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Amuse   /əmjˈuz/   Listen
verb
Amuse  v. t.  (past & past part. amused; pres. part. amusing)  
1.
To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder. (Obs.) "Camillus set upon the Gauls when they were amused in receiving their gold." "Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house."
2.
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."
3.
To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude. "He amused his followers with idle promises."
Synonyms: To entertain; gratify; please; divert; beguile; deceive; occupy. To Amuse, Divert, Entertain. We are amused by that which occupies us lightly and pleasantly. We are entertained by that which brings our minds into agreeable contact with others, as conversation, or a book. We are diverted by that which turns off our thoughts to something of livelier interest, especially of a sportive nature, as a humorous story, or a laughable incident. "Whatever amuses serves to kill time, to lull the faculties, and to banish reflection. Whatever entertains usually awakens the understanding or gratifies the fancy. Whatever diverts is lively in its nature, and sometimes tumultuous in its effects."



Amuse  v. i.  To muse; to mediate. (Obs.)






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Amuse" Quotes from Famous Books



... of New College, Oxford (1380). The founder gives his permission to the scholars, for their recreation on festival days in the winter, to light a fire in the hall after dinner and supper, where they could amuse themselves with songs and other entertainments of decent sort, and could recite poems, chronicles of kingdoms, the wonders of the world, and such like compositions, provided they befitted the clerical character. At Winchester College—where minstrels were often employed—and ...
— Old English Libraries, The Making, Collection, and Use of Books • Ernest A. Savage

... who, it is said, used to amuse himself by making a private treasury. When he lost at play, he used always to pay out of the ...
— International Miscellany of Literature, Art and Science, Vol. 1, - No. 3, Oct. 1, 1850 • Various

... The Tempest, he wrought with a peculiar consciousness of this power, smiling as the word of inimitable felicity, the phrase of incomparable cadence, was whispered to him by the Ariel that was his genius. He seems to sport with language, to amuse himself with new discovery of its resources. From king to beggar, men of every rank and every order of mind have spoken with his lips; he has uttered the lore of fairyland; now it pleases him to create a being neither man nor fairy, a something ...
— The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft • George Gissing

... like these put us en route with Pascal. Toutes les bonnes maximes sont dans le monde: on ne manque que de les appliquer. The great ascetic was always hard on amusements, on mere pastimes: Le divertissement nous amuse, one and all of us, et nous fait arriver insensiblement a la mort. Nous perdons encore la vie avec joie, pourvu qu'on en parle. On ne peut faire une bonne physionomie (in a portrait) qu'en accordant toutes nos contrarietes. L'homme n'est ...
— Miscellaneous Studies: A Series of Essays • Walter Horatio Pater

... and to the habit of defending themselves from it. They begin by throwing reeds at each other, and are soon very expert. They also, from the time when they can run, until prompted by manhood to realize their sports, amuse themselves with stealing the females, and treat them at this time very little worse than ...
— An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales, Vol. 1 • David Collins


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