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Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class VI. Words Relating to the Sentient and Moral Powers
Section II. Personal Affections
1. Passive Affections

840. Amusement.

   NOUN:AMUSEMENT, entertainment, diversion, divertisement, divertissement [F.]; reaction, relaxation, solace; pastime, passetemps [F.], sport; labor of love; pleasure [See Pleasure].
  FUN, frolic, merriment, jollity, joviality, jovialness; heyday; laughter [See Rejoicing]; jocosity, jocoseness; drollery, buffoonery, tomfoolery; mummery, mumming, masquing, pageant; pleasantry; wit [See Wit]; quip, quirk.
  PLAY; game, game of romps; gambol, romp, prank, antic, frisk, rig [obs. or dial.], lark [colloq.], spree, skylarking, vagary, monkey trick, fredaine [F.], escapade, échappée [F.], bout, espiéglerie [F.]; practical joke (ridicule) [See Ridicule].
  [DANCE STEPS] gambade [F.], gambado, pas [F.]; pigeonwing, heel-and-toe, buck-and-wing, shuffle, double shuffle; chassé [F.], coupée [F.], grapevine, &c.
  [DANCES] dance, hop [colloq.], stag dance, shindig [slang, U. S.]; ball; bal, bal masqué, bal costumé [all F.], masquerade, masquerade ball, cornwallis [U. S.]; mistletoe-bough dance; Dance of Death, danse macabre [F.]; interpretative dance, step dance, sand dance, pas seul [F.], skirt dance, folk dance; Morisco or morice [obs.], morris dance, saraband, fandango, bolero, tarantella, boutade, gavot or gavotte, minuet, allemande [F.], rigadoon, fling, Highland fling, Highland schottische, strathspey, reel, jig, hornpipe, sword dance, breakdown, cakewalk; kantikoy, snake dance; country dance, Scotch reel, Virginia reel, Sir Roger de Coverley, Portland fancy; ballet (drama) [See The Drama]; ragtime [colloq.] (music) [See Music]; jazz [slang]; nautch [India].
  SQUARE DANCE, quadrille, Lancers, cotillion or cotillon [F.], German.
  ROUND DANCE, waltz, valse [F.], polka, mazurka, galop, gallopade or galopade, schottische, one-step, two-step, fox-trot, turkey-trot; shimmy.
  danse du ventre [F.], chonchina [Jap.], cancan.
  DANCER, danseur (fem. danseuse) [F.], première danseuse [F.], ballet dancer; geisha [Jap.]; nautch girl, bayadere [both India]; clog -, step -, skirt -, figure- dancer; figurant (fem. figurante), Morisco [obs.], morris dancer; terpsichorean [colloq.]; Terpsichore.
  FESTIVITY, merrymaking; party &c. (social gathering) [See Sociality]; revels, revelry, reveling or revelling, carnival, Saturnalia, jollification [colloq.], junket, picnic.
  fête champêtre [F.], lawn party, garden party, regatta, field day, fête [F.], festival, gala, gala day; feast, banquet (food) [See Food]; regale, symposium, high jinks [colloq.], carouse, carousal, brawl; wassail; wake; bust [slang], tear [slang]; Turnerfest [Ger.]; gymkhana [orig. Anglo-Ind.]; treat; ridotto [It.], drum [obs. or hist.], kettledrum [colloq.], rout [archaic]; tea party, tea, tea fight [slang]; Kaffee-Klatsch [Ger.]; concert (music) [See Music]; show [colloq.]; play (drama) [See The Drama]; randy [dial.]; clambake, fish fry, beefsteak fry, squantum, donation party [all U. S.]; bat, bum [both slang, U. S.], jamboree [slang].
  ROUND OF PLEASURE, dissipation, a short life and a merry one, racketing, holiday making.
  rejoicing [See Rejoicing]; jubilee (celebration) [See Celebration].
  FIREWORKS, feu-de-joie [F.], fire crackers, bonfire.
