pleasure

▪ I. pleasure, n.
    (ˈplɛʒ(j)ʊə(r), ˈplɛʒə(r))
    Forms: see below.
    [ME. plesir, plaisir a. OF. plesir, plaisir (12th c. in Littré), + Pr. plazer, Sp. placer, Pg. pracer, It. piacere, Com. Romanic substantival use of the vb. infin.:—L. placēre to please. By 1400, pleˈsīr had become (in prose) ˈplēsir, ˈplēser, and its unstressed ending being confounded with that of words etymologically in -ure, e.g. measure, it was corruptly spelt and pronounced plesure, pleasure. The dialects have retained more eytmological forms in pleezer, plezzer (ˈpliːzə(r), ˈplɛzə(r)).]
    A. Illustration of Forms.
    (α) 4–5 plesir, 5 plesyr, -yre, -ire, -ier, -yer; plaisir, playsir, -ire, -yr, -yre; pleasir, -ire, -ier, -yr, -er; pleeser; 5–6 pleser, -ere; 6 pleasire; 9 dial. pleezer, plezzer.

1390 Gower Conf. II. 144 Sche scholde thanne afore his ye Schewe al the plesir that sche mihte. c 1420 Lydg. Assemb. Gods 197 Ye shall haue all your plesere [rime here = hear]. c 1430 ― Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 35 A yong rotour, redy to hir pleasier. 1450 Q. Margaret in Four C. Eng. Lett. (1880) 8 To be disposed to our pleasir. c 1450 Merlin 1 At his plesier. 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 27 To the pleeser of Almighty God. 1466 Cal. Anc. Rec. Dublin (1889) I. 322 Juncte or severell at his plesyre. ? c 1470 Paston Lett. III. 302 Sythe with your partyng, depertyd my plesyer [rimes desyer, fyer]. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vii. xxii. 248 To doo hym alle the pleasyr that I can. 1474 Caxton Chesse 14 For his solas and plaisir. 1481 ― Myrr. i. xiii. 39 Without his playsir nothyng may endure. 1482 Marg. Paston in P. Lett. III. 289 To the most pleaser of God. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop v. x, I praye the that one playsyre thow wylt do to me. 1485 ― Chas. Gt. 1 To reduce for his playsyr somme hystoryes. 1488 Act 4 Hen. VII, c. 7 §1 At the Kynges plesire. a 1500 Flower & Leaf 113 Wherof I had so inly greet plesyr. c 1500 Melusine 31 That I shall euer doo youre playsire. 1536 R. Beerley in Four C. Eng. Lett. (1880) 34 All fowlows our owne sensyaly and pleser. 1828 Craven Gloss. (ed. 2), Plezzer, pleasure.

    (β) 5 plaisur, playsur, -ure; 5–6 plesur; pleasur, -our (–7 Sc.); 5–7 plesure; 5– pleasure; 6 plesour, -oure, -owre, -ewre; pleasor, Sc. pleisour, -ure, pleissour, plessour, -uir, 7 pleaceur, Sc. pleassour, plessor.

c 1440 Generydes 144 For his plesur trowly ther lakkyd noght. c 1450 tr. Higden (Rolls) V. 373 [He] entrenge in..hade his pleasure. 1484 Caxton Fables of Alfonce vi, For to take his desporte and playsure. 1486 Certificate in Surtees Misc. (1888) 47 God preserve you to His pleasour. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon 50 Where your plaisur shalle be to sette vs vnto. 1490 ― Eneydos xxvii. 98, I myghte..haue doon wyth theym after my playsur and wyll. 15.. Sir J. Mandevelle & Gret Souden 75 in Hazl. E.P.P. (1864) I. 157 He that hase most plesure is best. 1514 Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) p. xlviii, Now judge, Coridon, if herein be pleasour. 1529 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 21 To be paid at the pleasor of my sone. 1530 Palsgr. 255/2 Pleasure, commodité. c 1540 J. Heywood Wit & Folly (Percy Soc.) 16 The sewrte of plesewre eternall. 1552 Abp. Hamilton Catech. (1884) 7 How we suld observe the commandis to the plesour of God. 1554–9 Songs & Ball. (1860) 1 Farewell my joye and plesure to. 1556 Olde Antichrist 65 b, To mayntene their pleasur and idlenesse. 1588 A. King Canisius' Catech. (S.T.S.) 213 To take pleissour. 1596 Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 7 Pleisour; 43 pleisure; 94 plesour; 152 pleasour. 1611 Sir W. Mure Misc. Poems (S.T.S.) i. 34 Pleasoures: 51 pleasour; 80 pleassour. 1640–1 Kirkcudbr. War-Comm. Min. Bk. (1855) 35 That they be baithe committit to warde, presentlie, during thair plessor.

