King James Bible Dictionary

MUSE, noun s as z. [Latin 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, verb intransitive s as z. [Latin 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, Latin 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 143:5.

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, verb transitive To think on; to meditate on.

MU'SEFUL, adjective Thinking deeply or closely; silently thoughtful.

Full of museful mopings.

MU'SELESS, adjective Disregarding the power of poetry.

MU'SER, noun One who thinks closely in silence, or one apt to be absent in mind.

MU'SET, noun The place through which the hare goes to relief; a hunting term.

MUSE'UM, noun [Gr. a place for the muses or for study.]

A house or apartment appropriated as a repository of things that have an immediate relation to the arts; a cabinet of curiosities.