Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Muster?

\Mus"ter\, n. [OE. moustre, OF. mostre, moustre, F. montre, LL. monstra. See {Muster}, v. t.] 1. Something shown for imitation; a pattern. [Obs.] 2. A show; a display. [Obs.] --Piers Plowman. 3. An assembling or review of troops, as for parade, verification of numbers, inspection, exercise, or introduction into service. The hurried muster of the soldiers of liberty. --Hawthorne. See how in warlike muster they appear, In rhombs, and wedges, and half-moons, and wings. --Milton. 4. The sum total of an army when assembled for review and inspection; the whole number of effective men in an army. And the muster was thirty thousands of men. --Wyclif. Ye publish the musters of your own bands, and proclaim them to amount of thousands. --Hooker. 5. Any assemblage or display; a gathering. Of the temporal grandees of the realm, mentof their wives and daughters, the muster was great and splendid. --Macaulay. {Muster book}, a book in which military forces are registred. {Muster file}, a muster roll. {Muster master} (Mil.), one who takes an account of troops, and of their equipment; a mustering officer; an inspector. [Eng.] {Muster roll} (Mil.), a list or register of all the men in a company, troop, or regiment, present or accounted for on the day of muster. {To pass muster}, to pass through a muster or inspection without censure. Such excuses will not pass muster with God. --South.
\Mus"ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Mustered}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Mustering}.] [OE. mustren, prop., to show, OF. mostrer, mustrer, moustrer, monstrer, F. montrer, fr. L. monstrare to show. See {Monster}.] 1. To collect and display; to assemble, as troops for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like. --Spenser. 2. Hence: To summon together; to enroll in service; to get together. ``Mustering all its force.'' --Cowper. All the gay feathers he could muster. --L'Estrange. {To muster troops into service} (Mil.), to inspect and enter troops on the muster roll of the army. {To muster troops out of service} (Mil.), to register them for final payment and discharge. {To muster up}, to gather up; to succeed in obtaining; to obtain with some effort or difficulty. One of those who can muster up sufficient sprightliness to engage in a game of forfeits. --Hazlitt.
\Mus"ter\, v. i. To be gathered together for parade, inspection, exercise, or the like; to come together as parts of a force or body; as, his supporters mustered in force. ``The mustering squadron.'' --Byron.