entertain
Formsentertains, entertaining, entertained
Formsentertains, entertaining, entertained
- 1To amuse someone and hold their attention in an agreeable way.
A good host can entertain guests for hours without anyone noticing the time.
The comedian entertained the audience until well past midnight.
Similaramuse, divert, delight, engage, captivate
Note
Underneath the amusement is a verb of holding. Entertain comes through French entretenir, from entre "among" and tenir "to hold", so to entertain an audience is to hold it and keep its attention. The people amused are the object, and with introduces what does the amusing: entertain friends with lively conversation. Instructing and entertaining often travel as a pair.
- 2To have people as guests in one's home for a party or social visit.
They love to entertain old friends with elaborate dinners.
The couple entertains often, hosting people nearly every weekend.
Note
The host's sense, and the one that can work without an object. They enjoy entertaining a lot means they often have people over, with no guests named. With an object it means receiving particular people, as in the King James Bible of 1611: Be not forgetful to entertain strangers. Entertaining guests need not mean amusing them, because the hospitality is the point, not the fun.
- 3To receive an idea or suggestion and give it serious consideration.
The board will entertain offers from several buyers.
He would not entertain the possibility that he was wrong.
Similarconsider, contemplate, countenance, weigh
Oppositereject, dismiss, disregard
Note
Here the old sense of holding shows through: Old French entretenir joins entre, 'among', to tenir, 'to hold', and to entertain an idea is to hold it in mind long enough to weigh it. Its objects are ideas, proposals, offers, rumors. Holding is not accepting: the sensible people of Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter (1850) entertained an absurd rumor. That is why the verb sits so naturally in refusals: he would not entertain it.
- 4To help or assist someone, or to answer an incoming phone call.
Support agents entertain hundreds of calls during peak hours.
The teller entertained the next customer in line and processed her deposit.
Similarhandle, serve, assist, field
Note
Office English in the Philippines, Malaysia and India: a clerk entertains a customer and a receptionist entertains a call, meaning they attend to it. The sense belongs to service counters and call centers. Listeners from other varieties may hear the "amuse" meaning instead, so in writing for an international audience, assist or take the call is the safer choice.
- 5To take or keep someone in one's service; to maintain, support, or give shelter to.
You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred.
c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”Intreat 'em fair, and give them friendly speech, And seem to them as if thy sins were great, Till thou hast gotten to be entertain'd.
c. 1589, Christopher Marlo[we], The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Iew of Malta.Note
The sense closest to the root meaning "hold, keep" is to take a person into one's service and keep them there. Shakespeare's King Lear tells a man You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred, which takes him on among his followers. In Marlowe the passive, to be entertain'd, means to be taken on. In older drama, read it as "employ" or "retain", never "amuse".
- 6To meet or encounter an opponent, as in confronting an enemy in combat.
The knights rode out to entertain the invading host.
Our forces entertained the enemy upon the open plain.
Note
A military reception: the enemy is received as a guest would be, but with arms. In Shakespeare's Henry V (1599), the noble English could entertain with half their forces the full pride of France, meaning they met that army in the field and held it. The object is the opposing force. In early modern texts, read it as "engage" or "take on".
- 7To lead someone on, bring them along, or introduce them to a place or person.
to baptize all nations, and to entertain them into the services and institutions of the holy Jesus
1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year.Note
Conducting rather than amusing, this sense takes a person and an into-phrase naming where they are led. Jeremy Taylor's Eniautos sermons (1651–1653) speak of baptizing all nations and entertaining them into the services and institutions of the holy Jesus, that is, bringing them in. Without that construction the sense is easy to miss, so in older prose watch for entertain … into.
- 8The reception or hospitable welcome given to a guest on their arrival.
Note
The noun's other face, close to the hosting meaning, is the welcome a guest is given. Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1596) spells it entertayne: need bad them not looke for better entertayne. Like the "pleasure" noun, it is uncountable and comes with an adjective such as better or fair. The words to use now are welcome or reception.
- 9Entertainment or pleasure; the enjoyment derived from some diversion.
Note
The verb once doubled as a noun, much as French has entretien beside entretenir. John Marston's The Malcontent (c. 1603) plans music and masquerie so as to give fair entertaine unto Maria, offering pleasure as a gift. The noun is uncountable, and the derivative entertainment later took over its work completely.
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Origin
This comes through Middle English entertenen from Middle and Old French entretenir, formed from entre ("among") plus tenir ("to hold"), which trace back to Latin inter and teneō ("hold, keep"). The noun may be compared with French entretien.