muster

play

noun mus·ter \ˈməs-tər\

Definition of muster

1 : a representative specimen (see specimen 1) : sample musters of goods for sale
2a : an act of assembling; specifically : formal military inspection Call out the troops to stand muster.b : critical examination slipshod work that would never pass musterc : an assembled group : collection a muster of biographical facts — Timed : inventory were sent … to take the musters of this expedition — G. R. Elton

See muster defined for English-language learners

Examples of muster in a Sentence

a muster of concerned citizens
considering the muster of suggestions that were submitted for “word of the year”

Recent Examples of muster from the Web

At some point after those new IDs are introduced, regular Oregon driver's licenses will no longer pass muster at federal checkpoints.

— rosemarie stein, OregonLive.com, "Portland Metro Tuesday Traffic: Washington County Sheriff's office releases DUII numbers for June," 11 July 2017
Companies wishing to bid on Oregon transportation projects file evaluation forms with the state and are put on a bidder list after passing muster.

— gordon r. friedman, OregonLive.com, "Oregon hired a company to paint the Ross Island Bridge without knowing its safety record. Then a worker fell.," 6 July 2017
The attorney general's office said the ordinance did pass muster with the state's constitution.

— reed shelton, baltimoresun.com, "Ocean City toplessness activist says she's been assaulted, groped — but never while topless," 2 July 2017
Of course, none of this hospitality would matter if the tacos didn’t pass muster.

— andy staples, SI.com, "Where to eat, drink in College Station, Texas," 30 June 2017
Charlie Shrem is nobody’s image of a traditional financier, but that’s precisely the point with alternative currencies: Their early leaders were the sorts of people who would never pass muster at, say, Morgan Stanley.

— brian patrick eha, Fortune, "Can Bitcoin’s First Felon Help Make Cryptocurrency a Trillion-Dollar Market?," 26 June 2017
Go-between Any compromise on security must pass muster with Greek and Turkish Cypriots who will vote on any peace accord in separate referendums before it would be implemented.

— ben rosen, The Christian Science Monitor, "Can a divided Cyprus finally be unified? Peace summit begins this week," 26 June 2017
The Oregon Senate voted Monday to create a new class of driver's license that would pass muster at airport security lines.

— elliot njus, OregonLive.com, "Oregon Senate moves to create new class of TSA-compliant IDs," 26 June 2017
Go-between Any compromise on security must pass muster with Greek and Turkish Cypriots who will vote on any peace accord in separate referendums before it would be implemented.

— ben rosen, The Christian Science Monitor, "Can a divided Cyprus finally be unified? Peace summit begins this week," 26 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'muster.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of muster

Middle English mustre, from Anglo-French mostre, monstre, from mustrer

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 14th century

See Words from the same year

Other Military Terms

bivouac, logistics, petard, salient, sally, supernumerary, tactical

muster

verb mus·ter

Definition of muster

mustered

;

mustering

play \-t(ə-)riŋ\

transitive verb
1a : to cause to gather : conveneb : to enroll formally —usually used with in or into was mustered into the armyc : to call the roll of
2a : to bring together : collectb : to call forth : rouse
3 : to amount to : comprise
intransitive verb
: to come together : congregate

See muster defined for English-language learners

See muster defined for kids

Examples of muster in a Sentence

They pushed the car with all the strength they could muster.
a command to muster the troops

Recent Examples of muster from the Web

As for nuking Obamacare, even if the Senate this week cannot muster 50 Yeas, plus Vice President Mike Pence’s tie-breaking vote, the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body can act through the rest of July and, if necessary, all of August.

— deroy murdock, National Review, "Senate Majority Leader McConnell Should . . . Lead the Senate Majority," 10 July 2017
Burbank's offense didn't adapt to the strike calls and couldn't muster up anything after taking an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first.

— emin avakian, Glendale News-Press, "Crescenta Valley All-Stars down Burbank for District 16 Junior championship," 9 July 2017
All the more reason to treat this fleeting indulgence with more reverence than a melon baller could muster.

— laura regensdorf, Vogue, "3 Surprising Watermelon Recipes for Your Next Summer Party," 1 July 2017
The Cards mustered three consecutive outs to limit the damage.

— danielle lerner, The Courier-Journal, "Louisville baseball falls to Florida, will face elimination from College World Series," 20 June 2017
Pishkur reached deep into his well of pitchers, but the 59ers couldn't muster up the scoreless part.

— mike hutton, Post-Tribune, "Penn's power too much for Andrean to overcome in regional final loss," 4 June 2017
Last year at this time, Curry could muster no such exuberance.

— adam kilgore, chicagotribune.com, "Steph Curry is fully healthy, and both the Cavs and Warriors know it," 3 June 2017
RANT For the estimated 20 million eligible voters in the U.S. who couldn’t muster the motivation to put down their cellphones or TV remotes long enough to cast a ballot.

— seattle times readers, The Seattle Times, "Rant & Rave: Display the flag, replace when damaged," 1 June 2017
A popular Facebook page, created to decry the beating death of a young man by the Egyptian police, had been the forum for organizing the initial Tahrir uprising and had mustered hundreds of thousands of supporters.

— anna diamond, The Atlantic, "Rediscovering Aleppo and Deciphering the Caliphate: The Week in Global-Affairs Writing," 26 May 2017

Origin and Etymology of muster

Middle English mustren to show, muster, from Anglo-French mustrer, monstrer, from Latin monstrare to show, from monstrum evil omen, monster — more at monster

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 15th century

See Words from the same year

Synonym Discussion of muster

summon, call, cite, convoke, convene, muster mean to demand the presence of. summon implies the exercise of authority. was summoned to answer charges call may be used less formally for summon . called the legislature into special session cite implies a summoning to court usually to answer a charge. cited for drunken driving convoke implies a summons to assemble for deliberative or legislative purposes. convoked a Vatican council convene is somewhat less formal than convoke . convened the students muster suggests a calling up of a number of things that form a group in order that they may be exhibited, displayed, or utilized as a whole. mustered the troops

MUSTER Defined for English Language Learners

muster

play

noun

Definition of muster for English Language Learners

: a formal military gathering to examine or test soldiers

muster

verb

Definition of muster for English Language Learners

: to work hard to find or get (courage, support, etc.)
: to gather together (a group of people, soldiers, etc.) especially for battle or war

MUSTER Defined for Kids

muster

play

noun mus·ter \ˈmə-stər\

Definition of muster for Students

1 : a formal gathering of military troops for inspection
2 : an act of careful examination or consideration to determine whether something is acceptable or good enough Your excuses will not pass muster.

muster

play

verb mus·ter

Definition of muster for Students

mustered

;

mustering

1 : to call together (as troops) for roll call or inspection
2 : to bring into being or action I shall await your arrival with all the eagerness I can muster. — E. B. White, Stuart Little