Muse

Definition: Muse

Muse

Noun

1. In ancient Greek mythology any of 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne; protector of an art or science.

2. The source of an artist's inspiration; "Euterpe was his muse".

Verb

1. Reflect deeply on a subject; "I mulled over the events of the afternoon"; "philosophers have speculated on the question of God for thousands of years"; "The scientist must stop to observe and start to excogitate".

Date "Muse" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

Domain	Definition
Computing	Muse OR-parallel logic programming. [Details?] (1995-03-16). Source: The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

In Greek mythology, the Muses (Greek Μουσαι, Mousai) are nine Greek goddesses of the arts and sciences. According to Hesiod's Theogony, they are the daughters of Zeus, king of the gods, and Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. The Muses inspired artists, musicians and poets. They were associated with the Roman Camenae.

They were sometimes called Aganippids because of their association with a fountain called Aganippe. Other fountains, called Hippocrene and Pirene were also important to the Muses. The Muses were also occasionally referred to as Corycides or Corycian nymphs after a cave on Mt. Parnassos called the Corycian Cave.

The Muses judged the contest between Apollo and Marsyas. They also buried the dead body of Orpheus, son of Calliope and nephew of the other eight. They blinded Thamyris for his hubris in challenging them to a contest.

The Muses were especially venerated in Boeotia, near Helicon, and in Delphi and the Parnassus, where Apollo became known as the leader of the Muses.

The canonical nine Muses are:

Euterpe (music)
Calliope (epic poetry)
Clio (history)
Erato (lyric poetry)
Melpomene (tragedy)
Polyhymnia (sacred poetry)
Terpsichore (dancing)
Thalia (comedy)
Urania (astronomy)

There were three original Muses: Aoide (or Aoede), Melete and Mneme.

The poet Sappho of Lesbos was also paid the very great compliment of being called "the tenth Muse".

The word muse is used figuratively to denote someone who inspires an artist.

Muse is also the name of a Rock band.

The Three Muses was a restaurant in Minneapolis that operated from 2002-2003.

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
Entry	Source	Expression	Field
MUSE	Danish	Programmelkvalitets-og programmelpålidelighedsmåling til udvalgte områder:Sikkerhed,forvaltning og kontorsystemer	Computing
MUSE	Dutch	Kwaliteits-en betrouwbaarheidsmetriek van programmatuur op geselecteerde gebieden:veiligheids-,en managementsystemen en administratieve systemen	Computing
MUSE	English	Multi user environment simulator	N/A
MUSE	French	Métrique de qualité et fiabilité du logiciel pour des domaines sélectionnés:sécurité,gestion et système de bureau	Computing
MUSE	German	Software-Qualität und Zuverlässigkeitsmetrik für ausgewählte Bereiche:Sicherheit,Management und Bürosysteme	Computing
MUSE	Italian	Quantificazione della qualit� e affidabilit� del software per settori specifici:sistemi di sicurezza,gestione e amministrazione	Computing
MUSE	Portuguese	Métrica da qualidade e fiabilidade do suporte lógico para domínios seleccionados:segurança,gestão e sistemas de escritório	Computing
MUSE	Spanish	Metrologia de la calidad y fiabilidad del equipo lógico para campos seleccionados: seguridad, gestión y sistemas administrativos	Computing
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Synonyms: Muse

Synonyms: chew over (v), contemplate (v), excogotate (v), meditate (v), mull (v), mull over (v), ponder (v), reflect (v), ruminate (v), speculate (v), think over (v). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Description	Historiography, chronography; historic Muse, Clio; history; biography, autobiography; necrology, obituary.
Poetry	Phrase: "a poem round and perfect as a star"; Dichtung und Wahrheit; furor poeticus; "his virtues formed the magic of his song"; "I do but sing because I must"; "I learnt life from the poets"; licentia vatum; mutum est pictura poema; "O for a muse of fire!"; "sweet food of sweetly uttered knowledge"; "the true poem is the poet's mind"; Volk der Dichter und Denker; "wisdom married to immortal verse".
	Noun: poetry, poetics, poesy, Muse, Calliope, tuneful Nine, Parnassus, Helicon, Pierides, Pierian spring.
Thought	Verb: think, reflect, cogitate, excogitate, consider, deliberate; bestow thought upon, bestow consideration upon; speculate, contemplate, meditate, ponder, muse, dream, ruminate; brood over, con over; animadvert, study; bend -, apply mind; (attend); digest, discuss, hammer at, weigh, perpend; realize, appreciate; fancy; (imagine); trow.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Muse

