muster
UK/ˈmʌstə//ˈmʌstɚ/
muster noun: an assemblage or display; a gathering, collection of people or things.
Noun (1)
muster (plural musters)
- An assemblage or display; a gathering, collection of people or things.
- She seems to hear the Repetition of his Mens Names with Admiration; and waits only to answer him with as false a Muster of Lovers.1743, Richard Steele, Joseph Addison, The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff, Esq.
- Of the temporal grandees of the realm, and of their wives and daughters, the muster was great and splendid.1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XI, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and...
- An assembling or review of troops, as for parade, verification of numbers, inspection, exercise, or introduction into service.
- Come, let vs take a muster speedily: / Doomesday is neere; dye all, dye merrily.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- And after long being there, I 'light, and walked to the place where the King, Duke &c., did stand to see the horse and foot march by and discharge their guns, to show a French Marquisse (for whom this muster was caused) the goodness of our firemen […]1663 July 13 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “July 4th, 1663”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume (please...
- The sum total of an army when assembled for review and inspection; the whole number of effective men in an army.
- Ye publish the musters of your own bands, and proclaim them to amount of thousands.[1594], Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Iohn Windet, […], →OCLC, (please specify the page)
- A roundup of livestock for inspection, branding, drenching, shearing etc.
- McGuire took the two of them out to Kidman's Bore on the Sylvester River where about two dozen stockmen from different stations had gathered to tend the muster along the edge of the Simpson Desert.2006, John Gilfoyle, Bloody Jackaroos!, Boolarong Press
- Something shown for imitation; a pattern.
- And this is the more ſurprizing, as he [the Indian tailor] never meaſures you; he only aſks "maſter for muſter," as he terms it, that is, for a pattern1773, Edward Ives, A Voyage From England To India, London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, page 52
- A sample of goods.
- The beasts they saw here were hogs and little dogs, and they found some hens; here also they found a muster of cloves, ginger, and cinnamon; though the cinnamon was not of the best: […]1770, Alexander Dalrymple, An Historical Collection of the Several Voyages and Discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean, page 48
- A letter from Mr. Downie, dated 14th of January 1807, acknowledging the receipt of one from the plaintiff, transmitting musters of silk, and authorizing the plaintiff, on certain conditions, to proceed in his speculation […]1868, Reports of Cases Determined in the Court of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, page 114
- An act of showing something; a display.
- Thus all things being condignely ordered, will an ill favoured impatiencie he waited, until the next morning he might make a muster of him selfe in the Iland […]1590, Sir Philip Sidney, Arcadia, Book III
- And when you find your women's favour fail, / 'Tis ten to one you'll know yourself, and seek me, / Upon a better muster of your manners.1647, Beaumont and Fletcher, The Queen of Corinth, act 2
- A group of peafowl, storks or sometimes other birds.
- The muster of peafowl, known to occasionally wander off, made it unusually far this time.2024 May 27, Paige Austin, “Escaped Bronx Zoo Peacocks Keep Neighbors Busy: Report”, in Patch
- Having seen a post by Linda on the Leelanau County Lost & Found Pets Page about the missing peacocks, the neighbor surmised it was from the Smith muster, grabbed the peahen by the tail and returned it to its home.2016 May 6, Lissa Edwards, “Leelanau County: Missing Peahen and Her Children”, in MyNorth.com, archived from the original on 01 Aug 2026
Verb
muster (third-person singular simple present musters, present participle mustering, simple past and past participle mustered)
- To show, exhibit.
- To be gathered together for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like (especially of a military force); to come together as parts of a force or body.
- We were then in the third week of November; but, we took our measures so vigorously, and were so well seconded by the friends in whom we confided, that there was still a week of the month unexpired, when our party all came down together merrily, and mustered in the haunted house.1859, Charles Dickens, The Haunted House
- The whole male population, men and boys, mustered on the top of the hill.1900, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 3, page 268
- To collect, call or assemble together, such as troops or a group for inspection, orders, display etc.
