muset, musit

[O. Fr. musette a little hole or corner in which to hide things, dim in. of mu e a hole or corner, from mu er to hide.] A small hole or gap in a hedge or fence; a muse. [MUSE (3), 8.] "The many musits through the which he goes." Shakesp.: Venus and Adonis, 683. mu-şětte', s. [French, dim in. of O. Fr. muse a pipe.] Music: 1. A small bagpipe formerly much used by the various people of Europe. 2. The name of a melody, of a soft and sweet character, written in imitation of the bagpipe tunes. 3. ( Pl .): Dance tunes and dances in the measure of those melodies. IMG:content-1500.png:[blocks in formation] "Mushrooms come up in a night, and yet they are unsown; and therefore such as are upstarts in state, they call in reproach mushrooms ." -Bacon: Nat . Hist . II. Botany : 1. Properly Agaric us campestris , a fragrant mushroom, cultivated in horse-droppings and other material for stimulating growth. At first it appears as a small round ball popularly called a button; then it develops a thick, white, fleshy, conical pileus with liver-colored gills, and is at its best. Finally the pileus becomes conical and gray and the gills black; it is then called a Flap. "The mushrooms have two strange properties; the one that they yield so delicious a meat, the other, that they come up so hastily, as in a night, and yet they are unsown."- Bacon : Nat . Hist ., § 546. 2. Any Agaric us or similar fungus, wholesome or poisonous. (There are no precise characters by which the latter can be discriminated from the edible fungi.) IMG:content-1501.png:[blocks in formation]