to be obliged or bound to by an imperative requirement:
I must keep my word.
to be under the necessity to; need to:
Animals must eat to live.
to be required or compelled to, as by the use or threat of force:
You must obey the law.
to be compelled to in order to fulfill some need or achieve an aim:
We must hurry if we’re to arrive on time.
to be forced to, as by convention or the requirements of honesty:
I must say, that is a lovely hat.
to be or feel urged to; ought to:
I must buy that book.
to be reasonably expected to; is bound to:
It must have stopped raining by now. She must be at least 60.
to be inevitably certain to; be compelled by nature:
Everyone must die.
verb (used without object)
to be obliged; be compelled:
Do I have to go? I must, I suppose.
Archaic. (sometimes used with ellipsis of go, get, or some similar verb readily understood from the context):
We must away.
A raincoat is must clothing in this area.
something necessary, vital, or required:
This law is a must.
new wine; the unfermented juice as pressed from the grape or other fruit.
mold; moldiness; mustiness:
a castle harboring the must of centuries.
[muhst] /mʌst/ Obsolete
musk, especially a powder made from musk.
verb (used with object)
to powder (the hair).
a state or condition of violent, destructive frenzy occurring with the rutting season in male elephants, accompanied by the exudation of an oily substance from glands between the eyes and mouth.
/mʌst; unstressed məst; məs/
verb takes an infinitive without to or an implied infinitive
used as an auxiliary to express obligation or compulsion: you must pay your dues. In this sense, must does not form a negative. If used with a negative infinitive it indicates obligatory prohibition
used as an auxiliary to indicate necessity: I must go to the bank tomorrow
used as an auxiliary to indicate the probable correctness of a statement: he must be there by now
used as an auxiliary to indicate inevitability: all good things must come to an end
(used as an auxiliary to express resolution)
(used emphatically) used as an auxiliary to express conviction or certainty on the part of the speaker: he must have reached the town by now, surely, you must be joking
(foll by away) used with an implied verb of motion to express compelling haste: I must away
an essential or necessary thing: strong shoes are a must for hill walking
mustiness or mould
the newly pressed juice of grapes or other fruit ready for fermentation
a variant spelling of musth
(often preceded by in) a state of frenzied sexual excitement in the males of certain large mammals, esp elephants, associated with discharge from a gland between the ear and eye
Old English moste, past tense of motan “have to, be able to,” from Proto-Germanic *mot- “ability, leisure (to do something)” (cf. Old Saxon motan “to be obliged to, have to,” Old Frisian mota, Middle Low German moten, Dutch moeten, German müssen “to be obliged to,” Gothic gamotan “to have room to, to be able to”), perhaps from PIE root *med- “to measure, to take appropriate measures” (see medical (adj.)). Used as present tense from c.1300, from the custom of using past subjunctive as a moderate or polite form of the present.
“new wine,” Old English must, from Latin mustum (also source of Old High German, German most, Old French moust, Modern French moût, Spanish, Italian mosto), short for vinum mustum “fresh wine,” neuter of mustus “fresh, new, newborn,” perhaps literally “wet,” and from PIE *mus-to-, from root *meus- “damp” (see moss).
“mold,” c.1600, perhaps a back-formation of musty (q.v.).
“male elephant frenzy,” 1871, from Urdu mast “intoxicated, in rut,” from Persian mast, literally “intoxicated,” related to Sanskrit matta- “drunk, intoxicated,” past participle of madati “boils, bubbles, gets drunk,” from PIE root *mad- “wet, moist” (see mast (n.2)).
“that which has to be done, seen, or experienced,” 1892, from must (v.). As an adjective, “obligatory, indispensable,” by 1912, from the noun; must-read is from 1959.
musth also must
An annual period of heightened aggressiveness and sexual activity in male elephants.
[muhs-tash, muh-stash] /ˈmʌs tæʃ, məˈstæʃ/ noun 1. the hair growing on the upper lip. 2. such hair on men, allowed to grow without shaving, and often trimmed in any of various shapes. 3. hairs or bristles growing near the mouth of an animal. 4. a stripe of color, or elongated feathers, suggestive of a mustache […]
noun 1. a cup having a straight piece inside, just below the rim, for holding back a man’s mustache while he is drinking.
[muh-stah-shoh, -shee-oh, -stash-oh, -stash-ee-oh] /məˈstɑ ʃoʊ, -ʃiˌoʊ, -ˈstæʃ oʊ, -ˈstæʃ iˌoʊ/ noun, plural mustachios. 1. a mustache. /məˈstɑːʃɪˌəʊ/ noun (pl) -chios 1. (often pl when considered as two halves) (often jocular) a moustache, esp when bushy or elaborately shaped
[muh-stah-shoh, -shee-oh, -stash-oh, -stash-ee-oh] /məˈstɑ ʃoʊ, -ʃiˌoʊ, -ˈstæʃ oʊ, -ˈstæʃ iˌoʊ/ noun, plural mustachios. 1. a mustache. /məˈstɑːʃɪˌəʊd/ adjective 1. (often jocular) having a moustache, esp when bushy or elaborately shaped /məˈstɑːʃɪˌəʊ/ noun (pl) -chios 1. (often pl when considered as two halves) (often jocular) a moustache, esp when bushy or elaborately shaped adj. 1817, […]