merry
adjectivenouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈmɛ.ɹi//
- United States//ˈmɛ.ɹi//
- Australia//ˈmeɹ.i//
- //ˈmɛ(ə)ɹ.i//
Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.
adjective
- 1
Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.
We had a very merry Christmas.
I am neuer merry when I heare ſweet muſique.
I felt comforted by the song of the redbreast, and I thought I felt less lonely and deserted as long as I heard the merry notes of the thrush.
- 2
Festive and full of fun and laughter.
Everyone was merry at the party.
If I have the chance, I will make our worshipful Sheriff pay right well for that which he hath done to me. Maybe I may bring him some time into Sherwood Forest and have him to a right merry feast with us.
- 3
Brisk.
The play moved along at a merry pace.
The car moved at a merry clip.
- 4
Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight.
a merry jest
There eke my feeble barke a while may ſtay, / Till mery wynd and weather call her thence away.
- 5
Drunk; tipsy.
Some of us got a little merry at the office Christmas party.
Etymology
From Middle English myrie, merie, mery, from Old English myrġe, myriġe (“pleasing, agreeable; pleasant, sweet, delightful; melodious”), from Proto-West Germanic *murgī (“short, slow, leisurely”), from Proto-Germanic *murguz (“short, slow”), from Proto-Indo-European *mréǵʰus (“short”). Cognate with Scots mery, mirry (“merry”), Middle Dutch mergelijc (“pleasant, agreeable, joyful”), Norwegian dialectal myrjel (“small object, figurine”), Latin brevis (“short, small, narrow, shallow”), Ancient Greek βραχύς (brakhús, “short”). Doublet of brief.
noun
- 1
An English wild cherry.
Etymology
From French merise.
Forms
- plural
- merries
- comparative
- merrier
- superlative
- merriest