late 14c., mewet "silent, not speaking," from Old French muet "dumb, mute" (12c.), diminutive of mut, mo, from Latin mutus "silent, speechless, dumb," probably from imitative base *meue- (source also of Sanskrit mukah "dumb," Greek myein "to be shut," of the mouth). Form assimilated in 16c. to Latin mutus. The meaning "incapable of utterance, dumb" is by mid-15c.

"capable of being pictured or painted," 1796, from picture (v.) + -able. Related: Picturably; picturability.

"become quiet or calm, become silent," 1821, from Latin quiescere "to rest," from suffixed form of PIE root *kweie- "to rest, be quiet."

An initial consonant combination common in Greek; the p- typically is silent in English words that have it but pronounced in French, German, etc.

"photograph picture obtained by the use of cyanide," 1842, from cyan- + ending from daguerreotype (see type (n.)).

late 14c., "to form a mental picture (of something), imagine," from Old French imagier, from image (see image (n.)). Related: Imaged; imaging.

"stop (what one is doing), run off," 1812, thieves' slang, of uncertain origin. The meaning "to smile" is from 1930 (see cheese (n.1)). For the sense of "annoy," see cheesed.

CHEESE IT. Be silent, be quiet, don't do it. Cheese it, the coves are fly; be silent, the people understand our discourse. ["Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence," London, 1811]

also bio-pic, 1951, a contraction of biographical (moving) picture. Frequent from mid-1951 in Billboard magazine and possibly coined by staffers there.

c. 1400, "keep from view or use, render inaccessible" early 15c., "to lock up, confine," from shut (v.) + up (adv.). The meaning "cause to stop talking" is from 1814 (Jane Austen). The intransitive meaning "cease from speaking" is from 1840, also as a command to be silent, sometimes colloquialized in print as shuddup (1940). Put up or shut up "defend yourself or be silent" is U.S. slang, by 1868.

1630s, "rest, quiet, satisfaction," from French acquiescence, noun of action from acquiescer "to yield or agree to; be at rest" (see acquiesce). Meaning "silent consent, passive assent" is recorded from 1640s.