muse

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“
But his muse is a chaotic not a cosmic one.

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Definitions (20)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. intransitive verb To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation.
  2. transitive verb To consider or say thoughtfully: mused that it might take longer to drive than walk.
  3. noun A state of meditation.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (9)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (5)

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Examples (50)

  • I'm never afraid of being out nights I'm not either," Angela Dare said, "that is, not if my muse is along. —  Blue Bonnet in Boston or, Boarding-School Days at Miss North's
  • He informs us that the first effusions of his muse were in consequence of studying that ancient romance, which, his tutor observing him to devour with the keenness of a famished man, snatched from his hands and flung it in the fire. —  Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
  • In fact, Raymond tried his hand at a few short stories--still another muse was fluttering about his temples. —  On the Stairs
  • Had she been reverting to her former studies and thrown herself into the finest conceivable posture of the tragic muse, her appearance would not have been half so beautiful and affecting. —  Frank Mildmay The Naval Officer
  • Romeo and Juliet was certainly an early production of his muse, and one which excited much interest, as may well be imagined, amongst the younger portion of theatrical spectators There is high satisfaction in observing, that the age showed itself worthy of the immortal genius whom it had produced and fostered. —  Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

swain ·  bard ·  poetry ·  lyre ·  goddess ·  mien ·  eloquence ·  genius ·  nymph ·  personage ·  interlude ·  write

Used in the same contextWord Family

muse:   Muse ·  mused ·  musing ·  muses
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (4)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English musen, from Old French muser (possibly from mus, snout, from Medieval Latin mūsum) and or of Germanic origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. from Middle English muse, from Old French muse, muze, musing, amusement, from muser, muse: see muse, v.
  2. from Old French muse, French muse = Provencal Spanish Portuguese Italian musa = Dutch muze = German muse = Swedish Danish muse, from Latin musa, from Greek μοῦσα, Æolic μοῑσα, Doric μῶσα, Laconian μῶα or μῶἁ, a Muse (see def. 1), hence also music, song, eloquence, in plural arts, accomplishments, and in general fitness, propriety; prob. contr. of *μάουσα (reg. contr. μῶσα), feminine present participle of *μάειν, a defective verb (perfect μέμαα, part, μεμαώς, present mid. μῶσθαι), strive after, seek after, attempt, long for, desire eagerly, covet, etc. The literally meaning of μοῦσα is sometimes given as ‘inventress’ (as ancient writers assumed), from the sense ‘invent’ inferred from the sense ‘seek after’; but the term more prob. referred to the emotion or passion, the “fine frenzy,” implied in the verb in the usual sense ‘strive after’(μεμαώς, excited), and in its derivatives, among which are counted μαίνεσθαι, be in a frenzy, μανία, frenzy, madness, μάντις, a seer, prophet, etc.: see mania, Mantis. Hence museum, music, mosaic, etc.
  3. from Old French mussc, a little hole or corner to hide things in, from musser, hide: see miche, mooch, mouch.
 

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