muse

i. & t. [Fr. muser=to muse, to dream, a low condition of life. from O. Fr. * muse the mouth, the snout of an animal; musel a little snout (Fr. museau , Eng. muzzle ). "The image is that of a dog snuffing idly about, and musing which direction to take, and may have arisen as a hunting term." ( Skeat .)] A. Intransitive : 1. To ponder, to meditate; to study or think on a matter in silence. "Why muse you, sir? 'tis dinner-time." Shakesp.: Two Gentlemen of Verona, ii. 1. 2. To give one's self up to thought; to be absent minded; to have the thoughts abstracted from things pa ing around. "Musing and sighing with your arms acro ." Shakesp.: Julius Cæsar, ii. 1. 3. To wonder; to be surprised or amazed. "Do not muse at me."-Shakesp.: Macbeth , iii. 4. 4. To gaze in thought or meditation. ( Romaunt of the Rose (ed. Harris), 1,527.) IMG:content-1498.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-1499.png:[blocks in formation] II. Gr. & Rom . Myth .: One of nine nymphs or inferior divinities, distinguished as the peculiar protectre es of poetry, painting, rhetoric, music, and generally of the belles lettres and liberal arts. They were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory). Originally there appear to have been only three of these divinities, and their names Mneme, Melete, and Acode, or Memory, Reflection, and Song-sufficiently show the nature of the faculties over which they were supposed to preside. According as the fine and liberal arts were cultivated and expanded, the province of each muse seems to have been more restricted; and additions were made to their number, which ultimately was fixed at nine, their names and respective functions being: Clio, the muse of History; Euterpe, of Lyric Poetry; Thalia, of Comedy and Idyllic Poetry; Melpomene, of Tragedy; Terpsichore, of Music and Dancing; Erato, of Erotic Poetry; Calliope, of Epic Poetry: Urania, of Astronomy; and Poly hymn i a (or Polymnia) of singing and harmony. Helicon and the region round Parna us was the favorite seat of the muses, where they were supposed, under the presidency of Apollo, to be perpetually engaged in song and dance, and in elevating the style and conceptions of their favored votaries. Apollo, as patron and conductor of the muses, was named Musagetes, "Leader of the Muses;" the same surname was also given to Hercules. They were generally represented as young, beautiful, and modest virgins, usually appareled in different attire, according to the arts and sciences