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amenity|əˈmiːnɪtɪ, əˈmɛnɪtɪ|
Also 5 -ite, 7 -itie, 7–8 amœnity, amænity.
[? a. Fr. amenité (in Cotgr. 1611), or perh. direct ad. of its original L. amœnitāt-em, f. amœn-us pleasant: see amene and -ity.]
1. The quality of being pleasant or agreeable:
a. of places, their situation, aspect, climate, etc.
1432–50tr. Higden (1865) I. 77 That place hath also amenite. 1611Coryat Crudities 448 For amenity of situation..it doth farre excel all other cities. 1683Brit. Spec. 17 The amœnity and Utility of its Seas, Rivers and Ponds. 1832J. Austin Jurispr. (1879) II. l. 858 The fiar may also cut and sell timber, so as not to injure the amenity. 1846Prescott Ferd. & Is. I. ii. 120 The superior amenity of the climate.
b. of persons, their habits, actions, etc.
1815M. Edgeworth Patron. xvii. 279 His manners wanted amenity, gaiety, and frankness. 1824Dibdin Libr. Comp. 90 Who does not love the amenity of Erasmus? 1873Dixon Two Queens I. i. vii. 46 In amenity of life, his Court had been a Moorish rather than a Gothic Court.
c. In mod. use (freq. in pl.) applied to the more ‘human’ and pleasurable environmental aspects of a house, factory, town, etc., as distinguished from the features of the house, etc., considered in or by itself. Also concr. (usu. in sing.), a particular advantageous or convenient feature of this kind. Also attrib. Also, amenity bed (see quots.). (See also sense 3 b.)
1908Royal Comm. Care Feeble-Minded, Min. Evid. II. 63/1 Social Amenities. The experience we have gained emphasises the desirability of organised recreation. 1928Britain's Industr. Future (Liberal Ind. Inquiry) iv. xxiv. §9. 336 Amenity woodland definitely uneconomic. 1929Oxford Times 8 Feb. 13/4 The payment of {pstlg}88 for the purchase of the land; the payment of {pstlg}250 as compensation for the loss of amenities and disturbance of existing garden and grounds. 1936Times 2 Apr. 10/3 Repairable cottages of amenity value..could be acquired and sympathetically repaired by the local authorities. 1951Brit. Med. Jrnl. 13 Oct. Suppl. 146/2 Amenity beds, for which the maintenance charge is almost negligible and medical service is given under the National Health Service Act. 1951B. J. Collins Devel. Plans Explained 42 Amenity, the quality which makes a desirable residence desirable, a favoured locality favoured, or enchanting views in all directions enchanting. 1952Lancet 2 Aug. 229/1 No privileges can be bought within the service (except the amenity bed, for which a relatively small charge has been made). 1957Times 12 Dec. 18/4 Arrangements were made to provide an amenity centre for the labour on Effingham and Seventh Mile Estates, the centre comprising a clubroom with cinema and a playing field. 1958Times 1 July i/3 There are, of course, many holdings below 20 acres, especially those that are part-time or amenity holdings where the earning of an income from the holding is not of great importance. 1958Listener 11 Sept. 368/2 Where the people themselves want a new amenity—a school, a meeting house, a road to link up with the outside world, [etc.]. 1964G. L. Cohen What's Wrong with Hospitals? i. 23 ‘Amenity beds’..were designated under the Act for patients who want more privacy and will pay extra for it.
†2. Joyousness, exhilaration. Obs. rare.
1627Feltham Resolves ii. lxx. (1677) 307 The Amœnity and Floridness of the warm and spirited bloud.
3. concr. in pl.
†a. Pleasant places or scenes. (Cf. pleasance.) Obs.
1664Evelyn Silva (1776) 604 Arboreous Amenities and plantations of woods. 1671― Diary (1827) II. 354 The suburbs are large, the prospects sweete, with other amenities. 1762H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) IV. 140 A country so profusely beautified with the amænities of nature.
b. Pleasant ways or manners; pleasant pursuits, pleasures, delights, agreeable relations, civilities.
1841D'Israeli (title) Amenities of authors. 1860Motley Netherl. (1868) I. v. 234 This interchange of dainties led the way to the amenities of diplomacy. 1866Cornh. Mag. Aug. 157 All the amenities of home life are wanting. 1883Scotsman 12 May 9/7 Talking amenities with Sir Stafford Northcote. |