fun and games; diversion, divertissement; reaction, solace; pastime,
passetemps [Fr.], sport; labor of love; pleasure &c 827.
relaxation; leisure &c 685.
fun, frolic, merriment, jollity; joviality, jovialness†; heyday;
laughter &c 838; jocosity, jocoseness†; drollery, buffoonery,
tomfoolery; mummery, pleasantry; wit &c 842; quip, quirk.
[verbal expressions of amusement: list] giggle, titter, snigger,
snicker, crow, cheer, chuckle, shout; horse laugh, belly laugh, hearty
laugh; guffaw; burst of laughter, fit of laughter, shout of laughter,
roar of laughter, peal of laughter; cachinnation†; Kentish fire; tiger.
play; game, game at romps; gambol, romp, prank, antic, rig, lark,
spree, skylarking, vagary, monkey trick, gambade, fredaine†, escapade,
echappee [Fr.], bout, espieglerie [Fr.]; practical joke &c (ridicule)
856.
dance; hop, reel, rigadoon†, saraband†, hornpipe, bolero, ballroom
dance; [ballroom dances: list], minuet, waltz, polka, fox trot, tango,
samba, rhumba, twist, stroll, hustle, cha-cha; fandango, cancan;
bayadere†; breakdown, cake-walk, cornwallis [U.S.], break dancing;
nautch-girl; shindig [U.S.]; skirtdance†, stag dance, Virginia reel,
square dance; galop†, galopade†; jig, Irish jig, fling, strathspey†;
allemande [Fr.]; gavot†, gavotte, tarantella; mazurka, morisco†, morris
dance; quadrille; country dance, folk dance; cotillon, Sir Roger de
Coverley; ballet &c (drama) 599; ball; bal, bal masque, bal costume;
masquerade; Terpsichore.
festivity, merrymaking; party &c (social gathering) 892; blowout
[U.S.], hullabaloo, hoedown, bat [U.S.], bum [U.S.], bust [Slang],
clambake [U.S.], donation party [U.S.], fish fry [U.S.], jamboree
[Slang], kantikoy†, nautch†, randy, squantum [U.S.], tear [Slang],
Turnerfest†, yule log; fete, festival, gala, ridotto†; revels, revelry,
reveling; carnival, brawl, saturnalia, high jinks; feast, banquet &c
(food) 298; regale, symposium, wassail; carouse, carousal;
jollification, junket, wake, Irish wake, picnic, fete champetre [Fr.],
regatta, field day; treat.
round of pleasures, dissipation, a short life and a merry one,
racketing, holiday making.
rejoicing &c 838; jubilee &c (celebration) 883.
bonfire, fireworks, feu-de-joie, firecracker.
holiday; gala day, red letter day, play day; high days and
holidays; high holiday, Bank holiday; May day, Derby day; Saint Monday,
Easter Monday, Whit Monday; Bairam†; wayz-goos†, bean feast; Arbor Day,
Declaration Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Memorial Day,
Thanksgiving Day; Mardi gras [Fr.], mi-careme [Fr.], feria [Lat.],
fiesta.
place of amusement, theater; hall, concert room, ballroom,
assemblyroom†; music hall.
park, plaisance†; national park, national forest, state park,
county park, city park, vest-pocket park, public park (public) 737.1;
arbor; garden &c (horticulture) 371; pleasure ground, playground,
cricketground, croquet ground, archery ground, hunting ground; tennis
court, racket court; bowling alley, green alley; croquet lawn, rink,
glaciarum†, skating rink; roundabout, merry-go-round; swing; montagne
Russe [Fr.].
game of chance, game of skill.
athletic sports, gymnastics; archery, rifle shooting; tournament,
pugilism &c (contention) 720; sports &c 622; horse racing, the turf;
aquatics &c 267; skating, sliding; cricket, tennis, lawn tennis;
hockey, football, baseball, soccer, ice hockey, basketball; rackets,
fives, trap bat and ball, battledore and shuttlecock, la grace; pall-
mall, tipcat†, croquet, golf, curling, pallone†, polo, water polo; tent
pegging; tilting at the ring, quintain [Mediev.]; greasy pole; quoits,
horseshoes, discus; rounders, lacrosse; tobogganing, water polo; knurr
and spell†.
