amuse
pronunciation
How to pronounce amuse in British English:
UK [əˈmjuːz]
How to pronounce amuse in American English:
US [əˈmjuːz]
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- Verb:
- occupy in an agreeable, entertaining or pleasant fashion
- make (somebody) laugh
Word Origin
- amuse
- amuse: [15] Amuse is probably a French creation, formed with the prefix a- from the verb muser (from which English gets muse ‘ponder’ [14]). The current meaning ‘divert, entertain’ did not begin to emerge until the 17th century, and even so the commonest application of the verb in the 17th and 18th centuries was ‘deceive, cheat’. This seems to have developed from an earlier ‘bewilder, puzzle’, pointing back to an original sense ‘make someone stare open-mouthed’.This links with the probable source of muser, namely muse ‘animal’s mouth’, from medieval Latin mūsum (which gave English muzzle [15]). There is no connection with the inspirational muse, responsible for music and museums.=> muse, muzzle
- amuse (v.)
- late 15c., "to divert the attention, beguile, delude," from Middle French amuser "divert, cause to muse," from a "at, to" (but here probably a causal prefix) + muser "ponder, stare fixedly" (see muse (v.)). Sense of "divert from serious business, tickle the fancy of" is recorded from 1630s, but through 18c. the primary meaning was "deceive, cheat" by first occupying the attention. Bemuse retains more of the original meaning. Related: Amused; amusing.
Example
- 1. A clown 's job is to amuse the spectators .
- 2. It was a comedy , full of jokes to amuse the audience .
- 3. It was ridiculous , but those were the kind of things you did to amuse yourself .
- 4. If you 're like most people , there are many simpler , cheaper ways to electronically amuse yourself .
- 5. Experience teaches me that whatever a fellow-guest may have of power to instruct or to amuse when he is sitting on a chair , or standing on a hearth-rug , quickly leaves him when he takes one out for a walk .