English words defined with "Muse": Calliope, Clio ♦ Erative, Erato, Euterpe ♦ insinuatingly ♦ Melpomene, Muce, Mused, Muset ♦ O for ♦ Polyhymnia ♦ Terpsichore, Thalia, To think much of, To think well of ♦ Urania. (references)

Specialty definitions using "Muse": Cean, Corycian Cave ♦ Maro, MUD Object Oriented ♦ PopTalk. (references)

Etymologies containing "Muse": morsel, Musard, Musette, museum, Muzzy. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Muse" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

French (muse), German (muse), Portuguese (management and clerical systems, MUSE, software quality and reliability metrics for selected domains:Safety), Wolof (Mr).

Domain	Usage
Screenplays	Oh, I thought you were my muse! (Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy; writing credit: Jane Zipp) You haven't seen a muse before? (Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy; writing credit: Jane Zipp)
Movie/TV Titles	Leichte Muse (1941) Jane Siberry: I Muse Aloud (1988)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
References	MUSE Technologies, Inc.: International Competitive Benchmarks and Financial Gap Analysis (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	The Zen of Creative Painting: An Elegant Design for Revealing Your Muse (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Muse (reference) (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies	Suzanne Farrell - Elusive Muse (reference) The Story of English: Program 3 & 4 (A Muse of Fire and The Guid Scots Tongue) (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Dancing With the Muse (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)

High Tech	Guillemot Maxi Sound Muse (reference) Hercules Gamesurrond Muse XL (PCI) (reference) Hercules Gamesurround Muse XL (reference) (more camera examples; more video game examples; more computer examples; more electronic examples; more software examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Mrs. Siddons in the character of the Tragic Muse / engraven with permission by Anthony Cardon, from the celebrated picture painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds, now in the possession of William Smith Esqr. M.P. Credit: Library of Congress.		Napoli. Muse Nazionale. Venere Vittoriosa (Capua). Credit: Library of Congress.
	Private Clarence E. Muse of Philadelphia, Penna. playing a banjo [i.e. guitar], for the enjoyment of a group of fellow soldier trainees at the reception center of the Colored Cantonment area before their departure to Fort Huachuca, Ariz., Fort Meade, Md. Credit: Library of Congress.		True lovers of the muse. Credit: Library of Congress.
	The tenth muse. Credit: Library of Congress.		Front view of the Muse of Aviation trophy as displayed on a table in Orville's home, Hawthorn Hill; Dayton, Ohio. Credit: Library of Congress.
	Rear view of the Muse of Aviation trophy as displayed on a table in Orville's home, Hawthorn Hill; Dayton, Ohio. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Author	Quotation
Homer	Among all men on the earth bards have a share of honor and reverence, because the muse has taught them songs and loves the race of bards.
Sir Philip Sidney	"Fool!" said my muse to me, "look in thy heart, and write."
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	A thing which made him muse profoundly, and almost reflect, these two joyous sounds.
Walden	Thoreau, Henry David	My Muse may be excused if she is silent henceforth.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		A system for inserting a pellet of alprostadil into the urethra is marketed as MUSE. The system uses a pre-filled applicator to deliver the pellet about an inch deep into the urethra at the tip of the penis. (references)
Human Rights	Somalia	On March 27, militiamen loyal to warlord Muse Sude attacked the Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) compound and held nine U.N. and MSF aid officials hostage. (references)
	Somalia	On July 13, 11 persons were killed, including 2 children, and numerous others were injured during fighting between warlord Muse Sudi's militiamen and rival militia groups. (references)
	Somalia	On June 12, warlord Muse Sudi's militia arrested six clan elders for attending a meeting to discuss clan affairs, because he reportedly believed that they were attempting to undermine his authority; the elders were released after several days. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

