Crossword clues for amusing
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Amusing \A*mus"ing\, a. Giving amusement; diverting; as, an amusing story. -- A*mus"ing*ly, adv.
Amuse \A*muse"\ ([.a]*m[=u]z"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Amused ([.a]*m[=u]zd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Amusing.] [F. amuser to make stay, to detain, to amuse, [`a] (L. ad) + OF. muser. See Muse, v.]
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To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder. [Obs.]
Camillus set upon the Gauls when they were amused in receiving their gold.
--Holland.Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house.
--Fuller. -
To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to stir with pleasing or mirthful emotions; to divert.
A group of children amusing themselves with pushing stones from the top [of the cliff], and watching as they plunged into the lake.
--Gilpin. -
To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.
He amused his followers with idle promises.
--Johnson.Syn: To entertain; gratify; please; divert; beguile; deceive; occupy.
Usage: To Amuse, Divert, Entertain. We are amused by that which occupies us lightly and pleasantly. We are entertained by that which brings our minds into agreeable contact with others, as conversation, or a book. We are diverted by that which turns off our thoughts to something of livelier interest, especially of a sportive nature, as a humorous story, or a laughable incident.
Whatever amuses serves to kill time, to lull the faculties, and to banish reflection. Whatever entertains usually awakens the understanding or gratifies the fancy. Whatever diverts is lively in its nature, and sometimes tumultuous in its effects.
--Crabb.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1600, "cheating;" present participle adjective from amuse (v.). Sense of "interesting" is from 1712; that of "pleasantly entertaining, tickling to the fancy" is from 1826. Noted late 1920s as a vogue word. Amusive has been tried in all senses since 18c. and might be useful, but it never caught on. Related: Amusingly.
Wiktionary
entertaining. v
(present participle of amuse English)
WordNet
adj. providing enjoyment; pleasantly entertaining; "an amusing speaker"; "a diverting story"; "a fun thing to do" [syn: amusive, diverting, fun(a)]
arousing or provoking laughter; "an amusing film with a steady stream of pranks and pratfalls"; "an amusing fellow"; "a comic hat"; "a comical look of surprise"; "funny stories that made everybody laugh"; "a very funny writer"; "it would have been laughable if it hadn't hurt so much"; "a mirthful experience"; "risible courtroom antics" [syn: comic, comical, funny, laughable, mirthful, risible]
Wikipedia
Usage examples of "amusing".
I declined to be present at his suppers, which were far from amusing, and gave the family of the actress an opportunity of laughing at the poor fool who was paying for them.
It was a little amusing to me that I could speak with some authority to skilled and experienced agriculturists, who felt our rivalry at Mark lane, but who did not dream that with the third great move of Australia towards the markets of the world through cold storage we could send beef, mutton, lamb, poultry, eggs, and all kinds of fruit to the consumers of Europe, and especially of England and its metropolis.
Ah, Alec, we may well laugh now, but I assure you, it was not very amusing at the time.
That is not very amusing, but we expect a Carmelite from Paris who will do the duty of our almonry, and who, we are assured, speaks very well, which will keep us awake, whereas our present almoner always sends us to sleep.
But the idea of simple scribal manipulation, which would mean that such desires never even existed, and which is advanced by modern authorities and bolstered by the similar examples from other cultures and by the predilection of scribes for amusing themselves with word and alphabet games, seems the best explanation.
After skewing myself at the two principal walks of Paris, amusing myself by the astonishment depicted on certain faces well known to me, I went and returned the ear-rings to my dear Manon, who gave an astonished but a happy cry when she saw me.
By way of amusing myself I began to go to the theatre, and the masked balls to which the Count of Aranda had established.
The idea of a man wearing a hat to his own beheading suddenly struck Radcliffe as tremendously amusing, and he began to chuckle, an ugly sound.
The next day, the men took the bears on the train and it was very amusing to Blinky to have such a fuss made of him.
Tom Burdock was under the impression that at the moment he was hugely amusing.
He throws off his cloak, takes a crucifix with one hand, places the other over the head of his daughter, and addresses the devil in such an amusing way that even his wife, always a stupid, dull, crossgrained old woman, had to laugh till the tears came down her cheeks.
His housekeeper was in the habit of reading him the works brought for his examination, and she would stop reading when she came to a passage which, in her opinion, deserved his censure, but sometimes they were of a different opinion, and then their discussions were truly amusing.
I was in a difficult position when fortune came to my assistance in a strange and amusing manner.
Philip, to make it more amusing for you, but the silly cawker has gone off to dine with young Templecombe.
The preponderance of centenarians of the supposed weaker sex has led to the revival of some amusing theories tending to explain this phenomenon.