    B. Signification.
    1. a. The condition of consciousness or sensation induced by the enjoyment or anticipation of what is felt or viewed as good or desirable; enjoyment, delight, gratification. The opposite of pain.

1390 [see A. α]. 1490 Caxton Eneydos Prol. 1 In whiche booke I had grete playsyr. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 27 Flee pleasure, and pleasure will folowe thee. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. iii. iii. 2 Since you make your pleasure of your paines, I will no further chide you. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. i. vi. 25 Pleasure..(or Delight) is the apparence or sense of Good. 1685 Roxb. Ball. (1886) VI. 122 What in pleasure begins too oft endeth in pain! 1690 Locke Hum. Und. ii. vii. (1695) 56 By Pleasure and Pain I would be understood to signifie, whatsoever delights or molests us. 1721 Mortimer Husb. (ed. 5) II. 197 I..shall next proceed to the Garden of Pleasure or Flower-Garden. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §14 You admit, therefore, three sorts of pleasure:—pleasure of reason, pleasure of imagination, and pleasure of sense. 1756 Burke Subl. & B. i. ii, Pain and pleasure are simple ideas, incapable of definition. 1757 Gray Bard 74 Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm. 1831 Sir J. Sinclair Corr. II. 120 The two former I had the pleasure of finding in Paris. 1881 W. H. Mallock Rom. 19th Cent. II. 243 Her face flushed with pleasure. 1894 Sir E. Sullivan Woman 88 ‘Pleasure is to the mind, what good food is to the stomach.’ Pleasure is what all creatures desire; pain what they all avoid.

    b. In unfavourable sense: Sensuous enjoyment as a chief object of life or end in itself. Opp. business. Sometimes personified as a female divinity.

1526 Tindale 1 Tim. v. 6 But she [a widow] that liveth in pleasure, is deed even yet alive [1611 is dead while she liueth]. 1675 Wycherley Country-Wife ii. 32 Go, go, to your business, I say, pleasure, whilst I go to my pleasure, business. 1710 Shaftesbury Charac. (1737) I. iii. ii. 309 When we follow Pleasure merely, we are disgusted, and change from one sort to another. 1735 Pope Ep. Lady 215 Men, some to Bus'ness, some to Pleasure take; But every Woman is at heart a Rake. 1767 T. Hutchinson Let. 30 Sept. (1883) I. v. 243 Pleasure should always give way to business. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 683 Pleasure and interest are two great deceivers we must warn men against, as continually leading them astray. 1784 Cowper Task iii. 51 Thou art not known where Pleasure is adored, That reeling goddess with the zoneless waist And wandering eyes. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter 59 But pleasures are like poppies spread, You seize the flower, the bloom is shed. 1802 W. Cutspear Dram. Rights 47 Pleasure is the business of the great. 1804 M. Edgeworth Pop. Tales III. 30 Business was his aversion; pleasure was his business. 1819 Byron Juan i. cxix, O pleasure! you're indeed a pleasant thing, Although one must be damn'd for you, no doubt. Mod. Men who made pleasure the business of their lives. Wearied votaries of pleasure. A life given up to pleasure. 1837 C. G. F. Gore Stokeshill Place III. vi. 99 ‘Business before pleasure’ is a golden rule which most of us regard as iron. 1853 R. S. Surtees Handley Cross xxii. 158 Business first, and pleasure afterwards. 1857 [see business 13]. 1934 Law Rep. 27 Mar. 238 In my judgment, the word ‘pleasure’ is used in this policy in contradistinction to ‘business’. 1941 F. Gruber Hungry Dog xv. 183 Pleasure before business. 1943 P. Cheyney Farewell to Admiral x. 238, I never believe in mixing business with pleasure. 1976 Hooker & Butterworth M.A.S.H. goes to San Francisco (1977) xiii. 170 Oh, how nice! And I think about you, too. But business before pleasure, as I always say.

