amuse

英 [?'mju?z] 美[?'mjuz]

反義詞

CET4TEM4IELTSGRE考研CET6低頻詞常用詞匯

第三人稱單數:?amuses;過去式:?amused;過去分詞:?amused;現在分詞:?amusing;

【記】muse 繆斯文藝音樂詩歌女神，尤其是音樂；文藝是拿來娛樂的。

amuse 娛樂

前綴a-同ad-. muse, 沉思，思考。古義指不用干話，有時間思考學習，現指有時間休閑娛樂。比較sport, 古義不用干活，現指有時間運動。school, 古義不用干活，現指有時間讀書。

amuse: amuse: [15] Amuse is probably a French creation, formed with the prefix a- from the verb muser (from which English gets muse ‘ponder’ [14]). The current meaning ‘divert, entertain’ did not begin to emerge until the 17th century, and even so the commonest application of the verb in the 17th and 18th centuries was ‘deceive, cheat’. This seems to have developed from an earlier ‘bewilder, puzzle’, pointing back to an original sense ‘make someone stare open-mouthed’.

This links with the probable source of muser, namely muse ‘animal’s mouth’, from medieval Latin mūsum (which gave English muzzle [15]). There is no connection with the inspirational muse, responsible for music and museums.
=> muse, muzzle
amuse (v.): late 15c., "to divert the attention, beguile, delude," from Middle French amuser "divert, cause to muse," from a "at, to" (but here probably a causal prefix) + muser "ponder, stare fixedly" (see muse (v.)). Sense of "divert from serious business, tickle the fancy of" is recorded from 1630s, but through 18c. the primary meaning was "deceive, cheat" by first occupying the attention. Bemuse retains more of the original meaning. Related: Amused; amusing.

2. He could amuse us for hours with his stories of the theater.: 他能接連幾小時地為我們講戲劇故事逗我們發笑.