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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread pleasance #121541 01/29/2004 12:30 AM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 wwh Carpal Tunnel wwh Carpal Tunnel Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 13,858 O.Henry is describing a millionaire's estate: "The Millionaire's palace occupied a lordly space. In front of it was a lawn close-mowed as a South Ireland man's face two days after a shave. At one side of it, and fronting on another street was a pleasuance trimmed to a leaf, and the garage and stables." Webster's 1913 Dictionary Definition: \Pleas"ance\, n. [F. plaisance. See {Please}.] 1. Pleasure; merriment; gayety; delight; kindness. [Archaic] --Shak. ``Full great pleasance.'' --Chaucer. ``A realm of pleasance.'' --Tennyson. 2. A secluded part of a garden. [Archaic] The pleasances of old Elizabethan houses. --Ruskin. I assume that "pleasuance" in the text is a typo. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Share Post on Reddit Re: pleasance #121542 01/29/2004 5:55 AM Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 6,296 Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Wordwind Carpal Tunnel Joined: Sep 2001 Posts: 6,296 Piedmont Region of Virginia, U... These secluded parts of gardens offer such a sense of surprise and mystery. We have many pleasances at Maymont in Richmond. I checked out your spelling and came across: "Chaffy; resembling or consisting of paleae, or chaff; furnished with chaff; as, a paleaceous receptacle." ...for paleaceous But because it is very, very late, I misread 'chaff' for 'cliff' and thought I'd found quite a wonderful definition! Time for bed! Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Share Post on Reddit Re: pleasance #121543 01/30/2004 2:00 AM Joined: Sep 2000 Posts: 4,757 maverick Carpal Tunnel maverick Carpal Tunnel Joined: Sep 2000 Posts: 4,757 I could find nought to confirm the typo supposition or otherwise, Bill. However, the info on variant forms of 'pleasure' is quite interesting, so I present it for your pleaceur: [ME. plesir, plaisir a. OF. plesir, plaisir (12th c. in Littré), + Pr. plazer, Sp. placer, Pg. pracer, It. piacere, Com. Romanic substantival use of the vb. infin.:—L. placUre to please. By 1400, ple"sWr had become (in prose) "plUsir, "plUser, and its unstressed ending being confounded with that of words etymologically in -ure, e.g. measure, it was corruptly spelt and pronounced plesure, pleasure. The dialects have retained more eytmological forms in pleezer, plezzer ("pli;z@(r), "plEz@(r)).] A. Illustration of Forms. (a) 4–5 plesir, 5 plesyr, -yre, -ire, -ier, -yer; plaisir, playsir, -ire, -yr, -yre; pleasir, -ire, -ier, -yr, -er; pleeser; 5–6 pleser, -ere; 6 pleasire; 9 dial. pleezer, plezzer. [...] (b) 5 plaisur, playsur, -ure; 5–6 plesur; pleasur, -our (–7 Sc.); 5–7 plesure; 5– pleasure; 6 plesour, -oure, -owre, -ewre; pleasor, Sc. pleisour, -ure, pleissour, plessour, -uir, 7 pleaceur, Sc. pleassour, plessor. [...] 3†b. A pleasure-ground. Obs. [e.a.] And I came across another lovely word in passing: dicacity [f. L. dicQx, dicQc-em, sarcastic (f. dic- stem of dWcSre to say, speak) + -ity.] A jesting or mocking habit of speech; raillery, banter; pertness. (Sometimes after L. dWcSre: Talkativeness, babbling.) OED2 Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Share Post on Reddit Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary Forum Statistics Forums16 Topics13,916 Posts230,429 Members9,211 Most Online17,319 Apr 8th, 2026 Newest Members Boo boo kitty fu, peterreineck, Peripatetic Toad, JerryC, blvd 9,211 Registered Users Top Posters(30 Days) wofahulicodoc 20 A C Bowden 7 Top Posters wwh 13,858 Faldage 13,803 Jackie 11,613 wofahulicodoc 11,244 tsuwm 10,542 LukeJavan8 9,974 Buffalo Shrdlu 7,210 AnnaStrophic 6,511 Wordwind 6,296 of troy 5,400

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