All 3 Uses of
muse
in
O Pioneers!
- Carl mused.†
Chpt 2.4mused = thought -- possibly aloud
- Carl sat musing until the sun leaped above the prairie, and in the grass about him all the small creatures of day began to tune their tiny instruments.†
Chpt 2.5 *musing = reflecting (thinking) -- perhaps aloud
- It was like that when Alexandra tested her seed-corn in the spring, he mused.†
Chpt 2.9mused = thought -- possibly aloud
Definitions:
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(1)
(muse as in: her musings) reflect (think) deeply on a subject -- perhaps aloud
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(2)
(muse as in: She was his muse) the source of an artist's inspiration - especially a person or mythological goddessThe 9 muses were the daughters of the Greek gods Zeus & Mnemosyne. Each of the muses was thought to inspire and preside over one of the arts.
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(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, muse is used as a synonym for "poet". In Shakespeare's time, muse could be used in the sense of being astonished or puzzled by something strange or unexpected.