amuse

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To make someone laugh or smile.

   The clown amused the children with his silly tricks.

2. 2
   verb

   To keep someone interested and entertained in a pleasant way.

   The children amused themselves with games while we cooked.

Simplified etymology

Amuse entered English in the late 15th century from an Old French word meaning “to stare stupidly.” It originally meant “to delude, deceive, or entertain.” In the 17th and 18th centuries it could also mean diverting someone’s attention in order to mislead them, while the modern sense developed by the mid-17th century.

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd Proto-Italic *ad Proto-Italic *ad- Latin ad- Old French a- Old French muser Old French amuserbor. Middle English *amusen English amuse From Late Middle English *amusen (“to mutter, be astonished, gaze meditatively on”), from Old French amuser (“to stupefy, waste time, be lost in thought”), from a- + muser (“to stare stupidly at, gape, wander, waste time, loiter, think carefully about, attend to”), of uncertain and obscure origin. Cognate with Occitan musa (“idle waiting”), Italian musare (“to gape idly about”). Possibly from Old French *mus (“snout”) fr…

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