museum
noun
- institution that holds artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, historical, or other importance
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /mjuːˈziːəm/ / /mjuˈziəm/ / /mjuˈzim/
name
Etymology: Borrowed from Latin Mūsēum, from Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseîon), from Μοῦσα (Moûsa, “Muse”) + -εῖον (-eîon, noun-forming suffix meaning “place or building associated with a specific purpose or person”). By surface analysis, Muse + -eum.
- Alternative form of the Mouseion
“The Museum was thoroughly regarded in the light of an important institution of the state, and after the subjugation of Egypt by the Romans continued to be maintained by the Emperors.”
“Alexander never lived to see the city completed but most of the celebrated bildings we know so well by name—the Museum, Soma, Library, Gymnasium, etc.—were the work of the architect he had chosen [...]. / [...] / The Museum, the home of the Muses, was in shadow reproduced by our mediæval universities—not a place where collections of relics of the past were stored up, but where students of literature, science, or art, whether as teachers or taughts, lived together in an atmosphere of intellectual luxury.”
noun
Etymology: From Latin mūsēum (“library, study”), from Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseîon), shrine of the Muses (Μοῦσα (Moûsa)). Doublet of mosaic.
- A building or institution dedicated to the acquisition, conservation, study, exhibition, and educational interpretation of objects having scientific, historical, cultural or artistic value.
“visit the history museum”
“They're opening a new coin exhibition at the local museum.”
verb
Etymology: From Latin mūsēum (“library, study”), from Ancient Greek Μουσεῖον (Mouseîon), shrine of the Muses (Μοῦσα (Moûsa)). Doublet of mosaic.
- To place in a museum.
“I use daily those books that for others are museumed. The glass case approach depresses me, makes books into porcelain, guts them of what they are.”
“Such museuming provides evidence that the Gulf has started building up its defences to protect its national culture, which might be seen as threatened by modern, global societies.”
- To visit museums.
“I told her I'd do just one visit to start; I don't really have time to do a lot of museuming.”