- 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
With the help of some low-end boosting, Dinklage musters a decent amount of kid-appropriate menace—although he never does explain his gift for finding chunks of ice shaped like pirate ships—but Romano and Leary mainly sound bored, droning... - England took 57 minutes to muster a shot on target and once again lived dangerously in defence, surviving anxious moments when Ghana hit them on the counter-attack as the contest became a disjointed affair.2026 June 23, Phil McNulty, “England 0-0 Ghana”, in BBC
- 12 July 2012, Sam Adams, AV Club Ice Age: Continental Drift
- To enroll (into service).
- To gather or round up livestock.
- Synonyms:
- rally
- To look within oneself to summon (a particular positive quality, such as strength, energy or courage); see: muster up.
- I couldn't muster the courage to tell him.
- That which Walter Raleigh had not courage to tell, not one of these men could muster the courage to ask.1914, J. C. Snaith, chapter XXXIV, in Anne Feversham, page 278
Noun (2)
muster (plural musters)
- Synonym of mustee.
- The next, the Quadroon, from the white and mulatto woman. The third descent, from a white and quadroon, is called a muster; from the fourth, between a white and a muster, springs the musteephinas and the fifth descent, viz. from a white and musteephina, is white by law, and of free birth; indeed...1825, The Gentleman's Magazine, page 4
- Mixed bloods, they are suspended between two races, — mulattoes, quadroons, musters, mustafinas, cabres, griffies, zambis, quatravis, tresalvis, coyotes, saltatras, albarassados, cambusos, — neither white nor black, but Negroes.1925, Charles Spurgeon Johnson, Elmer Anderson Carter, Opportunity: Journal of Negro Life, page 291
- Synonyms:
- mustee
muster meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
muster in Tamil
- கூட்டம் சேர், கூட்டு, தொகு, வரவழை, வருவி, கூட்டம்
muster in Urdu
- دفتر, جائزہ, مجمع, مظاہرہ, اکٹھا کرنا, پکارنا
muster in Bengali
- একত্রিত করা, সৈন্য সমাবেশ করা, সংগ্রহ করা
muster in Malayalam
- സംഗ്രഹിക്കുക, കൂട്ടിച്ചേർക്കുക, ധൈര്യം ശക്തി മുതലായവ സംഭരിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
- muster in Kannada
- ಸೇರಿಸು, ಜಮಾಯಿಸು, ಕೂಡಿಸು, ಧೈರ್ಯವನ್ನು ತಂದುಕೊ
Examples of muster in a sentence
- Again, on August 26th there was an exceptionally large muster of gulls, terns and waders at the Teesmouth1950, Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, Transactions of the...
- an early memorable scene in Disney's classic film Dumbo shows a muster of storks flying over Florida , each with a satchel in its mouth.2025, Yotam Ophir, Misinformation and Society, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, page 70:
- Oh, and she also had a little help from a muster of storks.2026 July 31, “Noemi Rüegg returns to racing at Tour de France Femmes”, in EF Pro Cycling, archived from the original on 01 Aug 2026:
- She musters a smile for his nostalgic tale1978, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, “What a Fool Believes”:
Synonyms of muster
Forms of muster
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | musters |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | musters |
| present participle | mustering |
| past participle | mustered |
| past | mustered |
Origin of muster
From Middle English musteren, borrowed from Anglo-Norman mostrer, Middle French monstrer, moustrer (whence the noun monstre, which gave the English noun), from Latin mōnstrō (“to show”), from moneō (“to admonish”). Cognate with French montrer (“to show”), Italian mostrare (“to show”), Spanish mostrar (“to show”). See also monster.
Words formed from muster
Phrases with muster
Words that rhyme with muster
Questions about muster
- What does muster mean?
- Muster means an assemblage or display; a gathering, collection of people or things.
- What is muster in Tamil?
- Muster in Tamil is கூட்டம் சேர், கூட்டு, தொகு. See Muster meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use muster in a sentence?
- Again, on August 26th there was an exceptionally large muster of gulls, terns and waders at the Teesmouth
- What part of speech is muster?
- Muster can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce muster?
- Muster is pronounced /ˈmʌstə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of muster?
- The plural of muster is musters.
Words near muster in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: muster (page history and authors); muster (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); muster (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); muster (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); muster (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); muster (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-muster.ogg, en-au-muster.ogg.
Cite this entry: “muster.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/muster. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.