"Muse" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 79.02% of the time. "Muse" is used about 143 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	79.02%	113	30,464
Lexical Verb (infinitive)	9.09%	13	97,576
Lexical Verb (base form)	6.29%	9	117,287
Noun (proper)	4.2%	6	143,867
Unclassified Items	0.7%	1	339,140
Noun (common)	0.7%	1	339,140
Total	100.00%	143	N/A

The following table summarizes the usage of "Muse" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified.

Name	Usage/Gender	Usage per 100 million Persons	Rank in USA
Muse	Last name	4,000	2,950
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

Country	Name
USA	MUSE Technologies, Inc.
	(more examples...)

1. Muse, OK
Zip Code(s): 74949
Country: USA

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Expressions: Muse

Expressions using "Muse": muse about ♦ muse on ♦ muse on the scene ♦ muse upon ♦ muse upon smth. ♦ the muse. Additional references.
Hyphenated Usage
	Beginning with "Muse": muse-based.
	Ending with "Muse": lost-in-my-muse.
	Containing "Muse": mascot-muse-mannequin.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Muse

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
muse	1,200	muse official	15
the muse	115	driver maxi muse sound	14
muse hotel	72	muse nantucket	14
faith and the muse	69	greek muse mythology	13
throwing muse	56	hick muse tate	13
lyrics muse	56	du louvre muse	12
greek muse	38	evening muse	12
muse band	33	muse magazine	11
hick muse	32	muse pasadena	11
nine muse	31	muse sound	10
muse hotel new york	29	9 muse	10
muse project	29	muse nashville	10
mime muse	27	lyrics muse throwing	10
hick muse tate and furst	26	muse showbiz	8
muse music	24	muse xl	8
muse poet	23	history muse	8
the muse new york	22	bbs muse	8
muse poetry	20	muse name	8
maxi sound muse	19	muse muse	8
muse tab	19	muse sunburn	8
		montreal muse	8
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Muse

Language		Translations for "Muse"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		muzë, mendim (brainchild, cogitation, conceit, conception, estimation, idea, judgement, judgment, meditation, mind, notion, opinion, reflection, reflexion, say, self-communion, sentiment, spirit, thinking, thought). (various references)

Arabic		‏مصدر وحي, ‏قال متأملا, ‏تأمل (cogitative, consider, contemplate, contemplation, meditate, meditation, observation, ponder, pore over, rumble, ruminate, rumination, speculate, study, think, think out, think over, thinking), ‏عروس الشعر, ‏إستغرق في التفكير, ‏إستغرق في الأحلام, ‏شاعر (bard, conscious, poet). (various references)

Bulgarian		размишлявам (cogitate, meditate, ponder, ruminate, speculate, study, think away), размишление (cogitation, contemplation, meditation, musing, reflection, speculation, think), взирам се замечтано, взирам се замислено, муза, замисленост (musing, preoccupation, reverie). (various references)

Chinese		瞑想 , 机器�"�户符号环境. (various references)

Czech		múza, přemýšlet (contemplate, meditate, reflect, speculate, study, think, think over), přemýšlení (contemplation, speculation, thinking, thought), dumat (brood), dumání. (various references)

Danish		MUSE (management and clerical systems, software quality and reliability metrics for selected domains:Safety), monitor for ultraviolet solenergi (monitor of ultra-violet solar energy), programmelkvalitets-og programmelpålidelighedsmåling til udvalgte områder:Sikkerhed,forvaltning og kontorsystemer (management and clerical systems, software quality and reliability metrics for selected domains:Safety). (various references)

Dutch		muze. (various references)

Esperanto		muzo. (various references)

Faeroese		dís (nymph). (various references)

