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Public moneys expended at Athens on festivals, sacrifices, and public entertainments (especially theatrical performances), and in gifts to the people; -- also called theoric fund.

cup, generally with four handles, formerly used for passing around the table at convivial entertainment.

disgust, resentment, or opposition; passable; as, a tolerable administration; a tolerable entertainment; a tolerable translation. Dryden. -- Tol"er*a*ble*ness, n. -- Tol"er*a*bly, adv.

To entertain with food or drink, especially the latter, as a compliment, or as an expression of friendship or regard; as, to treat the whole company.

One who treats; one who handles, or discourses on, a subject; also, one who entertains.

Entertainment; treat. [Obs.] Accept such treatment as a swain affords. Pope.

to retrace one's steps. -- To turn in. (a) To bend inward. (b) To enter for lodgings or entertainment. (c) To go to bed. [Colloq.] -- To turn into, to enter by making a turn; as, to turn into a side street. -- To turn off, to be diverted; to deviate from a course; as, the road turns off to the left. -- To turn on o…

Devoted to relaxation or amusement. [R.] It may entertain your lordships at an unbending hour. Rowe. -- Un*bend"ing*ly, adv. -- Un*bend"ing*ness, n.

A sitting up of a woman after her confinement, to receive and entertain her friends. [Obs.] To invite your lady's upsitting. Beau. & Fl.

Polite wit; facetiousness. [Obs.] Dryden. Raillery in the sauce of civil entertainment; and without some such tincture of urbanity, good humor falters. L'Estrange.

A stage entertainment of successive separate performances, usually songs, dances, acrobatic feats, dramatic sketches, exhibitions of trained animals, or any specialties. Often loosely called vaudeville show.

One who keeps a house of entertainment; a tavern keeper; an innkeeper. Shak.

Received with gladness; admitted willingly to the house, entertainment, or company; as, a welcome visitor. When the glad soul is made Heaven's welcome guest. Cowper.

. make you a wholesome answer; my wit's diseased. Shak. A wholesome suspicion began to be entertained. Sir W. Scott.

Thou wilt be like a lover presently, And tire the hearer with a book of words. Shak. [He] entertained a coffeehouse with the following narrative. Addison. With receiving your friends within and amusing them without, you lead a good, pleasant, bustling life of it. Goldsmith.

In the Middle Ages, a room in a monastery for the reception and entertainment of strangers and pilgrims, and for the relief of paupers. [Called also Xenodocheion.]