释义 |
▪ I. entertaining, vbl. n.|ɛntəˈteɪnɪŋ| [f. entertain v. + -ing1.] The action of the vb. entertain, in various senses.
1568Grafton Chron. II. 663 What profite this gentle entertaynyng of his people brought him to..all men may easely conjecture. 1642Rogers Naaman 27 Both the message of Elisha and Naaman's entertaining thereof. a1687Petty Pol. Arith. i. (1691) 30 By this entertaining of Strangers for Soldiers, their Country becomes more and more peopled. 1883Athenæum 27 Oct. 534/2 The club expect also to have the entertaining of..distinguished guests. attrib.1791in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1886) II. 268 The present Assembly room was to be appropriated for an entertaining room. ▪ II. entertaining, ppl. a.|ɛntəˈteɪnɪŋ| [f. as prec. + -ing2.] That entertains. †1. Affording sustenance, supporting life. rare.
1691–8Norris Pract. Disc. 202 The Air Temperate and Healthy, the Earth Fruitful and Entertaining. 2. Agreeable; interesting; now chiefly, amusing.
1697Collier Ess. Mor. Subj. i. (1709) 12 For the Presence of any desirable Object, we know is more Acceptable and Entertaining, than either the Notion or Prospect of it. 1713Berkeley Hylas & Phil. iii. Wks. 1871 I. 339 A part of knowledge both useful and entertaining. 1729Butler Serm. Wks. 1874 II. 44 The secondary use of speech is to please and be entertaining to each other in conversation. 1796C. Marshall Garden. i. (1813) 6 Of all the employments in life, none is more..entertaining, than the cultivation of plants. 1860Ramsay Remin. Ser. i. (ed. 7) 105 Enterteening has in olden Scottish usage the sense not of amusing but of interesting. †3. That exercises hospitality; hospitable. rare.
1659Pearson Creed (1839) 498 This is the heavenly fellowship represented unto entertaining Abraham. Hence enterˈtainingly adv., in an entertaining manner; † in the manner of one who receives guests (obs.); in an interesting or amusing way. enterˈtainingness, the quality of being entertaining.
1621Lady M. Wroth Urania 455 He bark't not..but look'd soberly and entertainingly, like a steward, on the strangers. 1754Sherlock Disc. 36 (R.) He can talk entertainingly upon common subjects. 1809–10Coleridge Friend (1865) 3 The entertainingness of moral writings. 1882Dr. J. Brown John Leech, etc. 320 The question is ably and entertainingly handled. 1884Hale Christm. in Narragansett v. 117 No method known by which you can inspissate entertainingness into a dull article. |