    c. In strictly physical sense: The indulgence of the appetites; sensual gratification.

c 1450 [see A. β]. 1562 Child-Marriages 75 He wold have had his pleasure of her. 1611 Bible Gen. xviii. 12 Therefore Sarah laughed within her selfe, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I haue pleasure, my lord being old also? 1725 Lady M. W. Montagu Lett., to C'tess Mar (1887) I. 363 Dying as he had lived, indulging his pleasures. 1877 Mrs. Oliphant Makers Flor. xii, The vileness which calls itself pleasure was paralyzed.

    d. The condition or fact of being pleased or satisfied, the negation of which is displeasure (displeasure 1); satisfaction, approval. rare.

1568 Grafton Chron. II. 734 [He] was not the best pleased, but pleasure or displeasure, there was no remedie.

    e. Psychol. Used attrib. (esp. in pleasure principle) and as first element with -pain to denote the theory that the drives to achieve pleasure and to avoid pain are basic motivating forces in human and animal life; in psychoanalysis, the theory that the tension set up by unpleasure or the desire to achieve a pleasurable result forms the chief source of mental activity and is part of the life instinct, though frequently opposed by the reality-principle. Also in more general use.

1894 Creighton & Titchener tr. Wundt's Human & Animal Psychol. xiv. 211 The reference of feeling to a subjective condition of pleasure-pain. 1897 H. G. Wells Under Knife in Plattner Story 107 It occurred to me that the real meaning of this numbness might be a gradual slipping away from the pleasure-pain guidance of the animal man. 1912 Amer. Jrnl. Psychol. XXIII. 134 The sex impulses find no outlet before puberty. Until that time they remain under the control of the subconscious (pleasure principle). 1925 J. Riviere tr. Freud's Papers on Metapsychology in Coll. Papers IV. 14 It is called the pleasure-pain (Lust-Unlust) principle, or more shortly the pleasure-principle. 1951 S. F. Nadel Found. Social Anthropol. xi. 306 Emotions, sentiments, even the elementary pleasure-pain reactions, possess their dynamic properties..because they are the concomitants of instinctive tendencies. 1957 N. Frye Anat. Criticism ii. 75 In literature..the reality-principle is subordinate to the pleasure-principle. 1968 A. Laski Keeper xi. 133 Ralph's whole working life had been devoted to the pleasure principle. 1971 Listener 2 Sept. 299/1 Freud responded to the First World War by positing a death instinct beyond the pleasure principle. 1976 Vogue Jan. 5/2 The small son of the house witnesses Sigmund Freud looking askance at the pleasure principle embodied in Coney Island.

    2. With possessive pronoun, or n. in possessive relation: How one is pleased or wills in reference to any action contemplated; that which is agreeable to one or in conformity with one's wish or will; one's will, desire, choice.

? c 1368 Chaucer Compl. to his Lady (16th c. MS.) 126 As is your most plesure, so doth by me. c 1420 Lydg. Assembly of Gods 577 The goddes hygh plesure to fulfyll, Performe my desyre. 1485 Caxton St. Wenefr. 2 Whiche..aroos & humbly demaunded hym what was his playsir. 1543–4 Act 35 Hen. VIII, c. 1 It is in the only pleasure and will of almighty God, how longe his highnes..shall lyue. 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 120 When his good pleasure shall be. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. ii. iv. 117, I wait vpon his pleasure: Come Sir Thurio, Goe with me. 1669 Marvell Corr. Wks. (Grosart) II. 275 So expecting your pleasure, I remaine, Gentlemen, [etc.]. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. II. xxxvi. 289 They were determined not to submit..to her will and pleasure. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 549 They would submit to William's authority, and would, till his pleasure should be known, keep their men together.

    3. a. That which gives pleasure, or in which one delights; a source or object of pleasure or delight. (it is, was, etc.) my pleasure: a colloq. dismissal of thanks.

c 1495 Plumpton Corr. (Camden) 107 Therin you wil do,..that may be plesur to you & my contry. 1517 R. Torkington Pilgr. (1884) 18 They Caryed with them Riches and pleasurs, As clothe of gold and Crymsyn velvett. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. xvi. 17 b, This place excelleth all others in pleasures and dainties. 1639 N. N. tr. Du Bosq's Compl. Woman i. 11 Is there a greater pleasure, then to be present at the birth and ruin of Empires, and Monarchies? 1715 De Foe Fam. Instruct. i. v. (1841) I. 101 These are the very things your sister calls the pleasure of her life. 1858 Earl of Aberdeen in G. C. Lewis's Lett. (1870) 352 Your..love of truth renders this a duty as well as a pleasure. 1950 L. Kaufman Jubel's Children xxi. 259 Think nothing of it. My pleasure. 1963 [see not at all]. 1975 R. Lewis Double Take i. 26 ‘I enjoyed the evening, Mr Hood.’ ‘It was my pleasure, Miss Stevens.’

