ppl. a. [f. AMUSE v. + -ED.]
† 1. Put into a muse; mentally arrested or distracted; absorbed, occupied, diverted from the point, cheated. Obs.
1600. Holland, Livy, VII. xix. 262. The cittie was earnestly amused upon [intentus] the Tuscane war.
1611. Cotgr., Amusé, amused; put into a muse, driven into a dump.
1640. G. Abbott, Job Paraphr., 142. But art as a man under water amused in these thy afflictions.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 581. While we suspense, Collected stood within our thoughts amus’d.
1670. T. Brooks, Wks. (1867), VI. 146. Terrified, amused, amazed, astonished, and dispirited in the late dreadful fire.
2. Diverted, entertained, tickled (in fancy).
1727. Pope, Dunc., II. 87. Amus’d he [Jove] reads, and then returns the bills.
1784. Cowper, Task, V. 878. Amused spectators of this bustling stage.
