Emily Dickinson Lexicon

MUS'CO-VY-DUCK, n.

The musk-duck, Anas moschata.

MUS'CO-VY-GLASS, n.

Mica, – which see.

MUS'CU-LAR, a. [from muscle.]

1. Pertaining to muscle; as, muscular fiber.
2. Performed by a muscle; as, muscular motion.
3. Strong; brawny; vigorous; as, a muscular body or frame.

MUS-CU-LAR'I-TY, n.

The state of being muscular. Grew.

MUS'CU-LAR-LY, adv.

In a muscular manner; strongly.

MUS'CU-LITE, n.

A petrified muscle or shell. Kirwan.

MUS'CU-LOUS, a. [L. musculosus.]

1. Full of muscles.
2. Strong; brawny.
3. Pertaining to a muscle or to muscles.

MUSE, n. [s as z; L. musa; Gr. μουσα. See the Verb.]

1. Properly, song; but in usage, the deity or power of poetry. Hence poets in modem 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? Pope.
2. Deep thought; close attention or contemplation which abstracts the mind from passing scenes; hence sometimes, absence of mind. As in great muse, no word to creature spake. Spenser. He was fill'd / With admiration and deep muse to hear / Of things so high and strange. Milton.

MUSE, v.i. [s as z; Fr. muser, to loiter or trifle; It. musare, to gaze, to stand idle; allied to this word probably are L. musso and mussito, to mutter or murmur, to demur, to be silent. The Greek μυζω, signifies to press, or utter sound with the lips compressed. The latter verb belongs to Class Mg; for μυγμα, a sound uttered through the nose or with close lips, is 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. If the elements of the word are Ms, it may be referred to the Ar. and Syr. هَمَسَ hamasa. Class Ms, No. 35.]

1. To ponder; to think closely; to study in silence. He mused upon some dangerous plot. Sidney. I muse on the works of thy hands. Ps. cxliii.
2. To be absent in mind; to be so occupied in study or contemplation, as not to observe passing scenes or things present. Shak.
3. To wonder. Do not muse of me. [Obs.] Shak.

MUSE, v.t.

To think on; to meditate on. Thomson.

MUS'ED, pp.

Meditated; thought on.

MUSE'FUL, a.

Thinking deeply or closely; thoughtful, silently. Full of museful mopings. Dryden.

MUSE-FUL-LY, adv.

Thoughtfully.

MUSE'LESS, a.

Disregarding the power of poetry. Milton.

MUS'ER, n.

One who thinks closely in silence, or one apt to be absent in mind. Johnson.

MU'SET, n.

The place through which the hare goes to relief; a hunting term.

MU-SE'UM, n. [Gr. μουσειον, 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.

MUSH, n. [G. mus, pap.]

The meal of maiz boiled in water.

MUSH'ROOM, n. [Fr. mousseron, the white mushroom, from mousse, moss, or the same root, bearing the sense of softness or nap.]

1. The common name of numerous cryptogamian plants of the natural order of Fungi. Some of them are esculent, others poisonous. Mushrooms grow on dunghills and in moist rich ground, and often spring up in a short time. The origin of man, in the view of the atheist, is the same with that of the mushroom. Dwight.
2. An upstart; one that rises suddenly from a low condition in life. Bacon.

MUSH'ROOM-STONE, n.

A fossil or stone that produce the Lyncurius. Woodward.

MU'SIC, n. [s as z; L. musica; Gr. μουσικη; Fr. musique. See Muse.]

1. Melody or harmony; any succession of sounds so modulated as to please the ear, or any combination of simultaneous sounds in accordance or harmony. Music is vocal or instrumental. Vocal music is the melody of a single voice, or the harmony of two or more voices in concert. Instrumental music is that produced by one or more instruments. By music minds an equal temper know. Pope.
2. Any entertainment consisting in melody or harmony. What music and dancing and diversions and songs are to many in the world, that prayers and devotions and psalms are to you. Law.
3. The science of harmonical sounds, which treats of the principles of harmony, or the properties, dependencies and relations of sounds to each other. This may be called speculative or theoretical music. Encyc.
4. The art of combining sounds in a manner to please the ear. This is practical music or composition. Encyc.
5. Order; harmony in revolutions; as, the music of the spheres. Music of the spheres, the harmony supposed by the ancients to be produced by the accordant movements of the celestial orbs.

MU'SIC-AL, a.

1. Belonging to music; as, musical proportion; a musical instrument.
2. Producing music or agreeable sounds; as, a musical voice.
3. Melodious; harmonious; pleasing to the ear; as, musical sounds or numbers.

MU'SIC-AL-LY, adv.

In a melodious or harmonious manner; with sweet sounds.

MU'SIC-AL-NESS, n.

The quality of being melodious or harmonious.

MU'SIC-BOOK, n.

A book containing tunes or songs for the voice or for instruments.