mid-14c., plesaunce, "the gratification or propitiation of God or some other deity;" late 14c., "satisfaction, enjoyment, delight; moral, spiritual, or intellectual satisfaction," from Old French plaisance "pleasure, delight, enjoyment," from plaisant "pleasant, pleasing, agreeable" (see pleasant).
late 14c., plesire, "source of enjoyment, pleasing quality or thing, that which pleases or gratifies the senses or the mind," from Old French plesir, also plaisir "enjoyment, delight, desire, will" (12c.), from noun use of infinitive plaisir (v.) "to please," from Latin placere "to please, give pleasure, be approved" (see please (v.)).
Also from late 14c. as "discretion, will, desire, preference," as in at (one's) pleasure "when one wishes." From mid-15c. as "gratification; feeling of enjoyment, liking." The meaning "sensual gratification" is from early 15c. That of "indulgence of the appetites as the chief object of life" is attested from 1520s. The ending was altered in Middle English by influence of words in -ure (measure, etc.).
the muse of the dance, Greek Terpsikhore, literally "enjoyment of dance," from terpein "to delight" (from PIE root *terp- "to satisfy;" source also of Sanskrit trpyati "takes one's fill," Lithuanian tarpstu, tarpti "to thrive, prosper") + khoros "dance, chorus" (see chorus).