    † b. A pleasure-ground. Obs.

1485 Rolls of Parlt. VI. 293/1 Tennements,..thanne lyinge nie to the said late Lord Herbert, and to hys plesure. 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. cliv, In the xxi. yere of hys reygne Kynge Henry [I] made y⊇ parke of Wodestoke besyde Oxenforde, with other plesures to the same. 1633 Ford Broken H. i. iii, None have access into these private pleasures, Except some near in Court. [Cf. 1721 in sense 1.]

    c. As name of a locality.

1666 Wood Life 18 June (O.H.S.) II. 80, June 18, M., Oliver Craven, B.A. of Trinity Coll. drowned at Patten's Pleasure. 1692 Ibid. III. 399.

    4. The quality which gives pleasure; pleasurableness.

c 1530 Crt. of Love vi, To her be all the pleasure of this book. 1626 Bacon Sylva §475 The Shining Willow which they call Swallow-Tail because of the Pleasure of the Leaf. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §14 Consequently the pleasures perfective of those acts are also different. 1869 H. F. Tozer Highl. Turkey I. 149, [I] realised what I had never felt before—the pleasure of pale colours.

    5. Phrases. † a. at pleasure: with pleasure, pleased. Obs.

1579 Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 294/2 The Papistes (of whom we speake not so at pleasure). 1595 Daniel Civ. Wars i. ii, Whilst Fraunce, to see they spoyles, at pleasure stood!

    b. at (one's) pleasure, at pleasure: as or when one pleases; at will, at discretion. during (one's) pleasure: while one pleases.

1442 Rolls of Parlt. V. 44/1 Lifte up and close the seid lef att their pleser. 1484 Caxton Fables of æsop ii. xvii, I drynke and ete at my playsyr. 1523 Ld. Berners Froiss. I. cxv. 137, I shall make you amendes at your pleasures. 1566 Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 460 He being absent at the plesour of God. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 8 We had freedome to leaue the coach at our pleasure. 1634 W. Tirwhyt tr. Balzac's Lett. (vol. I) 132, I am not able to do anything but at the Physitians good pleasure. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. ii. 33 Draw two Right Lines, making any Angle at pleasure. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xiii, Whom the..housekeeper..huffed about at her pleasure. 1885 Act 48 & 49 Vict. c. 61 §2 A Secretary..who shall hold office during Her Majesty's pleasure. 1885 Law Rep. 15 Q. Bench Div. 360 The belts..could be slipped off the drum..at pleasure.

    c. to do or † show (one) (a) pleasure: to perform an acceptable service, do a favour; to please, gratify. (In quot. 1685 used ironically.)

c 1460 Fortescue Abs. & Lim. Mon. vii. (1885) 124 Such as do, or shall do to hym seruice, or oþer maner off pleasures. 1472 Paston Lett. III. 54 To do my Lord a plesur. 1526 Tindale Acts xxiv. 27 Felix, willynge to shewe the Jewes a pleasure, lefte Paul in preson bounde. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 364 The citezens shewed them what pleasure they could. 1685 R. Burton Eng. Emp. Amer. ii. 50 One..who to do the Spaniards a pleasure gave them [the English] information of a great Ship called the St. Anna expected from the Philippine Islands,..which..they took within a few days after. 1871 Browning Balaust. 2359 But certainly Thou dost thy friend no pleasure in the act. a 1907 Mod. Do me the pleasure of dining with me. I will do myself the pleasure of calling on you.

    d. man (woman) of pleasure: one who is devoted to the pursuit of sensual pleasure; a licentious person, a profligate. † lady, woman of pleasure: a wanton, a courtesan (obs.).

