Pleasure, n.
Etymology: [F. plaisir, originally an infinitive. See Please.]
1. The gratification of the senses or of the mind; agreeable sensations or emotions; the excitement, relish, or happiness produced by the expectation or the enjoyment of something good, delightful, or satisfying; -- opposed to Ant: pain, Ant: sorrow, etc. At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Ps. xvi. 11.
2. Amusement; sport; diversion; self-indulgence; frivolous or dissipating enjoyment; hence, sensual gratification; -- opposed to labor, service, duty, self-denial, etc. "Not sunk in carnal pleasure." Milton. He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man. Prov. xxi. 17. Lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. 2 Tim. iii. 4.
3. What the will dictates or prefers as gratifying or satisfying; hence, will; choice; wish; purpose. "He will do his pleasure on Babylon." Isa. xlviii. 14. Use your pleasure; if your love do not presuade you to come, let not my letter. Shak.
4. That which pleases; a favor; a gratification. Shak. Festus, willing to do the Jews a pleasure Acts xxv. 9. At pleasure, by arbitrary will or choice. Dryden. -- To take pleasure in, to have enjoyment in. Ps. cxlvii. 11.
2 more senses
Note: Pleasure is used adjectively, or in the formation of self- explaining compounds; as, pleasure boat, pleasure ground; pleasure house, etc.
Syn. -- Enjoyment; gratification; satisfaction; comfort; solace; joy; gladness; delight; will; choice; preference; purpose; command; favor; kindness.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Pleasure, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pleasured; p. pr. & vb. n. Pleasuring.]
To give or afford pleasure to; to please; to gratify. Shak. [Rolled] his hoop to pleasure Edith. Tennyson.
Pleasure, v. i.
To take pleasure; to seek pursue pleasure; as, to go pleasuring.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for pleasure; he lists it under entertainment, happiness.
Where he writes about it:
Pleasure is still more vivid, being an arousing of the faculties to an intensely agreeable activity; satisfaction is more tranquil than pleasure, being the agreeable consciousness of having all that our faculties demand or crave; when a worthy pleasure is past, a worthy satisfaction remains. — from happiness
Happiness is more positive than comfort, enjoyment, or satisfaction, more serene and rational than pleasure; pleasure is of necessity transient; happiness is abiding, and may be eternal; thus, we speak of pleasures, but the plural of happiness is scarcely used. — from happiness
Happiness, in the full sense, is mental or spiritual or both, and is viewed as resulting from some worthy gratification or satisfaction; we may speak of a brute as experiencing comfort or pleasure, but scarcely as in possession of happiness; we speak of vicious pleasure, delight, or joy, but not of vicious happiness. — from happiness
Joy is more intense than happiness, deeper than gladness, to which it is akin, nobler and more enduring than pleasure. — from happiness