Speechless; dumb; that cannot or will not speak. In English criminal law, a prisoner is said to stand mute when, being arraigned for treason or felony, he either makes no answer at all, or answers foreign to the purpose or with such matter as is not allowable, and will not answer otherwise, or, upon having pleaded not guilty, refuses to put himself upon the country. 4 Bl. Comm. 324.