  HOLIDAY; red-letter day, play day; high days and holidays; high holiday, Bank holiday [Eng.]; May day, Derby day [Eng.]; Easter Monday, Whitmonday, Twelfth Night, Halloween; Christmas [See Regularity of recurrence. Periodicity]; Dewali [Hindu], Holi or Hoolee [Hindu]; Bairam, Muharram [both Moham.]; wayzgoose [Printers], beanfeast [Eng.]; Arbor -, Declaration -, Independence -, Labor -, Memorial or Decoration -, Thanksgiving- Day; Washington’s -, Lincoln’s -, King’s- birthday; Empire Day [Brit.]; Mardi gras, mi-carême [F.], feria [S. W. U. S.], fiesta [Sp.].
  PLACE OF AMUSEMENT, theater or theatre; concert -hall, – room; ballroom, dance hall, assembly room; moving-picture -, cinema- theater; movies [colloq.]; music hall; vaudeville -theater, – show; circus, hippodrome.
  park, pleasance or plaisance [archaic]; arbor; garden (horticulture) [See Agriculture]; pleasure-, play-, cricket-, croquet- archery-, polo-, hunting- ground; tennis-, racket-, squash-, badminton- court; bowling- green, -alley; croquet lawn, rink, glaciarium, ice rink, skating rink; golf links, race course, athletic field, stadium; gymnasium, swimming -pool, – bath; billiard room, pool room, casino, shooting gallery; flying horses, roundabout, merry-go-round; swing; montagne Russe [F.]; aërial railway, scenic railway, roller coaster, chutes, flying boats, etc.
  Vauxhall, Ranelagh, Hurlingham; Lord’s, Epsom, Newmarket, Doncaster, Sandown Park, Henley, Cowes, Mortlake [all in Eng.]; Coney Island; Brooklands, Sheepshead Bay, Belmont Park, Saratoga; New London, Forest Hills, Longwood [all in U. S.]; Monte Carlo; Longchamps [France]; Flemington [Melbourne, Australia].
  [SPORTS AND GAMES] athletic sports, track events, gymnastics; archery, rifle shooting; tournament, pugilism (contention) [See Contention]; sporting [See Pursuit]; horse racing, the turf; water polo; aquatics [See Navigation].
  skating, ice skating, roller skating, sliding; cricket, tennis, lawn tennis, pallone, rackets, squash, fives, trap bat and ball, badminton, battledore and shuttlecock, pall-mall, croquet, golf, curling, hockey, shinny or shinney; polo, football, Rugby, rugger [colloq.]; association, soccer [colloq.]; tent pegging, tilting at the ring, quintain, greasy pole; knur (or knurr) and spell [Eng.]; quoits, discus; hammer -, horseshoe- throwing; putting the -weight, – shot; hurdling; leapfrog; sack -, potato -, obstacle -, three-legged- race; hop skip and jump; French and English, tug of war; rounders, baseball, basket ball, pushball, captain ball; lacrosse; tobogganing.
  blind-man’s buff, hunt the slipper, hide and seek, kiss in the ring; snapdragon; cross questions and crooked answers, twenty questions, what’s my thought? charades, crambo, dumb crambo, crisscross, proverbs, bouts rimés [F.]; hopscotch, jackstones, mumble-the-peg or mumblety-peg; ping-pong, tiddledywinks, tipcat.
  billiards, pool, pyramids, bagatelle; bowls, skittles, ninepins, American bowls; tenpins [U. S.], tivoli.
  chess, draughts, checkers or chequers, backgammon, dominoes, halma, dice, craps, crap shooting, crap game, “negro golf,” “indoor golf” [both humorous]; merelles, nine men’s morris, gobang, “the royal game of goose” [Goldsmith]; fox and geese; lotto or loto &c.  1
  CARDS; whist, rubber; round game; loo, cribbage, bésique [F.], euchre, cutthroat euchre, railroad euchre; drole, écarté, picquet, all fours, quadrille, omber or ombre, reverse, Pope Joan, commit; boston, vingt et un [F.], quinze, thirty-one, put, speculation, connections, brag, cassino, lottery, commerce, snip-snap-snorem, lift smoke, blind hookey, Polish bank, Earl of Coventry, napoleon or nap [colloq.]; banker, penny-ante, poker, jack pot; blind -, draw -, straight -, stud- poker; bluff; bridge, – whist; auction; monte, reversis, squeezers, old maid, fright, beggar-my-neighbor, goat, hearts, patience, solitaire, pairs.
