"skill in musical composition or expression," 1828, from musician + -ship.

"the study of the science of music," 1900; see music + -ology. Related: Musicological; musicologist.

late 14c., "act of pondering, meditation, thought," verbal noun from muse (v.). Related: Musingly; musings.

odoriferous reddish-brown substance secreted by the male musk deer (dried and used in medicinal preparations and as a perfume), late 14c., from Old French musc (13c.) and directly from Medieval Latin muscus, from Late Greek moskhos, from Persian mushk, from Sanskrit muska-s "testicle," from mus "mouse" (so called, presumably, for resemblance; see muscle). The deer gland was thought to resemble a scrotum. German has Moschus, from a Medieval Latin form of the Late Greek word. Spanish has almizcle, from Arabic al misk "the musk," from Persian.

The musk-deer, the small ruminant of central Asia that produces the substance, is so called from 1680s. The name musk was applied to various plants and animals of similar smell, such as the Arctic musk-ox (1744). Musk-melon "the common melon" (1570s) probably originally was an oriental melon with a musky smell, the name transferred by error [OED]. Also compare Muscovy.

kind of North American bog, 1865, from Cree (Algonquian) /maske:k/ "swamp;" compare Abenaki mskag, Munsee Delaware maskeekw, and Ojibwa mshkiig, which probably is an element in the place names Muskego (Wisconsin) and Muskegon (Michigan).

"large North American pike," 1789, from Algonquian (Ojibwa) maashkinoozhe; the second element is kinoozhe "pike;" the first is either mac "great," maazh- "similar to," or maazh- "ugly." Altered by French folk etymology as masque allongé "long mask." Called muskie for short (1889).

"firearm for infantry" (later replaced by the rifle), 1580s, from Middle French mousquette, also the name of a kind of sparrow-hawk, diminutive of mosca "a fly," from Latin musca (see midge). The hawk so called either for its size or because it looks speckled when in flight.

Early firearms often were given names of beasts (compare dragoon, also falcon, a kind of cannon mentioned by Hakluyt), and the equivalent word in Italian was used to mean "an arrow for a crossbow." The French word had been borrowed earlier into Middle English (late 14c.; c. 1200 as a surname) in its literal sense of "sparrow-hawk."

1640s, "muskets collectively," from French mousqueterie, from mousquet "musket" (see musket), on analogy of Italian moschetteria.

Native American language family of the southeastern U.S., 1890, from Muskogee, name of the Creek and related tribes (1775), from Creek maskoki.