different between please vs amuse

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pli?z/, [pl??iz]
• (General American) enPR: pl?z, IPA^(key): /pliz/, [p??iz]
• Rhymes: -i?z
• Homophone: pleas

Etymology 1

From Middle English plesen, plaisen, borrowed from Old French plaise, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin plac?re (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pl?-k- (“wide and flat”). Displaced native English queme (“to please, satisfy”), from Middle English quemen, queamen (“to please”) (from Old English cw?man (“to please”)), Middle English biluvien (“to please, delight”) (from Middle English bi-, be- + luvien (“to love”)), Middle English liken (“to like, please”) (from Old English l?cian (“to please, be like”)), Middle English lusten, listen (“to be pleasing, delight”) (from Old English lystan (“to please”)).

Alternative forms

• pleace (used from the Middle English period up to the 15th century, and in Scots until the 17th century)

Verb

please (third-person singular simple present pleases, present participle pleasing, simple past and past participle pleased)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To make happy or satisfy; to give pleasure to.
2. (intransitive, ergative) To desire; to will; to be pleased by.

Synonyms

• (to make happy): satisfy
• (to desire): desire, will

Antonyms

• (to make happy): annoy, irritate, disgust, displease

Derived terms

• pleaser
• pleasing
• pleasy

Related terms

• pleasant
• pleasurable
• pleasure

Translations

Etymology 2

Short for if you please, an intransitive, ergative form taken from if it pleases you which is a calque of French s'il vous plaît, which replaced pray.

Alternative forms

• (for the exaggerated way it is often pronounced as the expression of annoyance) puh-lease

Adverb

please (not comparable)

1. Used to make a polite request.

2. Used as an affirmative to an offer.

3. An expression of annoyance or impatience.

Derived terms

• please explain
• pretty please

Descendants

• ? Bengali: ????? (plij), ????? (plij)
• ? Hindi: ?????? (pl?z) (urban, colloquial)
• ? Urdu: ????? (pl?z) (urban, colloquial)

Translations

Etymology 3

Semantic loan from German bitte (“please; excuse me”).

Adverb

please (not comparable)

1. (Cincinnati) Said as a request to repeat information.

Synonyms

• (request to repeat): what, excuse me, pardon me, come again; see also Thesaurus:say again

References

Anagrams

• Sapele, asleep, elapse, sapele

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