# pleasure
## English
### 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: /ˈplɛʒə/
* (General American) enPR: plĕzhʹər, IPA: /ˈplɛʒɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛʒə(ɹ)
* Hyphenation: pleas‧ure

### Noun

pleasure (countable and uncountable, plural pleasures)
* (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
* (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. […]
* (uncountable) Sexual enjoyment.
* (uncountable) One's preference.
    Synonyms: desire, fancy, want, will, wish
    What is your pleasure: coffee or tea?
* (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.

#### Derived terms

* antipleasure
* at Her Majesty's pleasure, at His Majesty's pleasure
* at one's pleasure, at pleasure
* business before pleasure
* do someone a pleasure
* do someone the pleasure of
* during Her Majesty's pleasure, during His Majesty's pleasure
* during one's pleasure, during pleasure
* end-pleasure
* English pleasure
* fore-pleasure
* gold of pleasure, gold-of-pleasure, gold-pleasure
* guilty pleasure
* have the pleasure
* it's a pleasure
* lady of pleasure
* live at Her Majesty's pleasure
* man of pleasure
* mix business with pleasure
* my pleasure
* oral pleasure
* pleasurable
* pleasurance
* pleasure barge
* pleasure boat
* pleasure-carriage
* pleasure center, pleasure centre
* pleasure craft
* pleasure cruise
* pleasure curve
* pleasured
* pleasure dome
* pleasuredrome
* pleasureful
* pleasure gap
* pleasure garden
* pleasure-giving
* pleasure ground
* pleasurehood
* pleasure house
* pleasureless
* pleasure-loving
* pleasurement
* pleasure moment
* pleasuremonger
* pleasure of someone's company
* pleasure-pain principle
* pleasure palace
* pleasure principle
* pleasurer
* pleasure seeker
* pleasure-seeker
* pleasure-seeking
* pleasures of the flesh
* pleasures of the table
* pleasure steamer
* pleasure trip
* pleasure-unpleasure principle
* pleasuring
* pleasurist
* pleasurous
* self-pleasure
* sexual pleasure
* take pleasure
* the pleasure is all mine
* the pleasure is all mine, the pleasure's all mine
* the pleasure is mine, the pleasure's mine
* to one's pleasure, to pleasure
* to what do I owe the pleasure
* unpleasure
* western pleasure
* what's your pleasure
* with pleasure
* woman of pleasure

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Interjection

pleasure
* 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)
* (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, [...]
* (transitive) To give sexual pleasure to.
    Johnny pleasured Jackie with his mouth last night.
* (intransitive, dated) To take pleasure; to seek or pursue pleasure.
    to go pleasuring

#### Derived terms

* pleasure oneself

#### Related terms

* displeasure
* please
* pleasant

#### Translations
### 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