Mu*sang" (?), n. (Zoöl.) A small animal of Java (Paradoxirus
fasciatus), allied to the civets. It swallows, but does not digest,
large quantities of ripe coffee berries, thus serving to disseminate
the coffee plant; hence it is called also coffee rat.
Mu"sar (?), n. An itinerant player on the musette, an instrument
formerly common in Europe.
Mu"sard (?), n. [F., fr. muser to loiter, trifle. See Muse, v. i.] A
dreamer; an absent-minded person. [Obs.] Rom. of R.
||Mus"ca (?), n.; pl. Muscæ (#). [L., a fly.] 1. (Zoöl.) A genus of
||dipterous insects, including the common house fly, and numerous
||allied species.
Formerly, a large part of the Diptera were included under the genus
Musca.
2. (Astron.) A small constellation situated between the Southern Cross
and the Pole.
||Muscæ volitantes (&?;). [L., flying flies.] (Med.) Specks or
||filaments apparently seen moving or gliding about in the field of
||vision. Their appearance is often a symptom of disease of the eye, or
||of disorder of the nervous system.
Mus"ca*del` (?), n. [It. moscadello, moscatello, LL. muscatellum or
muscadellum (sc. vinum), fr. muscatellus nutmeglike, dim. of muscatus
smelling like musk, muscatum and muscata (sc. nux) nutmeg: cf. F.
muscadelle, fr. Italian. See Musk and cf. Moschatel, Muscardin, Muscat,
Nutmeg.] See Muscatel, n.
Quaffed off the muscadel.
Shak.
Mus"ca*dine (?), n. [See Muscadel.] 1. (Bot.) A name given to several
very different kinds of grapes, but in America used chiefly for the
scuppernong, or southern fox grape, which is said to be the parent
stock of the Catawba. See Grapevine.