1623 Webster Duchess of Malfi v. ii, We that are great women of pleasure..join the sweet delight And the pretty excuse together. 1637, c 1645, 1708 [see lady n. 4 e]. 1667 Evelyn Diary 27 Aug., He [Clarendon] had enemies at Court, especialy the buffoones and ladys of pleasure. 1673 Essex Papers (Camden) I. 72 These men of Pleasure (y⊇ very Pest and ruine of all Courts). 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. ii. §3 Thus in our Dialect a vicious Man is a Man of Pleasure. 1742 Young Nt. Th. viii. 793 A Man of Pleasure is a Man of Pains. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. v. I. 635 Kirke was also, in his own coarse and ferocious way, a man of pleasure.

    † e. to pleasure, to (one's) pleasure: so or such as to please; to one's liking. Obs.

1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. xiv. 92 There were brought hym robes to his pleasyr. 1819 Keats Lamia ii. 192 When in an antechamber every guest Had felt the cold full sponge to pleasure press'd..upon his hands and feet.

    f. to take (a) pleasure: to be pleased, to enjoy oneself, to delight (in, to do something, etc.).

1538 Elyot Dict., Teneri ludo, to take pleasure in game. 1590 Marlowe 2nd Pt. Tamburl. iv. i, I take no pleasure to be murderous. 1611 Bible Ps. cii. 14 Thy servants take pleasure in her stones. 1727 A. Hamilton New Acc. E. Ind. I. xix. 231 Was drowned..by a Pinnace's oversetting, in which he and his Lady had been taking a Pleasure on the Water. 1734 tr. Rollin's Anc. Hist. (1827) II. iv. 211, I took a pleasure of informing myself of his birth. 1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Note-Bks. II. 48 Were taking their pleasure in our neighborhood.

    g. pleasures of the table: see table n. 6 c.
    6. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib., ‘of or for pleasure’, as pleasure-barge, pleasure-brake, pleasure-car, pleasure-carriage, pleasure-cart, pleasure-chariot, pleasure-cottage, pleasure-craft, pleasure-cruise, pleasure-cruiser, pleasure-cruising, pleasure-day, pleasure-dome, pleasure-driving, pleasure-economy, pleasure-excursion, pleasure-farming, pleasure-feast, pleasure-fleet, pleasure-garden, pleasure-gardener, pleasure-horse, pleasure-land, pleasure-navy, pleasure-park, pleasure-party, pleasure-path, pleasure-plane, pleasure-plat, pleasure-resort, pleasure-ship, pleasure-sleigh, pleasure-steamer, pleasure-traffic, pleasure-train, pleasure-travel, pleasure-traveller, pleasure-trip, pleasure-vehicle, pleasure-vessel, pleasure-visit, pleasure-voyage, pleasure-walk, pleasure-yacht. b. objective, obj. genitive, instrumental, etc., as pleasure-hater, pleasure-hunter, pleasure-taker, pleasure-taking; pleasure-bound, pleasure-crazed, pleasure-crowded, pleasure-feeling, pleasure-giving, pleasure-greedy, pleasure-loving, pleasure-mad, pleasure-minded, pleasure-tired, pleasure-trading, pleasure-wasted, pleasure-yielding adjs.

1775 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 216/1 *Pleasure-barges..moored in the river.

1873 E. Brennan Witch of Nemi 223 *Pleasure-bound and peace-inspiring days.

1908 Westm. Gaz. 12 Aug. 8/3 She was cycling along the Bromley-road when a *pleasure-brake..turned out of a side-street.

1833 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. II. 481/3 A *pleasure car has been flying between this town and the river. 1960 C. Achebe No longer at Ease ii. 14 [In Lagos] if you don't want to walk you only have to wave your hand and a pleasure car stops for you.

1802 W. Priest Trav. U.S.A. 31 There are 806 two and four wheeled machines entered at the office, and pay duty, as *pleasure carriages. 1844 Pleasure-carriage [see fiesta].

1789 J. Woodforde Diary 27 Nov. (1927) III. 156 My Brother went in my little *pleasure Cart with Briton. 1797 Hist. Mr. Fantom (Cheap Repos. Tracts) 8 That multitude of coaches..stages, pleasure-carts and horses.

1865 J. H. Ingraham Pillar of Fire (1872) 69 Besides their war-chariots, the Egyptians possess a small number of *pleasure-chariots.

a 1828 D. Wordsworth Jrnl. (1941) II. 247 A charming spot for a *pleasure-cottage.

1906 Conrad Mirror of Sea 38 Their striving for victory..has elevated the sailing of *pleasure craft to the dignity of a fine art. 1943 J. S. Huxley TVA ix. 63 Nearby is a public lodge and a boat⁓house and dock for pleasure craft.

1932 New Yorker 23 July 12/2 It is not your idea..of a mad night on *pleasure-crazed Broadway.

1906 B. von Hutten What became of Pam i. x. 73 The time that had seemed so long to her had quite naturally seemed to him, with his *pleasure-crowded days, very short. 1926 Scribner's Mag. Aug. 12 (Advt.), Start planning now for pleasure-crowded days on cool, blue waters.

1909 Daily Graphic 26 July 2/1 (Advt.), P. & O. cheap return tickets *pleasure cruises and round the world tours. 1976 H. MacInnes Agent in Place xxvi. 277 ‘Where are we going?’ ‘For a pleasure cruise.’

1926 Daily Chron. 13 May 3/6 (heading) *Pleasure Cruisers on and off the rocks. 1945 Koestler Yogi & Commissar i. iii. 35 For he is a captain of a warship, not of a pleasure-cruiser. 1950 Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IX. 382/1 It was not..until the early 1920's that modern pleasure cruising with its carefully planned itineraries really became established.

a 1828 D. Wordsworth Jrnl. (1941) II. 292 The buoyancy of spirits felt in the earlier part of a *pleasure-day's journey.

1797 Coleridge Kubla Khan 2 In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately *pleasure-dome decree. 1957 Observer 3 Nov. 19/2 The triumphal renaissance, last Thursday night, of the New Shakespeare Theatre in Liverpool. This lambent pleasure-dome..was built in the eighties. 1973 G. Beare Snake on Grave xvi. 93 It's a kind of floating pleasure dome, they have a restaurant, night-club, casino. 1977 Time 19 Dec. 41/1 Macy's.., the basement where women..battled with umbrellas for lingerie markdowns has become one of New York City's great gastronomic pleasure domes.

1910 W. James in McClure's Mag. Aug. 467 A permanently successful peace-economy cannot be a simple *pleasure-economy.

1833 L. Ritchie Wand. by Loire 225 Agatha..prepared..for her *pleasure-excursion to Nantes.

1891 T. E. Kebbel Old & New Eng. Country Life 132 The age of *pleasure-farming—of work and play combined..is gone for ever.

1890 W. Donisthorpe Individualism xi. 378 A larger sum-total of *pleasure-feeling sentient beings.

1890 Nature 4 Sept., Electric coaling-stations for the river *pleasure-fleet.

1712 J. James tr. Le Blond's Gardening (title-p.) Fine Gardens, commonly called *Pleasure-Gardens. 1961 L. Mumford City in History xiii. 379 Such pleasure gardens were popular everywhere that court life was visibly on parade: the famous Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen still bears witness to this.

1779 J. Meader (title) The Planter's Guide: or *Pleasure Gardener's Companion.

1824 Coleridge Lett., to T. Gillman (1895) 731 You will have received another,..more amusing, at least *pleasure-giving Scripture from me. 1879 H. Spencer Data of Ethics vi. §33. 83 Sentient existence can evolve only on condition that pleasure-giving acts are life-sustaining acts.

1860 Adler Fauriel's Prov. Poetry xii. 263 Corrupt and *pleasure-greedy set of men.

1940 Auden Another Time 42 As a rule It was the *pleasure-haters who became unjust.

1817 T. L. Peacock Melincourt (1875) 211 The keeping of *pleasure-horses. 1974 Greenville (S. Carolina) News 23 Apr. 11/3 The pleasure horse class will give spectators a chance to see the finest of the American saddlebred pleasure horses in competition.

1833 J. S. Mill in Monthly Repos. VII. 660 Few persons among the crowds of *pleasure-hunters have diverged from the beaten track of the Rhine, Switzerland, and Italy. 1850 Robertson Serm. Ser. iii. ii. (1872) 24 The mere giddy pleasure-hunter of the hour.

1927 Daily Tel. 13 Sept. 12/2 Thirty years ago Piccadilly had still to establish its claim to be regarded as the centre of *pleasure-land.

