WHISPER, breathe; mutter (speak imperfectly) [See Stammering]; susurrate [rare].
MURMUR, purl, hum, gurgle, ripple, babble, flow; rustle, tinkle.
steal on the ear, melt in the air, float on the air.
MUFFLE, deaden, mute, subdue.
IN A WHISPER, with bated breath, sotto voce [It.], between the teeth, aside; piano, pianissimo [both music], sordamente [It.], sordo [It.], à la sourdine [F.]; out of earshot; inaudibly &c. adj.
QUOTATIONS:
The mingled notes came softened from below.—Goldsmith
The beetle winds His small but sullen horn.—Collins
A little noiseless noise among the leaves, Born of the very sigh that silence heaves.—Keats
’Twas whispered in heaven, ’twas muttered in hell, And echo caught faintly the sound as it fell.—Fanshawe
