MUSE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Muse

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/mjuz/ Listen

noun

Muse n. 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."

Muse n.

(Class. Myth.) One of the nine goddesses, daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who presided over song and the different kinds of poetry, and also the arts and sciences; often used in the plural. At one time certain other goddesses were considered as muses. "Granville commands; your aid, O Muses, bring: What Muse for Granville can refuse to sing?" Note: The names of the Muses and the arts they presided over were: Calliope (Epic poetry), Clio (History), Erato (Lyric poetry), Euterpe (music), Melpomene (Tragedy), Polymnia or Polyhymnia (religious music), Terpsichore (dance), Thalia (comedy), and Urania (astronomy).

A particular power and practice of poetry; the inspirational genius of a poet.

A poet; a bard. (R.)

Muse n.

Contemplation which abstracts the mind from passing scenes; absorbing thought; hence, absence of mind; a brown study.

Wonder, or admiration. (Obs.)

verb

Muse v. t.

To think on; to meditate on. "Come, then, expressive Silence, muse his praise."

To wonder at. (Obs.)

Muse v. i. (past & past part. mused; pres. part. musing)

To think closely; to study in silence; to meditate. "Thereon mused he." "He mused upon some dangerous plot."

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.

To wonder. (Obs.)

Synonyms: To consider; meditate; ruminate. See Ponder.

See images of 'Muse'

Etymology of 'Muse'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Muse" Quotes from Famous Books

... but one way that I may live—to take every impulse that comes—to be watching, watching—to dare always and instantly, to hesitate, to put off never, to seize the skirt of my muse whenever it shimmers before me. So I make myself a habit, a routine, a discipline; and so each day I have new power. So each day I feel myself, I bare my arms, I walk erect, exulting—I laugh—I ...

— The Journal of Arthur Stirling - "The Valley of the Shadow" • Upton Sinclair

... he returned laughing. "But you must not make fun of my sweet mistress from Parnassus; it kept me sane and cool to woo my reluctant Muse. At times she frowned, and then I set my teeth hard and worked like a navvy; but when she smiled my pen seemed to fly in the sunlight, and I was warm ...

— Herb of Grace • Rosa Nouchette Carey

... mourning! aptly art thou named, For thou hast been the cause of many a tear; For deeds of treacherous strife too justly famed, The Atlantic's charnel—desolate and drear; A thing none love, though wand'ring thousands fear— If for a moment rest the Muse's wing Where through the waves thy sandy wastes appear, 'Tis that she may one strain of horror sing, Wild as the dashing waves ...

— Acadia - or, A Month with the Blue Noses • Frederic S. Cozzens

... 'twas I, you thought, had drew my Pen On Virtue, see I fight for her agen; Wherefore, I hope my Foes will all excuse Th' Extravagance of a Repenting Muse; Pardon whate'er she has too boldly said, She only acted then in Masquerade; But now the Vizard's off, She's chang'd her Scene, And turns a Modest, Civil Girl agen; Let some admire the Fops whose Talent lie Inventing dull, ...

— The Fifteen Comforts of Matrimony: Responses From Women • Various

... of poetical conception and design. To this it was not possible to do justice, and in the attempt I have doubtless very often need of the reader's indulgent consideration. My natural respect for the old gentleman's vagaries, with a muse of equivocal character, must be my only excuse whenever the language, without luxuriating into verse, borrows flowers scarcely natural to prose. Truth compels me also to confess, that, with all my pains, I am by no means sure that I have ...

— Zanoni • Edward Bulwer Lytton

More quotes...