All 9 Uses of
muster
in
Uncle Tom's Cabin
- And Phineas busied himself with making some off-hand surgical arrangements with his own pocket-handkerchief, and such as could be mustered in the company.†
Chpt 1.17mustered = gathered
- One thing is certain,—that there is a mustering among the masses, the world over; and there is a dies irae coming on, sooner or later.†
Chpt 2.19 *mustering = gathering
- So they mustered out a party of some six or seven, with guns and dogs, for the hunt.†
Chpt 2.19mustered = gathered
- The fact was, that Tom's home-yearnings had become so strong that he had begged a sheet of writing-paper of Eva, and, mustering up all his small stock of literary attainment acquired by Mas'r George's instructions, he conceived the bold idea of writing a letter; and he was busy now, on his slate, getting out his first draft.†
Chpt 2.19mustering = gathering
- One morning, when the hands were mustered for the field, Tom noticed, with surprise, a new comer among them, whose appearance excited his attention.†
Chpt 2.33mustered = gathered
- Carriage sticks fast, while Cudjoe on the outside is heard making a great muster among the horses.†
Chpt 1.9
- No; I slept, ears and all, for an hour or two, for I was pretty well tired; but when I came to myself a little, I found that there were some men in the room, sitting round a table, drinking and talking; and I thought, before I made much muster, I'd just see what they were up to, especially as I heard them say something about the Quakers.†
Chpt 1.17
- He'll muster some of those old overseers on the other plantations, and have a great hunt; and they'll go over every inch of ground in that swamp.†
Chpt 2.39
- He saw that he did not join the muster of the pursuers.†
Chpt 2.40
Definitions:
-
(1)
(muster as in: muster strength or the crew) to gatherThe exact meaning of this sense of muster is often subject to its context. For example:
- "mustered her courage/strength/a smile" -- to gather from within
- "muster the soldiers/crew" -- to gather -- typically for inspection
- "muster volunteers/votes" -- to gather enough to do something
-
(2)
(muster as in: didn't pass muster) inspection -- especially of soldiers or a crew
-
(3)
(meaning too rare to warrant focus) meaning too rare to warrant focus:
More rarely, muster can refer to a counting or census. Much more rarely, muster can refer to a call to duty such as compulsory military service or jury duty. In that sense, you may see the expression muster in or muster out. Still more rarely, a muster can refer to a group of peacocks.