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Muse definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MUSE, n. s as z. [L. musa.]
1. Properly, song; but in usage, the deity or power of poetry. Hence poets in modern times, as in ancient, invoke the aid of the Muse or Muses, or in other words,the genius of poetry.
Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring,
What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing?
2. Deep thought; close attention or contemplation which abstracts the minds from passing scenes; hence sometimes, absence of mind.
As in great muse, no word to creature spake.
He was fill'd
With admiration and deep muse to hear
Of things so high and strange.
MUSE, v.i. s as z. [L. musso and mussito, to mutter or murmur, to demur, to be silent. The Greek signifies to press, or utter sound with the lips compressed. The latter verb belongs to a sound uttered through the nose or with close lips, or of the same family, L. mussitatio. The word then primarily denotes what we call humming, to hum, as persons do when idle, or alone and steadily occupied.]
1. To ponder; to think closely; to study in silence.
He mused upon some dangerous plot.
I muse on the works of thy hands. Psalms 143.
2. To be absent in mind; to be so occupied in study or contemplation, as not to observe passing scenes or things present.
3. To wonder.
Do not muse of me.
MUSE, v.t. To think on; to meditate on.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: in ancient Greek mythology any of 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; protector of an art or science
2: the source of an artist's inspiration; "Euterpe was his muse" v
1: reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate" [syn: chew over, think over, meditate, ponder, excogitate, contemplate, muse, reflect, mull, mull over, ruminate, speculate]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (mused; musing) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French muser to gape, idle, muse, from Old French *mus mouth of an animal, from Medieval Latin musus Date: 14th century intransitive verb 1. to become absorbed in thought; especially to turn something over in the mind meditatively and often inconclusively 2. archaic wonder, marvel transitive verb to think or say reflectively Synonyms: see ponder • muser noun II. noun Date: 15th century a state of deep thought or dreamy abstraction III. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, from Latin Musa, from Greek Mousa Date: 14th century 1. capitalized any of the nine sister goddesses in Greek mythology presiding over song and poetry and the arts and sciences 2. a source of inspiration; especially a guiding genius 3. poet

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. 1 (as the Muses) (in Greek and Roman mythology) nine goddesses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who inspire poetry, music, drama, etc. 2 (usu. prec. by the) a a poet's inspiring goddess. b a poet's genius. Etymology: ME f. OF muse or L musa f. Gk mousa 2. v. & n. literary --v. 1 intr. a (usu. foll. by on, upon) ponder, reflect. b (usu. foll. by on) gaze meditatively (on a scene etc.). 2 tr. say meditatively. --n. archaic a fit of abstraction. Etymology: ME f. OF muser to waste time f. Rmc perh. f. med.L musum muzzle

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muse Muse, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Mused; p. pr. & vb. n. Musing.] [F. muser to loiter or trifle, orig., to stand with open mouth, fr. LL. musus, morsus, muzzle, snout, fr. L. morsus a biting, bite, fr. mordere to bite. See Morsel, and cf. Amuse, Muzzle, n.] 1. To think closely; to study in silence; to meditate. ``Thereon mused he.'' --Chaucer. He mused upon some dangerous plot. --Sir P. Sidney. 2. To be absent in mind; to be so occupied in study or contemplation as not to observe passing scenes or things present; to be in a brown study. --Daniel. 3. To wonder. [Obs.] --Spenser. B. Jonson. Syn: To consider; meditate; ruminate. See Ponder.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muse Muse, v. t. 1. To think on; to meditate on. Come, then, expressive Silence, muse his praise. --Thomson. 2. To wonder at. [Obs.] --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muse Muse, n. [From F. musse. See Muset.] A gap or hole in a hedge, hence, wall, or the like, through which a wild animal is accustomed to pass; a muset. Find a hare without a muse. --Old Prov.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muse Muse, n. [F. Muse, L. Musa, Gr. ?. Cf. Mosaic, n., Music.] 1. (Class. Myth.) One of the nine goddesses who presided over song and the different kinds of poetry, and also the arts and sciences; -- often used in the plural. Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring: What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing? --Pope. Note: The names of the Muses were Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polymnia or Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Urania. 2. A particular power and practice of poetry. --Shak. 3. A poet; a bard. [R.] --Milton.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Muse Muse, n. 1. Contemplation which abstracts the mind from passing scenes; absorbing thought; hence, absence of mind; a brown study. --Milton. 2. Wonder, or admiration. [Obs.] --Spenser.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(muses, musing, mused) 1. If you muse on something, you think about it, usually saying or writing what you are thinking at the same time. (WRITTEN) Many of the papers muse on the fate of the President... 'As a whole,' she muses, 'the 'organized church' turns me off'... He once mused that he would have voted Labour in 1964 had he been old enough. VERB: V on/about/over n, V with quote, V that • musing (musings) His musings were interrupted by Montagu who came and sat down next to him. N-COUNT 2. A muse is a person, usually a woman, who gives someone, usually a man, a desire to create art, poetry, or music, and gives them ideas for it. Once she was a nude model and muse to French artist Henri Matisse. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. Revery, abstraction, musing, deep thought, brown study, absence of mind, musing. II. v. n. 1. Ponder, meditate, contemplate, reflect, cogitate, deliberate, ruminate, think, brood. 2. Be absent-minded, be in a revery, be in a brown study, dream. III. v. a. (Poetical.) Consider, ponder, meditate on, think on.

Moby Thesaurus

Apollo, Apollo Musagetes, Bragi, Calliope, Castilian Spring, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Geist, Helicon, Hippocrene, Melpomene, Orpheus, Parnassus, Pierian Spring, Pierides, Polyhymnia, Polymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, afflatus, artistic imagination, conception, creative imagination, creative power, creative thought, creativity, daemon, daimonion, demon, divine afflatus, esemplastic imagination, esemplastic power, fire of genius, genius, inspiration, muse, mythicization, mythification, mythopoeia, poesy, poetic genius, poetic imagination, sacred Nine, shaping imagination, soul, spirit, talent, the Muses, the Nine, tuneful Nine

Moby Thesaurus

Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Parnassian, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia, Walter Mitty, absence of mind, absentmindedness, absorption, abstractedness, abstraction, allude to, artistic imagination, bard, be absent, be abstracted, bemusement, blurt, blurt out, brood, brood over, brown study, call attention to, castle-building, chaw, chew over, chew the cud, cogitate, comment, conception, consider, contemplate, creative imagination, creative power, creative thought, daydream, daydreamer, daydreaming, debate, deliberate, depth of thought, digest, divagate, dream, dreaming, engrossment, esemplastic imagination, esemplastic power, evaluate, exclaim, excogitate, fantasy, fantasying, fit of abstraction, genius, go woolgathering, inspiration, interject, introspect, let drop, let fall, make reference to, meditate, mention, moon, mooning, moonraking, mull over, musefulness, musing, muted ecstasy, mythicization, mythification, mythopoeia, note, observe, opine, perpend, pipe dream, pipe-dream, pipe-dreaming, play around with, play with, poetic imagination, ponder, preoccupation, refer to, reflect, remark, reverie, revolve, roll, ruminate, shaping imagination, speak, speculate, stargaze, stargazing, stray, study, think about, think over, toy with, trance, turn over, wander, weigh, woolgathering