Amuse Definition

Contents

• 1 English
  • 1.1 Etymology
  • 1.2 Pronunciation
  • 1.3 Verb
    • 1.3.1 Synonyms
    • 1.3.2 Derived terms
    • 1.3.3 Translations
  • 1.4 References
  • 1.5 Anagrams
• 2 French
  • 2.1 Pronunciation
  • 2.2 Verb

English

Etymology

From Middle English amusen (“to mutter, be astonished, gaze meditatively on”) from Middle French amuser (“to amuse, divert, babble”) from Old French amuser (“to stupefy, waste time, be lost in thought”) from a- + muser (“to stare stupidly at, gape, wander, waste time, loiter, think carefully about, attend to”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Cognate with Occitan musa (“idle waiting”), Italian musare (“to gape idly about”). Possibly from Old French *mus (“snout”) from Proto-Romance *mūsa (“snout”) (—compare Medieval Latin mūsum (“muzzle, snout”)), of Germanic origin, from Proto-Germanic base *mū- (“muzzle, snout”) from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“lips, muzzle”). Compare German Maul (“muzzle, snout”).

Alternative etymology connects Old French muser and Occitan musa with Old High German muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”) from Proto-Germanic *mōtōn (“leave, permission”) from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, control”). Compare also Old High German muozōn (“to be idle, have leisure or opportunity”), German Musse (“leisure”). More at empty.

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /əˈmjuːz/
• (US) IPA: /ʌˈmjus/
• Rhymes: -uːz

Verb

to amuse (third-person singular simple present amuses, present participle amusing, simple past and past participle amused)

1. (transitive) To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to stir with pleasing or mirthful emotions; to divert.

   A group of children amusing themselves with pushing stones from the top [of the cliff], and watching as they plunged into the lake. -Gilpin.

2. To cause laughter, to be funny.
3. (transitive), (archaic) To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.

   He amused his followers with idle promises. -Johnson.

4. (obsolete, slang, cant) To fling dust or snuff in the eyes of the person intended to be robbed; also to invent some plausible tale, to delude shop-keepers and others, thereby to put them off their guard. (1811 Dictionary of Vulgar Tongue)

Synonyms

To entertain; gratify; please; divert; beguile.

Derived terms

• amusement

References

• amuse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• musea

French

Pronunciation

• IPA: /a.myz/
• Homophones: amuses, amusent

Verb

amuse

1. First-person singular present indicative of amuser
2. Third-person singular present indicative of amuser
3. First-person singular present subjunctive of amuser
4. Third-person singular present subjunctive of amuser
5. Second-person singular imperative of amuser

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