pleasure

Etymology

From Early Modern English pleasur, plesur, alteration (with ending accommodated to -ure) of Middle English plaisir (“pleasure”), from Old French plesir, plaisir (“to please”), infinitive used as a noun, conjugated form of plaisir or plaire, from Latin placeō (“to please, to seem good”), from the Proto-Indo-European *pleh₂-k- (“wide and flat”). Related to Dutch plezier (“pleasure, fun”). More at please.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈplɛʒə/
• (General American) enPR: plĕzhʹər, IPA^(key): /ˈplɛʒɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛʒə(ɹ)
• Hyphenation: pleas‧ure

Noun

pleasure (countable and uncountable, plural pleasures)

1. (uncountable) A state of being pleased or contented; gratification.

   Synonyms: delight, gladness, gratification, happiness, indulgence, satisfaction

   Antonyms: displeasure, pain

   He remembered with pleasure his home and family.

   I get a lot of pleasure from watching others work hard while I relax.

   • 2012 April 22, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0-1 West Brom”, in BBC Sport:

     But the only statistic that will concern West Brom will be the scoreline, and their manager Roy Hodgson will take considerable pleasure from a victory over the club he managed for just 191 days.

   • 2019, Toro y Moi (lyrics and music), “Ordinary Pleasure”, in Outer Peace:

     Maximize all the pleasure / Even with all this weather / Nothing can make it better / Maximize all the pleasure

2. (countable) A person, thing or action that causes enjoyment.

   Synonyms: delight, joy

   It was a pleasure to meet you.

   Having a good night's sleep is one of life's little pleasures.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Acts 25:9:

     Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The humor of my proposition appealed more strongly to Miss Trevor than I had looked for, and from that time forward she became her old self again; […] . Now she had come to look upon the matter in its true proportions, and her anticipation of a possible chance of teaching him a lesson was a pleasure to behold.

   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. […]

3. (uncountable) Sexual enjoyment.
4. (uncountable) One's preference.

   Synonyms: desire, fancy, want, will, wish

   What is your pleasure: coffee or tea?

5. (formal, uncountable) The will or desire of someone or some agency in power.

   Synonym: discretion

   to hold an office at pleasure: to hold it indefinitely until it is revoked

   to be imprisoned at Her Majesty's pleasure: to be imprisoned indefinitely

   at Congress's pleasure: whenever or as long as Congress desires

   • c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:

     Use your pleasure; if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter.

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 48:14:

     He will do his pleasure on Babylon.

Interjection

pleasure

1. pleased to meet you, "It's my pleasure"

Verb

pleasure (third-person singular simple present pleasures, present participle pleasuring, simple past and past participle pleasured)

1. (transitive) To give or afford pleasure to.

   Synonyms: please, gratify

   • 1864, Alfred Tennyson, “Aylmer’s Field”, in Enoch Arden, &c., London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], →OCLC, page 55:

     [H]e / [...] / Had tost his ball and flown his kite, and roll'd / His hoop to pleasure Edith, [...]

2. (transitive) To give sexual pleasure to.

   Johnny pleasured Jackie with his mouth last night.

3. (intransitive, dated) To take pleasure; to seek or pursue pleasure.

   to go pleasuring

Further reading

• “pleasure”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “pleasure”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• serpulae