means To muse is to ponder something thoughtfully; as a noun, a muse is a person or thing that serves as a source of artistic inspiration.

from From the Greek Mousa, the nine Muses being goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences — the same root that gives us 'music' and 'museum' (literally a 'seat of the Muses'). The verb 'to muse,' meaning to ponder, may come from the same family through Old French muser, 'to loiter or daydream,' though some trace that sense to a different root meaning 'to sniff about' like a dog at a scent — wandering, nose to the air, waiting for something to arrive.