Etymology 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.
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 Longmans, →OCLC:
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1920, Commonwealth Bureau of Census and Statistics, Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia, Issue 13, The figures from 1788 to 1825 inclusive, as already mentioned, are based on the musters taken in those years; those for subsequent years are based upon estimates made on the basis of Census results and the annual […] .
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Government, Military, Politics, War 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 Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
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 specify |volume=I to X), London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1893–1899, →OCLC:
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2010, Ohtar, "Enthroned", Slechtvalk, A Forlorn Throne. To shorten his way and to hasten for the muster he takes a long lost road.
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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):
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Australia, New Zealand 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:
› Showing.
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Obsolete 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:
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:
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:
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A collection of peafowl. (not a term used in zoology)
Etymology 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.
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:
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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 through their lines as if they’re simultaneously texting the contractors building the additions on their houses funded by their fat sequel paychecks.
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:
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:
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She musters a smile for his nostalgic tale1978, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, “What a Fool Believes”:
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 the two latter classes are as white as a European.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: