▪ I. entertaining, vbl. n.
(ɛntəˈteɪnɪŋ)
[f. entertain v. + -ing1.]
The action of the vb. entertain, in various senses.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 663 What profite this gentle entertaynyng of his people brought him to..all men may easely conjecture. 1642 Rogers Naaman 27 Both the message of Elisha and Naaman's entertaining thereof. a 1687 Petty Pol. Arith. i. (1691) 30 By this entertaining of Strangers for Soldiers, their Country becomes more and more peopled. 1883 Athenæum 27 Oct. 534/2 The club expect also to have the entertaining of..distinguished guests. |
| attrib. 1791 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 268 The present Assembly room was to be appropriated for an entertaining room. |
▪ II. entertaining, ppl. a.
(ɛntəˈteɪnɪŋ)
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That entertains.
† 1. Affording sustenance, supporting life. rare.
| 1691–8 Norris Pract. Disc. 202 The Air Temperate and Healthy, the Earth Fruitful and Entertaining. |
2. Agreeable; interesting; now chiefly, amusing.
| 1697 Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. (1709) 12 For the Presence of any desirable Object, we know is more Acceptable and Entertaining, than either the Notion or Prospect of it. 1713 Berkeley Hylas & Phil. iii. Wks. 1871 I. 339 A part of knowledge both useful and entertaining. 1729 Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 44 The secondary use of speech is to please and be entertaining to each other in conversation. 1796 C. Marshall Garden. i. (1813) 6 Of all the employments in life, none is more..entertaining, than the cultivation of plants. 1860 Ramsay Remin. Ser. i. (ed. 7) 105 Enterteening has in olden Scottish usage the sense not of amusing but of interesting. |
† 3. That exercises hospitality; hospitable. rare.
| 1659 Pearson Creed (1839) 498 This is the heavenly fellowship represented unto entertaining Abraham. |
Hence enterˈtainingly adv., in an entertaining manner; † in the manner of one who receives guests (obs.); in an interesting or amusing way. enterˈtainingness, the quality of being entertaining.
| 1621 Lady M. Wroth Urania 455 He bark't not..but look'd soberly and entertainingly, like a steward, on the strangers. 1754 Sherlock Disc. 36 (R.) He can talk entertainingly upon common subjects. 1809–10 Coleridge Friend (1865) 3 The entertainingness of moral writings. 1882 Dr. J. Brown John Leech, etc. 320 The question is ably and entertainingly handled. 1884 Hale Christm. in Narragansett v. 117 No method known by which you can inspissate entertainingness into a dull article. |