Verb

(assum)

To authenticate by means of belief; to surmise; to suppose to be true, especially without proof.

:

*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-14, author=(Jonathan Freedland)

, volume=189, issue=1, page=18, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Obama's once hip brand is now tainted , passage=Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet. Perhaps we assume that our name, address and search preferences will be viewed by some unseen pair of corporate eyes, probably not human, and don't mind that much.}}

To take on a position, duty or form.

:

*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

*:Trembling they stand while Jove assumes the throne.

*

*:Such a scandal as the prosecution of a brother for forgery—with a verdict of guilty—is a most truly horrible, deplorable, fatal thing. It takes the respectability out of a family perhaps at a critical moment, when the family is just assuming the robes of respectability:it is a black spot which all the soaps ever advertised could never wash off.

*{{quote-news, year=2012, date=August 5, author=(Nathan Rabin)

, title= TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “I Love Lisa” (season 4, episode 15; originally aired 02/11/1993) , passage=So while Ralph generally seems to inhabit a different, more glorious and joyful universe than everyone else here his yearning and heartbreak are eminently relateable. Ralph sometimes appears to be a magically demented sprite who has assumed the form of a boy, but he’s never been more poignantly, nakedly, movingly human than he is here.}}

To take on in appearance; to adopt (a feigned attribute, etc.).

*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

*:Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

*(Beilby Porteus) (1731-1809)

*:ambition assuming the mask of religion

To receive or adopt.

*Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)

*:The sixth was a young knight of lesser renown and lower rank, assumed into that honorable company.

To adopt an idea or cause.

Verb

To entertain or occupy in a pleasant manner; to stir with pleasing emotions.

I watch these movies because they amuse me.

It always amuses me to hear the funny stories why people haven't got a ticket, but I never let them get in without paying.

* Gilpin

A group of children amusing themselves with pushing stones from the top [of the cliff], and watching as they plunged into the lake.

To cause laughter, to be funny.

(archaic) To keep in expectation; to beguile; to delude.

* Johnson

He amused his followers with idle promises.

(archaic) To occupy or engage the attention of; to lose in deep thought; to absorb; also, to distract; to bewilder.

* Holland

Camillus set upon the Gauls when they were amused in receiving their gold.

* Fuller

Being amused with grief, fear, and fright, he could not find the house.