enjoy
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- enioy (obsolete)
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English enjoyen, from Old French enjoier, anjoier, enjoer (“to give joy, receive with joy, rejoice”), equivalent to en- + joy.
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
enjoy (third-person singular simple present enjoys, present participle enjoying, simple past and past participle enjoyed)
- (transitive) To receive pleasure or satisfaction from something.
- 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:
- Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame. With more settled people, animals were harnessed to capstans or caged in treadmills to turn grist into meal.
- Enjoy your holidays! I enjoy dancing.
- (transitive) To have the use or benefit of something.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Numbers 36:8:
- that the children of Israel may enjoy every man the inheritance of his fathers
- 1988, Harry G Frankfurt, The importance of what we care about: philosophical essays:
- This account fails to provide any basis for doubting that animals of subhuman species enjoy the freedom it defines.
- I plan to go travelling while I still enjoy good health.
- (intransitive, India) To be satisfied or receive pleasure.
- I enjoyed a lot.
- (transitive) To have sexual intercourse with.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
Usage notesEdit
- This is a catenative verb that takes the gerund (-ing). See Appendix:English catenative verbs
SynonymsEdit
- (receive pleasure or satisfaction): appreciate, delight in, rejoice, relish
- (have sexual intercourse with): coitize, go to bed with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
to receive pleasure or satisfaction from something
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to have the use or benefit of something
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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