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muse

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Muse means to have deep thoughts or to meditate. (verb)

An example of muse is someone thinking about what their life may look like in the future.

A muse is a spirit or source that inspires an artist. (noun)

An example of muse is someone having a thought about the origin of life.
An example of muse is the character Kira from the movie Xanadu.

See muse in Webster's New World College Dictionary

intransitive verb mused, musing

to think deeply and at length; meditate

transitive verb

to think or say meditatively

noun

a musing; deep meditation

noun

Gr. Myth. any of the Muses
1. the spirit that is thought to inspire a poet or other artist; source of genius or inspiration
2. Now Rare a poet

See muse in American Heritage Dictionary 4

(myo͞oz)

verb mused mused, mus·ing, mus·es

verb, intransitive

To be absorbed in one's thoughts; engage in meditation.

verb, transitive

To consider or say thoughtfully: mused that it might take longer to drive than walk.

noun

A state of meditation.

Related Forms:

musˈer noun

(myo͞oz)

noun

Greek Mythology Any of the nine daughters of Mnemosyne and Zeus, each of whom presided over a different art or science.
muse
a. A guiding spirit.
b. A source of inspiration.
muse A poet.

Word History: The Muse has inspired English poetry since Chaucer invoked her in 1374. Muse comes from Latin Mūsa, from Greek Mousa. There are Greek dialect forms mōsa and moisa, and all three come from an original *montya. As to the further origins of this form, a clue is provided by the name of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory and mother of the Muses. Her name is the Greek noun mnēmosunē “memory,” which comes from *mnā-, an extended form of the Greek and Indo-European root *men-, “to think.” This is the root from which we derive amnesia (from Greek), mental (from Latin), and mind (from Germanic). The reconstructed form *montya that is the ancestor of Greek Mousa could then mean something like “having mental power.”

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