Farsi		تفکرکردن (Chew, Consider, Contemplate, Imagine, Meditate, Ponder, Speculate), تعجب کردن (Admire), اندیشه کردن (Cogitate, Deliberate, Meditate, Ponder, Ruminate), شگفت (Prodigious, Stupendous, Surprise, Wonder), درشگفت ماندن , دربحرفکرفرورفتن . (various references)

Finnish		runotar. (various references)

French		muse. (various references)

German		Muse (management and clerical systems, software quality and reliability metrics for selected domains:Safety). (various references)

Greek		ρεμβάζω (daydream). (various references)

Hebrew		מוז�", ל�"ר�"ר (contemplate, meditate, ponder, reflect, revolve, ruminate, think), בת שיר (songbird). (various references)

Hungarian		múzsa. (various references)

Indonesian		mengelamun (daydream), menerawang (be lose in thought, make holes in something), termenung (be lost in thought). (various references)

Italian		MUSE (management and clerical systems, software quality and reliability metrics for selected domains:Safety), musa (inspiration), meditazione (devotion, meditation, musing, reflection, reflexion), meditare (brood, cogitate, contemplate, meditate, ponder, reflect, revolve, speculate), video-terminale per l'energia solare nell'ultravioletto (monitor of ultra-violet solar energy), rimuginare (brood), quantificazione della qualit� e affidabilit� del software per settori specifici:sistemi di sicurezza,gestione e amministrazione (management and clerical systems, software quality and reliability metrics for selected domains:Safety). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		ミンク鯨 (minced beef, mince-meat, mince-pie, minke whale, mint, mint julep, mood, mood conditioning, moody, Moore, moose, mousse, mouton, mucho, peppermint, piked whale). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		� ーサ . (various references)

Manx		smooinee dy fastagh er, smooinee dy dowin er, smooinaghtyn er ard. (various references)

Pig Latin		usemay

Portuguese		MUSE (management and clerical systems, software quality and reliability metrics for selected domains:Safety), musa, meditar (brood, chew, cogitate, contemplate, meditate, pore, ruminate, speculate, think), meditação (cogitation, contemplation, reflection, reflexion, rumination, self-communion, speculation, thinking, thought), métrica da qualidade e fiabilidade do suporte lógico para domínios seleccionados:segurança,gestão e sistemas de escritório (management and clerical systems, software quality and reliability metrics for selected domains:Safety), poesia (poem, poetry, verse), devaneio (abstractedness, day-dream, dream, dreaminess, reverie, wandering, wool-gathering), devanear (dream, fancy, moon, stray), detector da energia solar nos ultravioletas (monitor of ultra-violet solar energy), abstração (abstract, abstractedness, abstraction, abstractness, distraction, star-gazing, wool-gathering). (various references)

Romanian		muzã, medita (brood, coach, cogitate, contemplate, debate, meditate, reflect, ruminate, study for, study on, think, tutor), se uita gânditor, se gândi (brood, consider, see, study for, study on, think, ween), cugeta (cogitate, consider, meditate, think). (various references)

Russian		муза, задумчивость (pensiveness, thoughtfulness, wistfulness). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		muza, sanjariti (daydream, dream), razmišljati (cogitate, contemplate, debate, deliberate, meditate, mull over, ponder, reflect, ruminate, speculate, think over), nadahnuće (afflatus, inspiration). (various references)

Spanish		musa. (various references)

Swedish		sångmö, musa, grubbla (brood, cogitate, eat one's heart out, Mull, ponder, puzzle, puzzle over, rack one's brains, ruminate, worry), fundera (be reflected, chew the cud, cogitate, contemplate, mull, ponder, think, wonder). (various references)

Thai		เทพธิ�"าที่เป็นแรงบัน�"าลใจของกวี, ตรึกตรอง, คิ�"รำพึง. (various references)

Turkish		müz, ilham perisi, dalmak (barge, bathe, be absorbed in, be lost in thought, be wraped up in, bounce, break, break into, conk, contemplate, cut into, dip, dive, drop, drowse off, duck, engross, groove, jut into, lose oneself in, meditate, nip in, pitch into, plummet, plunge, pore, pore over, rush in, rush into, sail in, sink, sink into), düşünceye dalmak, şiir tanrıçası. (various references)