1818 Lady Morgan Autobiog. (1859) 94 We were all young, enterprising, and *pleasure-loving.

1925 Scribner's Mag. Oct. 373 It was exactly the kind of crowd which a dour philosopher might have described as typical of ‘*pleasure-mad America’.

1907 Daily Chron. 12 Oct. 4/7 Allah forfend, my *pleasure-minded love, That aught shall harm thee in the Desert Lands.

1873 ‘Vanderdecken’ Yachts & Yachting xxix. 247 There are not a few sea⁓lawyers to be met with amongst the *pleasure navy Jacks.

1904 R. J. Farrer Garden of Asia 70 Here we may fancy known beings resting in this *pleasure-park of necessity.

1835 Southern Lit. Messenger IV. 303/1 *Pleasure-parties to and from the Springs..were dashing along the well graded road. 1873 Leland Egypt. Sketch-Bk. 21 The Afreet chose the season of the Equinoctial for their pleasure-party.

c 1806 D. Wordsworth Jrnl. (1941) I. 351 It is not easy to see the use of a *pleasure-path leading to nothing.

1911 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 57/1 The aspect of the heavens will be wonderfully changed when the *pleasure-plane of the air has arrived.

1856 Mrs. Browning Aur. Leigh vi. 699 It is not wholesome for these *pleasure-plats To be so early watered by our brine.

1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Miss. xli. 427 Modern-style *pleasure resorts. 1891 E. Kinglake Australian at H. 64 The children are taken to some pleasure resort.

1869 Mark Twain Innoc. Abr. lvii. 609 When I travel again, I wish to go in a *pleasure ship. 1977 New Scientist 24 Mar. 707/2 The foundering of a pleasureship.

1774 ‘J. H. St. John de Crevecœur’ Sk. 18th-Cent. Amer. (1925) 146 The *pleasure-sleigh..can easily carry six persons. 1827 Pleasure-sleigh [see fiddle n. 1 b].

1798 W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) II. 24 Amanda scarce believes her *pleasure-sparkling eye.

1872 B. Jerrold London iv. 43 The river..bright with the trifles of cockleboats and *pleasure-steamers. 1948 Brit. Birds XLI. 314, I was on a pleasure steamer at the time.

1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall Mines 34 Strange sightseers, and uproarious *pleasure-takers.

1827 Moir Contadina iv, Beside thee sleep or play Thy loveliest children, *pleasure-tired, in the blue light of day.

1805 Mod. London 458 It is by no means so prolific in its raree shews as the *pleasure-trading Paris.

1861 Times 22 Aug., The *pleasure traffic was materially deranged..by the cheerless weather.

1871 Howells Wedd. Journ. (1892) 163 The season of *pleasure-travel.

1846 Dickens Pictures from Italy 150 *Pleasure-travellers through life. 1936 Discovery Aug. 247/2 An area that is not well known to the general run of pleasure-travellers.

1833 Chambers's Edin. Jrnl. II. 285/2 The individuals who make *pleasure-trips along the railway. 1926 Daily Chron. 13 May 3/6 The 20,000 ton R.M.S. steamer Otranto struck a rock on the way to the port of Athens... The Otranto is on a pleasure trip.

1906 Conrad Mirror of Sea 33 The writer praises that class of *pleasure vessels, [sc. 52-foot linear raters] and I am willing to endorse his words.

1926 D. H. Lawrence David xiv. 103 My lord Jonathan comes too early for a *pleasure visit.

1906 Conrad Mirror of Sea 39 For racing, a cutter; for a long *pleasure voyage, a schooner; for cruising in home waters, the yawl.

1763 Smollett Trav. (1766) I. x. 161 The ground is agreeably laid out in *pleasure-walks, for the recreation of the inhabitants.

1847 Dickens Dombey (1848) xxiii. 238 As many spars and bars and bolts..as you'd want an order for on Chatham-yard to build a *pleasure-yacht with.

