▪ I. amuse, v.
(əˈmjuːz)
Also 6–8 amuze, 7 ammuze, -muse.
[a. OFr. amuse-r to cause to muse, to put into a stupid stare, f. à to, here with causal force + muser to stare stupidly. The simple muse was in earlier use, and in sense 1, amuse is perhaps an Eng. derivative, with a- prefix 1 intensive, or even ad. It. amusare. The word was not in reg. use bef. 1600, and was not used by Shakespeare.]
† 1. intr. To muse intently, gaze in astonishment. Obs.
| c 1532 Chaucer's H. of Fame (Thynne) v. 1287, I amused a long while Upon this wall of berile [early MSS. mused]. 1611 Florio, Amusare, to ammuse or plod vpon. 1681 Lee Jun. Brutus (T.) In some pathless wilderness amusing. |
† 2. trans. To cause to ‘muse’ or stare; to confound, distract, bewilder, puzzle. Obs.
| 1606 Chapman M. D'Olive Plays 1873 I. 216, I am amused, or I am in a quandarie, gentlemen. 1611 Cotgr., Amuser, To amuse; to make to muse, or think of, wonder or gaze at: to put into a dumpe. a 1670 Hacket Serm. Incarn. iv, A glorious splendor filled the mountain where Christ was transfigured and it did amuse Peter, James, and John. 1665 J. Spencer Prodigies 111 To amuze and scare us with one Prodigy or other perpetually. 1704 Swift Mech. Oper. Spirit (1711) 284 To..stupify, fluster, and amuse the senses. 1741 Richardson Pamela III. 135, I would not amuse her too much. |
† 3. To engage, arrest, or occupy the attention of. (Const. upon, with, about, to.) Obs. a. actively.
| 1603 Florio Montaigne (1634) 302 That he should not ammuse his thoughts about matters above the clowds. 1672 Sir T. Browne Let. Friend (1881) 135 Hairs which have most amused me have not been in the face or head, but on the back. 1712 Spect. No. 524 ¶1 It will..amuse the imagination of those who are more profound. a 1716 South Serm. vii. (T.) Sad and solemn objects to amuse and affect the pensive part of the soul. |
b. esp. refl. and pass.
| 1601 Holland Pliny xviii. xxvii, Why art thou amused upon the course of the stars? 1641 Milton Animadv. (1851) 186 The ingenuous Reader without further amusing himselfe in the labyrinth of controversall antiquity. 1689 Burnet Tracts I. 20 The Women are so much amuzed with the management at home. 1734 Watts Reliq. Juv. (1789) 2 We are so amused and engrossed by the things of sense, that we forget our Maker. |
4. To divert the attention of any one from the facts at issue; to beguile, delude, cheat, deceive. (The usual sense in 17–18th c.) arch.
| 1480 Caxton Ovid Metam. xii. iii, I never amused my husbonde, ne can not doo it. 1569 Cecil in Strype Ann. Ref. I. liv. 582 He was secretly employed to amuse her, and render her the more secure. 1673 Marvell Reh. Transp. ii. 263 And all to amuse men from observing. 1693 Mem. Count Teckely ii. 132 Teckeley..made these offers only to amuse the Council at Vienna. 1728 De Foe Magic i. vii. 190 Tools of the Devil, to cheat and amuse the world. 1732 Berkeley Min. Philos. II. 100 Alciphron, be not amused by Terms, lay aside the word Force. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. Wks. I. 155 Leave us in the dark, or, what is worse, amuse and mislead us by false lights. 1817 Cobbett Year's Resid. Amer. (1822) 230 It becomes the people of America to guard their minds against ever being, in any case, amused with names. |
5. esp. in military tactics: To divert the attention of the enemy from one's real designs. arch.
| 1670 Cotton Espernon i. iv. 179 He..thought it sufficient by charging, and amusing the Enemies Van, to win time. 1722 De Foe Mem. Cavaliers (1840) 232 This I did to give [the enemy] an alarm and amuse them. 1775 Montgomery in Sparks Corr. Am. Rev. (1853) I. 494 To amuse the enemy, and blind them as to my real intention. 1796 Nelson in Nicolas Disp. (1845) II. 1796 It is natural to suppose their Fleet was to amuse ours whilst they cross from Leghorn. |
6. a. ‘To draw on from time to time, to keep in expectation’ (J.); to entertain with expectations not to be fulfilled; to divert, in order to gain or waste time. arch.
| [1611 Cotgr., Amuser..to stay, hold, or delay from going forward by discourse, questions, or any other amusements.] 1639 Earl of Northumberland in 3rd Rep. Hist. MSS. (1872) 79/1 They will no longer be amused with the King's neutrality. 1777 Robertson Amer. I. ii. 72 He had been amused so long with vain expectations. 1817 Jas. Mill Brit. India II. iv. vii. 241 The Rohillas had amused him with only deceitful promises. 1850 Merivale Rom. Emp. V. xliii. 179 Silanus was directed to amuse and negotiate with both powers, and avoid an open rupture by all the arts of diplomacy. |
† b. ? To keep up for a purpose, detain. Obs.
| 1615 Bacon Lett. Wks. 1870 V. 173 To retrench and amuse the greatness of Spain for their own preservation. 1693 Evelyn Compl. Gard. II. 25 They must be cut off Stump-wise, to amuse a little Sap in them during two or three Years. |
7. a. To divert the attention of (one) from serious business by anything trifling, ludicrous, or entertaining; passing into b. To divert, please with anything light or cheerful; c. esp. (in mod. sense) To excite the risible faculty or tickle the fancy of. Const. To amuse one with an anecdote, by telling him a story; to amuse oneself with a puzzle, with, by, or in sketching; to be amused with a toy or whimsical person, by a story told me, at an incident, the self-complacency of another.
| a 1631 Donne Septuag. 96 (T.) Amusing themselves with no other things but pleasures. a 1667 Cowley Royal Soc. ii, That his own Business he might quite forget, They amus'd him with the Sports of wanton wit. a 1677 Barrow Folly of Sland., What do men commonly amuse themselves in so much, as in carping? a 1687 Walsh (J.) To amuse himself with trifles. 1716–18 Lady Montague Lett. I. xxxii. 110, I am careful..to amuse you by the account of all I see. 1756 J. Warton Ess. Pope ix. (1782) II. 68 Representations of..artless innocence always amuse and delight. 1810 Coleridge Friend (1865) 4 To amuse though only to amuse our visitors is wisdom as well as good-nature. 1853 H. Rogers Ecl. Faith 167 Twelve guests, who all had the misfortune to squint, amused their host with their ludicrous cross lights. 1876 C. M. Davies Unorth. Lond. 312 The three schoolboys..amused themselves with shooting light missiles into the young ladies' faces. Ibid. 313 Amusing themselves by trying the effect of stopping and unstopping their ears. |
8. To cause (time) to pass pleasantly, to entertain agreeably; to ‘beguile,’ while away, enliven.
| a 1771 Smollett, He did this to amuse their concern. 1791 E. Inchbald Simp. Story I. vii. 66 Every new pursuit that might amuse the time. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. i, Who live by amusing the leisure of others. |
▪ II. † aˈmuse, n. Obs. rare—1.
[f. prec. vb.]
Pre-occupation; musing, meditation.
| 1608 Machin Dumb Knt. iv. i, Orewhelm'd with thought, with darke amuze And the sad sullennesse of griev'd dislike. |