  court cards; ace, king, queen, knave, jack, joker; bower; right -, left- bower; dummy; hand; trump; face cards, diamonds, hearts, clubs, spades; pack, deck; flush, full-house, straight, three of a kind, pair, misère [F.] &c.
  TOY, plaything, bauble; doll (puppet) [See Representation]; teetotum; knickknack (trifle) [See Unimportance]; magic lantern (show) [See Appearance]; peep-, puppet-, raree-, galanty or gallanty-, Punch-and-Judy- show; marionettes; toy-shop; “quips and cranks and wanton wiles, nods and becks and wreathed smiles” [Milton].
  SPORTSMAN (fem. sportswoman), hunter, Nimrod.
  archer, toxophilite; cricketer, footballer, ball-players &c.
  GAMESTER (fem. gamestress), sport, gambler; dicer, punter, plunger.
  REVELER or reveller, carouser; master of the -ceremonies, – revels; arbiter elegantiarum [L.]; arbiter bibendi [L.].
  DEVOTEE, enthusiast, follower, fan [slang, U. S.], rooter [slang or cant, U. S.]; turfman.
   VERB:AMUSE, entertain, divert, enliven; tickle, – the fancy; titillate, raise a smile, put in good humor; cause -, create -, occasion -, raise -, excite -, produce -, convulse with- laughter; set the table in a roar, be the death of one.
  CHEER, rejoice; recreate, solace; please [See Pleasurableness]; interest; treat, regale.
  AMUSE ONESELF; game; play, – a game, – pranks, – tricks; sport, disport, toy, wanton, revel, junket, feast, carouse, banquet, make merry, drown care; drive dull care away; frolic, gambol, frisk, romp; caper; dance (leap) [See Leap]; keep up the ball; run a rig, sow one’s wild oats, have one’s fling, take one’s pleasure; paint the town red [slang]; see life; desipere in loco [Horace], play the fool.
  make -, keep- holiday; go a-Maying.
  while away -, beguile- the time; kill time, dally.
   ADJECTIVE:AMUSING, entertaining, diverting &c. v.; recreative, lusory; pleasant (pleasing) [See Pleasurableness]; laughable (ludicrous) [See Ridiculousness]; witty [See Wit]; festive, festal; jovial, jolly, jocund, roguish, rompish; playful, – as a kitten; sportive, ludibrious [obs.].
  AMUSED &c. v.; “pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw” [Pope].
   ADVERB:“on the light fantastic toe” [Milton], at play, in sport.
   INTERJECTION:vive la bagatelle! [F.], vogue la galère! [F.], come on fellows! “hail, hail, the gang’s all here!” some party! [slang].    QUOTATIONS:
  1. Deus nobis hæc otia fecit.
  2. Dum vivimus vivamus.
  3. Dulce est desipere in loco.—Horace
  4. (Every room) hath blazed with lights and brayed with minstrelsy.—Timon of Athens
  5. Misce stultitiam consiliis brevem.—Horace
  6. Foot it featly here and there.—Tempest
  7. The grass stoops not, she treads on it so light.—Venus and Adonis
  8. He capers, he dances, he has eyes of youth.—Merry Wives
  9. Fleet the time carelessly as they did in the golden world.—As You Like It
  10. Therefore put you in your best array!—As You Like It
  11. A very merry, dancing, drinking, Laughing, quaffing and unthinking time.—Dryden
  12. A clear fire, a clean hearth, and the rigour of the game.—Lamb
  13. Patience, and shuffle the cards.—Cervantes
  14. Lady, wherefore talk you so?—I Henry VI
  15. They laugh that win.—Othello