1879 H. Spencer Data of Ethics xiii. §89. 334 The sum of pleasures, or of *pleasure-yielding things.

▪ II. pleasure, v.
    (ˈplɛʒ(j)ʊə(r), ˈplɛʒə(r))
    [f. prec. n.]
    1. a. trans. To give pleasure to; to please, gratify; spec. to gratify (someone) sexually; to have sexual intercourse with.
    Revived in recent use.

c 1559 R. Hall Life Fisher lf. 34 b, He ment to give definitive sentence against her to pleasure the kinge withall. 1563 Homilies ii. Almsdeeds i. (1859) 387 [He] is both able to pleasure and displeasure us. c 1616 R. C. Times' Whistle (1871) 90 Silvius doth shew the citty dames brave sights, And they for that doe pleasure him a nightes. 1652 Culpepper Eng. Physic. 9 All Apples..pleasure the stomach by their coolness. 1764 Foote Patron ii. i, I am no churl, I love to pleasure my friends. 1837 Dickens Pickw. vi, The wall must be crumbled, the stone decayed, To pleasure his dainty whim. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss-Hags xiii, ‘Walter, will you not pleasure us with your company to-night?’ 1968 J. R. Ackerley My Father & Myself xii. 124 We entered together, quickly unbuttoned and pleasured each other. 1973 Observer 29 July 26/7 The rest of the treatment takes place in a hotel bed. Couples are first instructed to ‘pleasure’ each other by caressing, and not to attempt intercourse until they have learnt to recognise each other's body signals that express delight. 1975 Times Lit. Suppl. 9 May 503/1 Her first love, who took her to tea-dances..and pleasured her regularly at home on the brocade couch. 1977 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 27 Feb. 17/1 The brown Chippewa girl who was the first female he had ever pleasured.

    b. refl. To take one's pleasure. spec. To obtain sexual gratification.

a 1619 Fletcher, etc. Q. Corinth iii. i, One that hath As people say, in forraigne pleasur'd him. 1908 C. W. Wallace Children of Chapel at Blackfriars ix. 112 Elizabeth intended the establishment of the Children of her Chapel as actors at Blackfriars..to pleasure herself and entertain the Court. 1938 M. K. Rawlings Yearling x. 89 ‘I'll bet we kin ketch us a cattywampus in one o' them ponds.’ ‘We kin sure pleasure ourselves tryin'.’ 1947 N.Y. Herald Tribune Weekly Bk. Rev. 2 Mar. 10/3 Mordaunt Fitzmaurice Godolphin..has left Virginia because he pleasured himself with a married lady and then killed her husband in a duel. 1972 Time 17 Apr. 66/3 Pauline Tabor was smart enough to open up a house of her own. ‘Pauline's’ became a Kentucky institution—politicians went to pleasure themselves there.

    c. In impersonal construction with it as subject (cf. please v. 3).

1937 R. S. Morton Woman Surgeon xxxi. 346 A young carpenter said to me, ‘It would not pleasure me if I could not see the cypress greening in the spring.’ 1949 R. K. Marshall Little Squire Junior 249 Little Squire borrowed somethin of mine, and it pleasured me no end. 1951 L. Craig Singing Hills xiii. 124 It pleasures us a sight that you would come to see us. 1970 New Yorker 12 Sept. 109/3 It pleasured him to see the smoke.

    2. a. intr. To take pleasure, to delight. Const. in, or to with infin.

1538 in Lett. Suppress. Monasteries (Camden) 172 Surely his predecessours plesured moche in odoryferous savours. 1581 B. Rich Farewell (Shaks. Soc.) 28 The Duke greately pleasuryng to heare the pretie aunswere of the childe, replied in this wise. 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 557 What others gloryed and pleasured in, tortured her. a 1810 Tannahill Poems (1846) 79 Brutes are but brutes, let men be men, Nor pleasure in cock-fighting. 1882 Ld. Coleridge in Fortn. Rev. 1 Feb. 234 There are some sports which appear to me so cruel and so unmanly, that I wonder very much how any one can pleasure in them.

    b. colloq. To go out for pleasure, take a holiday: chiefly in vbl. n. pleasuring.
    Hence ˈpleasured ppl. a., filled with pleasure. Also as pa. pple. (const. up).

1606 J. Carpenter Solomon's Solace xiv. 60 Though a man bee neuer so rich,..and pleasured in this life: yet shall he not carry away any of those riches. 1813 T. Busby Lucretius ii. 441 Milk kindly greets The pleasured palate with nutritious sweets. 1930 D. Runyon in Collier's 13 Sept. 8/2 They get all pleasured up over what he has to say. 1968 ‘J. Welcome’ Hell is where you find It iv. 61 He was wearing..the look of a pleasured tom-cat.

Oxford English Dictionary