Meaning & use
muster roll
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Meanings
nouncountablemilitaryformal
An official list of the people, especially soldiers or sailors, who are present in a unit or available for duty.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a muster roll' or 'the muster rolls'.
Patterns
- on the muster roll
- call the muster roll
- check the muster roll
The sergeant read out the muster roll before the troops set off.
Every name on the muster roll had to be accounted for by sunset.
The ship's muster roll showed that three sailors were missing.
nouncountableformal
A similar list of members or attendees used by an organization to record who is present.
Grammar: Countable; often used with 'on' or 'in': 'on the muster roll'.
Patterns
- on the muster roll
- add someone to the muster roll
- remove someone from the muster roll
The club secretary keeps a muster roll of all active members.
New volunteers are added to the muster roll once they complete training.
Word forms
| plural | muster rolls |
|---|
Common combinations
- call the muster roll
- The officer called the muster roll at dawn.
- on the muster roll
- Only soldiers on the muster roll could join the mission.
- check the muster roll
- The clerk checked the muster roll against the duty roster.
- muster roll of
- The archive contains a muster roll of the regiment from 1812.
- read out the muster roll
- He read out the muster roll to confirm everyone was present.
Synonyms and how they differ
- roster
- Roster is a more general word for a list of people and their duties, used in everyday and business contexts, while muster roll is more formal and often military.
- register
- Register is an official record of names or events, often for legal or administrative purposes; muster roll specifically suggests a military or group check of who is present.
- roll call
- Roll call is the act of reading out names to check who is present, not the list itself; muster roll is the list.
Word family
- muster verb
- To gather or assemble people, especially soldiers.
Commonly confused: muster roll or mustard?
muster roll vs mustard
Mustard is a yellow sauce or plant; muster roll is a list of names. They sound similar but are completely unrelated.
Practice
The captain asked the clerk to check the ______ before the inspection.
Choose one answer.
'Muster roll' is the correct fixed phrase for an official list of people present. 'Mustard roll' is a food item, 'muster call' is not a standard phrase (the usual term is 'roll call'), and 'roll muster' reverses the words.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “muster roll”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.