[childrens' games] leapfrog, hop skip and jump; mother may I;
French and English, tug of war; blindman's bluff, hunt the slopper†,
hide and seek, kiss in the ring; snapdragon; cross questions and
crooked answers.; crisscross, hopscotch; jacks, jackstones†, marbles;
mumblety-peg, mumble-the-peg, pushball, shinney, shinny, tag &c;
billiards, pool, pingpong, pyramids, bagatelle; bowls, skittles,
ninepins, kain†, American bowls†; tenpins [U.S.], tivoli.
cards, card games; whist, rubber; round game; loo, cribbage,
besique†, euchre, drole†, ecarte [Fr.], picquet†, allfours†, quadrille,
omber, reverse, Pope Joan, commit; boston, boaston†; blackjack, twenty-
one, vingtun [Fr.]; quinze [Fr.], thirty-one, put, speculation,
connections, brag, cassino†, lottery, commerce, snip-snap-snoren†, lift
smoke, blind hookey, Polish bank, Earl of Coventry, Napoleon, patience,
pairs; banker; blind poker, draw poker, straight poker, stud poker;
bluff, bridge, bridge whist; lotto, monte, three-card monte, nap,
penny-ante, poker, reversis†, squeezers, old maid, fright, beggar-my-
neighbor; baccarat.
[cards: list] ace, king, queen, knave, jack, ten, nine, eight,
seven, six, five, four, trey, deuce; joker; trump, wild card.
[card suits: list] spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds; major suit,
minor suit.
bower; right bower, left bower; dummy; jackpot; deck.
[hands at poker: list] pair, two pair, three of a kind, straight,
flush, full-house, four of a kind, royal flush; misere &c [board games:
list] chess, draughts, checkers, checquers, backgammon, dominos,
merelles†, nine men's morris, go bang, solitaire; game of fox and goose;
monopoly; loto &c; [word games: list], scrabble, scribbage, boggle,
crossword puzzle, hangman.
morra†; gambling &c (chance) 621.
toy, plaything, bauble; doll &c (puppet ) 554; teetotum†;
knickknack &c (trifle) 643; magic lantern &c (show) 448; peep show,
puppet show, raree show, gallanty show†; toy shop; quips and cranks and
wanton wiles, nods and becks and wreathed smiles [Milton].
entertainer, showman, showgirl; dancer, tap dancer, song-and-dance
man; vaudeville act; singer; musician &c 416.
sportsman, gamester, reveler; master of ceremonies, master of
revels; pompom girl†; arbiter elegantiarum [Lat.]; arbiter bibendi
[Lat.], archer, fan [U.S.], toxophilite†, turfman†.
V. amuse, entertain, divert, enliven; tickle the fancy; titillate,
raise a smile, put in good humor; cause laughter, create laughter,
occasion laughter, raise laughter, excite laughter, produce laughter,
convulse with laughter; set the table in a roar, be the death of one.
recreate, solace, cheer, rejoice; please &c 829; interest; treat,
regale.
amuse oneself, game; play a game, play pranks, play tricks; sport,
disport, toy, wanton, revel, junket, feast, carouse, banquet, make
merry, drown care; drive dull care away; frolic, gambol, frisk, romp;
caper; dance &c (leap) 309; keep up the ball; run a rig, sow one's wild
oats, have one's fling, take one's pleasure; paint the town red
[Slang]; see life; desipere in loco [Lat.], play the fool.
make holiday, keep holiday; go a Maying.
while away the time, beguile the time; kill time, dally.
smile, simper, smirk; grin, grin like a Cheshire cat; mock, laugh
in one's sleeve; laugh, laugh outright; giggle, titter, snigger, crow,
snicker, chuckle, cackle; burst out, burst into a fit of laughter;
shout, split, roar.
shake one's sides, split one's sides, hold both one's sides; roar
with laughter, die with laughter.
Adj. amusing, entertaining, diverting &c v.; recreational, recreative,
lusory†; pleasant &c (pleasing) 829; laughable &c (ludicrous) 853; witty
&c 842; fun, festive, festal; jovial, jolly, jocund, roguish, rompish†;
playful, playful as a kitten; sportive, ludibrious†.
funny; very funny, hilarious, uproarious, side-splitting.
amused &c v.; pleased with a rattle, tickled with a straw [Pope];
laughing &c v.; risible; ready to burst, ready to split, ready to die
with laughter; convulsed with laughter, rolling in the aisles.
Adv. on the light fantastic toe [Milton], at play, in sport.
Int. vive la bagatelle! [Fr.], vogue la galere! [Fr.],
Phr. deus nobis haec otia fecit [Lat.]; dum vivimus vivamus [Lat.];
dulce est desipere in loco [Lat.] [Horace]; (every room) hath blazed
with lights and brayed with minstrelsy [Timon of Athens]; misce
stullitiam consiliis brevem [Lat.] [Horace].