Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Muster

Muster , noun

[Old English moustre, Old French mostre, moustre, French montre, Late Latin monstra. See Muster, transitive verb]

1.
Something shown for imitation; a pattern. [Obsolete]
2.
A show; a display. [Obsolete] — 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
Such excuses will not pass muster with God. — South
Collocations (5)
Muster book , a book in which military forces are registered.
Muster file , a muster roll.
Muster master (Military) , one who takes an account of troops, and of their equipment; a mustering officer; an inspector. [English]
Muster roll (Military) , 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.

Muster , transitive verb

[Old English mustren, prop., to show, Old French mostrer, mustrer, moustrer, monstrer, French montrer, from Latin 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
One of those who can muster up sufficient sprightliness to engage in a game of forfeits. — Hazlitt
Collocations (3)
To muster troops into service (Military) , to inspect and enter troops on the muster roll of the army.
To muster troops out of service (Military) , 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.

Muster , intransitive verb

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