mufflers were already called silencers in British English. The word carries both a mechanical precision and an ominous metaphorical weight depending on context.