muster

plural musters

1. A gathering.
   1. An assemblage or display; a gathering, collection of people or things.First known use 14th c.

      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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      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.

      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 […] .

   2. governmentAn assembling or review of troops, as for parade, verification of numbers, inspection, exercise, or introduction into service.First known use 15th c.

      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)

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      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

      2010, Ohtar, "Enthroned", Slechtvalk, A Forlorn Throne. To shorten his way and to hasten for the muster he takes a long lost road.

   3. 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)

   4. AustraliaNew ZealandA roundup of livestock for inspection, branding, drenching, shearing etc.First known use 19th c.

      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

2. Showing.
   1. obsoleteSomething shown for imitation; a pattern.First known use 15th–19th c.

      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 pattern

      1773, Edward Ives, A Voyage From England To India, London: Printed for Edward and Charles Dilly, page 52

   2. obsoleteA 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

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      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

   3. obsoleteAn act of showing something; a display.First known use 15th–17th c.

      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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      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

   4. collectiveA group of peafowl, storks or sometimes other birds.

      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

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      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

      Again, on August 26th there was an exceptionally large muster of gulls, terns and waders at the Teesmouth

      1950, Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club, Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, page 4

      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

      I stood on the narrow grass causeway along Woody Pond, sometimes strewn with lazy alligators, and looked skyward at a most incredible sight: a muster of storks flew right overhead, in such tight formation, so near to the ground, that I could hear the slow, hypnotic woosh-woosh of their elegant, black-edged white wings.

      2021 August 5, Alexandra Marvar, “Take a Gander”, in Savannah Magazine, archived from the original on 01 Aug 2026

present singular third person musters · participle present mustering · participle past mustered · past mustered

1. obsoletetransitiveTo show, exhibit.First known use 15th–17th c.
2. intransitiveTo 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.First known use 15th c.

   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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   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

3. transitiveTo collect, call or assemble together, such as troops or a group for inspection, orders, display etc.First known use 15th c.

   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

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   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.

4. UStransitiveTo enroll (into service).First known use 19th c.
5. AustraliaNew ZealandtransitiveTo gather or round up livestock.

   Synonyms: rally

6. transitiveTo 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.

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   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

   She musters a smile for his nostalgic tale

   1978, Michael McDonald, Kenny Loggins, “What a Fool Believes”

plural musters

1. Synonym of mustee.

   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

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   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

   Synonyms: mustee