Ukrainian		роздумувати (ponder, ruminate), замріяно дивитися, задумливість (amusement, dreaminess). (various references)

Vietnamese		t� i thơ. (various references)

Welsh		synfyfyrio (brood), barddwawd (poetry), barddrin (poetic lore), awen (poetic gift, rein). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Muse

Language	Period	Translations
Old French	900-1400	muser. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Muse

Derivations
	Words beginning with "Muse": mused, museful, museological, museologies, museologist, museologists, museology, muser, musers, muses, musette, musettes, museum, museums. (additional references)
	Words ending with "Muse": amuse, bemuse. (additional references)
	Words containing "Muse": amused, amusedly, amusement, amusements, amuser, amusers, amuses, animuses, bemused, bemusedly, bemusement, bemusements, bemuses, euonymuses, evonymuses, exophthalmuses, hippopotamuses, hummuses, humuses, ignoramuses, isthmuses, litmuses, mandamused, mandamuses, marasmuses, mittimuses, momuses, nystagmuses, primuses, shamuses, sphygmuses, strabismuses, tenesmuses, thymuses, trismuses, unamused, unbemused, vaginismuses, wammuses, wamuses. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Muse" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: juse, Maese, mase, masec, Mause, mauze, mcse, meese, Meise, mesel, mesi, mesie, messe, Mewse, meze, mgso, miese, misef, miseg, misex, miso, misse, Misu, mnso, moes, Mosa, mose, mosee, moset, mosi, mosre, mosse, mowse, moyse, moze, Mpsa, mpus, mrsa, msee, msi, msne, msre, msue, Muci, mude, muge, mugsa, mugso, muise, muke, Mulso, mume, mumsel, Mumsie, munsel, mure, Mursa, mursi, musak, Musar, Musavi, musc, musea, Museau, musee, Museen, Museet, musek, musel, museu, musi, musie, musig, musil, musle, muso, musr, Mussa, Mussau, Mussawi, musse, musser, Mussi, muste, mustek, musu, Mutsuo, muus, muwe, Muyser, muz, muza, muze, muziek, myse, mysen, Mysov, Nsue, nuse, nusi, nuze, quse, ume, umes, Umsl. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Muse"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "Muse" (pronounced myuw"z)
4	m y uw" z	amuse, bemuse.
3	-y uw" z	abuse, accuse, confuse, cues, defuse, diffuse, disabuse, ewes, excuse, fuse, Hews, hues, infuse, miscues, misuse, overuse, pews, queues, recuse, refuse, reuse, reviews, revues, skews, spews, suffuse, transfuse, use, views.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Muse

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Direct Anagrams: emus.
	Words within the letters "e-m-s-u"
	-1 letter: ems, emu, mus, sue, sum, use.
	-2 letters: em, es, me, mu, um, us.
	Words containing the letters "e-m-s-u"
	+1 letter: amuse, emeus, fumes, geums, menus, meous, moues, mouse, mules, mures, mused, muser, muses, mutes, neums, sebum, sedum, serum, spume.
	+2 letters: amused, amuser, amuses, assume, begums, bemuse, besmut, blumes, brumes, busmen, cesium, degums, demurs, estrum, femurs, flumes, fumers, fumets, glumes, grumes, imbues, lemurs, lumens, masque, mauves, meatus, medius, medusa, miscue, misuse, mosque, moused, mouser, mouses, mousey, mousse, muches, mucose, muesli, muleys, murres, muscae, muscle, musers, museum, mushed, musher, mushes, muskeg, musket, muskie, mussed, mussel, musses, musted, mustee, muster, mutase, mutest, neumes, odeums, oleums, plumes, resume, rheums, rumens, sebums, sedums, sensum, septum, serums, smudge, spumed, spumes, summae, summed, summer, ugsome, ulemas, umbels, umbers, umbles, unmesh, unmews, unseam.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.