The peace breaker's muzzle was a torture device which would be fitted to the face of the victim. In the past, various forms of masks and muzzles were used to silence breakers of the peace, whether blasphemers, political firebrands, or wanton gadabouts.

Typically harmless, they were often ornately carved by way of ridicule, whether bedecked with a pig's snout, donkey's ears, or a devil's horns. The business end of the mask occasionally bore a funnel that rested on the tongue and led inevitably into the throat. The funnel could be used to most persuasive effect on uncooperative victims through the force-feeding of fluids, whether as innocuous as salt water or as unsavory as the torturers' imaginations could muster (e.g. vinegar, urine, diarrhea).

See also

• Brank
• Scold's bridle