amuser

English

Etymology

From amuse +‎ -er.

Noun

amuser (plural amusers)

1. Someone who amuses.
2. (obsolete) One who diverts attention, usually to distract or bewilder, often for fraudulent purposes; hence a cheat, deceiver or thief.
3. (historical, early 19^th century) One of a class of rogues who carry snuff or dust in their pockets, which they throw into the eyes of people so as to enable their accomplices to rob them while pretending to help them.
   • 1993, Stella Cameron, Only by Your Touch, HarperCollins, page 88:

     He should have knowed better than to tangle with you, Miss Lindsay. Where did you learn to be an amuser, then?

   • 2002, various authors, Gangs of New York (film), Miramax Films, Entertainment Film Distributors:

     BOSS TWEED — No one important, necessarily. Average men will do. Back alley amusers with no affiliations.

   • 2013, Michelle Lovric, The Remedy, Bloomsbury, page 59:

     Valentine watches the bunch of amusers close around the politician, the leader already dipping into his pocket for the snuff to fling into the eyes of their victim.

Translations

someone who amuses

• Polish: bawiciel m, zabawiacz m
• Portuguese: divertidor m

Anagrams

• Maseru, Mauser, Semrau

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French amuser (“to amuse, divert, babble”), 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 German Maul (“muzzle, snout”).

An alternative etymology connects Old French muser and Occitan musa with Old High German muoza (“careful attention, leisure, idleness”), from Proto-Germanic *mōtǭ (“leave, permission”), from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to acquire, possess, control”). Compare also Old High German muozōn (“to be idle, have leisure or opportunity”), German Muße (“leisure”). More at empty.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.my.ze/

• Audio:

  (file)

Verb

amuser

1. (transitive) to amuse, to entertain
2. (reflexive, s'amuser) to have fun, to enjoy oneself

Conjugation

Conjugation of amuser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	amuser
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	amusant /a.my.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		amusé /a.my.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	amuse /a.myz/	amuses /a.myz/	amuse /a.myz/	amusons /a.my.zɔ̃/	amusez /a.my.ze/	amusent /a.myz/
	imperfect	amusais /a.my.zɛ/	amusais /a.my.zɛ/	amusait /a.my.zɛ/	amusions /a.my.zjɔ̃/	amusiez /a.my.zje/	amusaient /a.my.zɛ/
	past historic2	amusai /a.my.ze/	amusas /a.my.za/	amusa /a.my.za/	amusâmes /a.my.zam/	amusâtes /a.my.zat/	amusèrent /a.my.zɛʁ/
	future	amuserai /a.myz.ʁe/	amuseras /a.myz.ʁa/	amusera /a.myz.ʁa/	amuserons /a.myz.ʁɔ̃/	amuserez /a.myz.ʁe/	amuseront /a.myz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	amuserais /a.myz.ʁɛ/	amuserais /a.myz.ʁɛ/	amuserait /a.myz.ʁɛ/	amuserions /a.my.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	amuseriez /a.my.zə.ʁje/	amuseraient /a.myz.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	amuse /a.myz/	amuses /a.myz/	amuse /a.myz/	amusions /a.my.zjɔ̃/	amusiez /a.my.zje/	amusent /a.myz/
	imperfect2	amusasse /a.my.zas/	amusasses /a.my.zas/	amusât /a.my.za/	amusassions /a.my.za.sjɔ̃/	amusassiez /a.my.za.sje/	amusassent /a.my.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	amuse /a.myz/	—	amusons /a.my.zɔ̃/	amusez /a.my.ze/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Conjugation of s'amuser (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	s'amuser
	compound	s'être + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	s’amusant /sa.my.zɑ̃/
	compound	ayant or étant + past participle
past participle		amusé /a.my.ze/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’amuse /ma.myz/	t’amuses /ta.myz/	s’amuse /sa.myz/	nous amusons /nu.z‿a.my.zɔ̃/	vous amusez /vu.z‿a.my.ze/	s’amusent /sa.myz/
	imperfect	m’amusais /ma.my.zɛ/	t’amusais /ta.my.zɛ/	s’amusait /sa.my.zɛ/	nous amusions /nu.z‿a.my.zjɔ̃/	vous amusiez /vu.z‿a.my.zje/	s’amusaient /sa.my.zɛ/
	past historic2	m’amusai /ma.my.ze/	t’amusas /ta.my.za/	s’amusa /sa.my.za/	nous amusâmes /nu.z‿a.my.zam/	vous amusâtes /vu.z‿a.my.zat/	s’amusèrent /sa.my.zɛʁ/
	future	m’amuserai /ma.myz.ʁe/	t’amuseras /ta.myz.ʁa/	s’amusera /sa.myz.ʁa/	nous amuserons /nu.z‿a.myz.ʁɔ̃/	vous amuserez /vu.z‿a.myz.ʁe/	s’amuseront /sa.myz.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	m’amuserais /ma.myz.ʁɛ/	t’amuserais /ta.myz.ʁɛ/	s’amuserait /sa.myz.ʁɛ/	nous amuserions /nu.z‿a.my.zə.ʁjɔ̃/	vous amuseriez /vu.z‿a.my.zə.ʁje/	s’amuseraient /sa.myz.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of s'être + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of s'être + past participle
	future perfect	future of s'être + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of s'être + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	m’amuse /ma.myz/	t’amuses /ta.myz/	s’amuse /sa.myz/	nous amusions /nu.z‿a.my.zjɔ̃/	vous amusiez /vu.z‿a.my.zje/	s’amusent /sa.myz/
	imperfect2	m’amusasse /ma.my.zas/	t’amusasses /ta.my.zas/	s’amusât /sa.my.za/	nous amusassions /nu.z‿a.my.za.sjɔ̃/	vous amusassiez /vu.z‿a.my.za.sje/	s’amusassent /sa.my.zas/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of s'être + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of s'être + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	amuse-toi /a.myz.twa/	—	amusons-nous /a.my.zɔ̃.nu/	amusez-vous /a.my.ze.vu/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	simple imperative of s'être + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

• amusant
• amusement
• amuse-gueule
• amusette
• amuseur
• s’amuser comme un petit fou

Descendants

• → Franco-Provençal: amusar
• → German: amüsieren

Further reading

• “amuser”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• masure, Maures, maures, mesura, mueras, musera, remuas, résuma, ruâmes

Norman

Alternative forms

• amûther (Saint Ouën)

Etymology

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.

Verb

amuser

1. (Jersey) This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.