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in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
From Middle French muse, from Latin Mūsa, from Ancient Greek Μοῦσα (Moûsa).
Noun
muse (plural muses)
- (of people) A source of inspiration.
Yoko Ono was John Lennon's wife, lover, and muse.
- (archaic) A poet; a bard.
Synonyms
Related terms
Translations
Etymology 2
From Middle English musen, from Old French muser.
Verb
muse (third-person singular simple present muses, present participle musing, simple past and past participle mused)
- (intransitive) To become lost in thought, to ponder.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:ponder
- (transitive) To say (something) with due consideration or thought.
- (transitive) To think on; to meditate on.
c. 1726, James Thomson, Hymn:Come, then, expressive Silence, muse his praise.
2013 June 7, David Simpson, “Fantasy of navigation”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 26, page 36:It is tempting to speculate about the incentives or compulsions that might explain why anyone would take to the skies in [the] basket [of a balloon]: […]; […]; or perhaps to muse on the irrelevance of the borders that separate nation states and keep people from understanding their shared environment.
- (transitive) To wonder at.
c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :Muse not that I thus suddenly proceed; for what I will, I will, and there an end.
Related terms
Translations
to become lost in thought
- Bulgarian: замислям се (zamisljam se)
- Czech: dumat (cs) impf, přemítat (cs) impf, hloubat impf, uvažovat (cs) impf
- Dutch: mijmeren (nl), nadenken (nl)
- Finnish: pohtia (fi), haikailla (fi), mietiskellä (fi), tuumia (fi)
- French: songer (fr)
- German: grübeln (de), nachsinnen (de), sinnieren (de)
- Indonesian: melamun (id), termenung (id)
- Italian: meditare (it)
- Japanese: 熟考する (jyukkōsuru), 瞑想する (meisōsuru)
- Maori: whakaaroaro
- Middle English: musen
- Polish: dumać (pl)
- Portuguese: divagar (pt)
- Scottish Gaelic: meòraich
- Slovak: dumať impf, rozjímať impf
- Turkish: düşünceye dalmak (tr), derin derin düşünmek (tr), düşüncelere dalmak
- Ukrainian: задуматися (zadumatysja), замислитися (zamyslytysja)
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to say with due consideration
to think on; to meditate on
Noun
muse (plural muses)
- An act of musing; a period of thoughtfulness.
- 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia, Faber & Faber 1992 (Avignon Quintet), p. 416:
- He fell into a muse and pulled his upper lip.
Etymology 3
From French musse. See muset.
Noun
muse (plural muses)
- A gap or hole in a hedge, fence, etc. through which a wild animal is accustomed to pass; a muset.
- Find a hare without a muse. (old proverb)
Anagrams
French
Pronunciation
Noun
muse f (plural muses)
- artistic inspiration
- muse (specific artistic subject)
Verb
muse
- inflection of muser:
- first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
- second-person singular imperative
Further reading
Anagrams
Italian
Noun
muse f
- plural of musa
Anagrams
Middle English
Etymology 1
Noun
muse
- Alternative form of mous
Etymology 2
Noun
muse
- Alternative form of Muse
Etymology 3
Verb
muse
- Alternative form of musen
Norwegian Bokmål
Etymology
From French musée, from Latin mūsēum, from Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseîon).
Pronunciation
Noun
muse n (definite singular museet, indefinite plural muse or museer, definite plural museene or musea)
- Alternative form of musé
References
- “muse” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Etymology 1
From Ancient Greek Μοῦσα (Moûsa).
Pronunciation
Noun
muse f (definite singular musa, indefinite plural muser, definite plural musene)
- a muse
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
Verb
muse (present tense musar, past tense musa, past participle musa, passive infinitive musast, present participle musande, imperative muse/mus)
- to whisper
- Synonym: kviskre
Etymology 3
From French musée, from Latin mūsēum, from Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseîon).
Pronunciation
Noun
muse n (definite singular museet, indefinite plural muse, definite plural musea)
- alternative spelling of musé
References
- “muse” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
Spanish
Verb
muse
- only used in se muse, third-person singular present indicative of musirse
- only used in te ... muse, syntactic variant of músete, second-person singular imperative of musirse