different between amuse vs delight

English

Etymology

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”) from Vulgar Latin *m?sa (“snout”)  — compare Medieval Latin m?sum (“muzzle, snout”) –, from Proto-Germanic *m?- (“muzzle, snout”), from Proto-Indo-European *m?- (“lips, muzzle”). Compare North Frisian müs, mös (“mouth”), German Maul (“muzzle, snout”).

Alternative etymology connects muser and musa with Frankish *muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”), from Proto-Germanic *m?t? (“leave, permission”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, control”).This would make it a cognate of Dutch musen (“to leisure”), Old High German *muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”) and muoz?n (“to be idle, have leisure or opportunity”), German Muße (“leisure”). More at empty.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??mju?z/
• Rhymes: -u?z

Verb

amuse (third-person singular simple present amuses, present participle amusing, simple past and past participle amused)

1. (transitive) To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (an individual) with pleasing emotions.
   • 1786, William Gilpin, Observations, relative chiefly to picturesque beauty, made in the year 1772, on several parts of England; particularly the mountains, and lakes of Cumberland, and Westmoreland

     A group of children amusing themselves with pushing stones from the top [of the cliff], and watching as they plunged into the lake.

2. To cause laughter or amusement; to be funny.

3. (transitive, archaic) To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.
4. (transitive, archaic) To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.
   • 1600, Philemon Holland, The Romane Historie

     the enemies were amused on the fires that our men made

   • 1655, Thomas Fuller, Church History of England

     Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house.

Synonyms

• entertain, gratify, please, divert, beguile, exhilarate

Derived terms

• amusement

Translations

References

• amuse in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• musea

Dutch

Etymology

Clipping of amuse-bouche or amuse-gueule.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a??my?.z?/, /?a??my.z?/
• Hyphenation: amu?se

Noun

amuse m (plural amuses)

1. appetiser, hors d'oeuvre

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.myz/
• Homophones: amuses, amusent

Verb

amuse

1. first-person singular present indicative of amuser
2. third-person singular present indicative of amuser
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of amuser
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of amuser
5. second-person singular imperative of amuser

English

Etymology

An unetymological spelling, in imitation of words like light, might, etc.; the analogical modern spelling would be delite; from Middle English delite, from Old French deleiter, deliter, from Latin delectare (“to delight, please”), frequentative of delicere (“to allure”); see delectation and delicate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??la?t/, /d??la?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Noun

delight (countable and uncountable, plural delights)

1. Joy; pleasure.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Proverbs 18.2,^[1]

     A fool hath no delight in understanding.

   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III, Scene 2,^[2]

     […] the isle is full of noises,

     Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:delight.
2. Something that gives great joy or pleasure.
   • 1580, Greensleeves,

     Greensleeves was all my joy / Greensleeves was my delight, […]

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 5, lines 17-19,^[3]

     […] Awake

     My fairest, my espous’d, my latest found,

     Heav’ns last best gift, my ever new delight,

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:delight.

Derived terms

• undelight
• delightful

Translations

Verb

delight (third-person singular simple present delights, present participle delighting, simple past and past participle delighted)

1. To give delight to; to affect with great pleasure; to please highly.
   • 1842, Tennyson, Le Morte d’Arthur:

     Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:delight.

2. (intransitive) To have or take great pleasure.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Again?t venemous tongues enpoy?oned with ?claunder and fal?e detractions &c.:

     A ?claunderous tunge, a tunge of a ?kolde,
     Worketh more mi?chiefe than can be tolde;
     That, if I wi?t not to be controlde,
     Yet ?omwhat to ?ay I dare well be bolde,
     How ?ome delite for to lye, thycke and threfolde.

   • 1580, Greensleeves:

     For I have loved you well and long, / Delighting in your company.

   • 1908, T.J. Griffths, The Cambrian (volume 28, page 504)

     He was an eisteddfodwr and delighted to hear good singing, whether it was in the sanctuary or at the eisteddfodic gatherings.

Derived terms

• delight in
• duping delight

Related terms

• delicacy
• delicate
• delicatessen
• delicious

Translations

Further reading

• delight in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• delight in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• gildeth, glideth, lighted