amuse

Meaning

To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.
To cause laughter or amusement; to be funny.
To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.
To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.

entertain

divert

cause to laugh

make laugh

make glad

make joyful

jolly up

make happy

make merry

make someone laugh

cause to play

be enjoyable

keep pleasantly

lavish attention on

make pleased

absent-mindedness

tickle someone’s fancy

Frequency

Pronounced as (IPA)

/əˈmjuːz/

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 *mūsa (“snout”) — compare Medieval Latin mūsum (“muzzle, snout”) –, from Proto-Germanic *mū- (“muzzle, snout”), from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“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 *mōtǭ (“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 muozōn (“to be idle, have leisure or opportunity”), German Muße (“leisure”). More at empty.