merry
See also: Merry and Merrý
English
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmɛɹi/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈmeɹi/
- (General American) enPR: mĕrʹē, IPA(key): /ˈmɛɹi/, /ˈmeɪɹi/
(Mary–marry–merry distinction)Audio (US) (file)
(Mary–marry–merry merger)Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛɹi
- Homophone: Merry
- Homophones: Mary, marry (both only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)
- Hyphenation: mer‧ry
Etymology 1
From Middle English mery, merie, mirie, myrie, murie, murȝe, from Old English meriġe, miriġe, myriġe, myreġe, myrġe (“pleasing, agreeable; pleasant, sweet, delightful; melodious”), 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.
Alternative forms
- merie, merrie, mery (obsolete)
Adjective
merry (comparative merrier, superlative merriest)
- Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.
- We had a very merry Christmas.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i]:
- I am neuer merry when I heare ſweet muſique.
- 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, H.L. Brækstad, transl., Folk and Fairy Tales, page 281:
- 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.
- Festive and full of fun and laughter.
- 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], OCLC 22773434:
- 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.
- Everyone was merry at the party.
-
- Brisk
- The play moved along at a merry pace.
- The car moved at a merry clip.
- Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight.
- a merry jest
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, stanza 1, page 171:
- There eke my feeble barke a while may ſtay, / Till mery wynd and weather call her thence away.
- (euphemistic) drunk; tipsy
- Some of us got a little merry at the office Christmas party.
Synonyms
- (jolly): cheerful, content, ecstatic, exultant, gay, happy, jovial, joyful, pleased; see also Thesaurus:happy
- (festive): convivial, gay, jovial
- (brisk): energetic, lively, spirited; see also Thesaurus:active
- (causing laughter): delightful, gladful
- (drunk): lushy, muzzy, squiffy; see also Thesaurus:drunk
Antonyms
- (jolly): miserable, unhappy
Derived terms
- be on one's merry way
- continue on one's merry way
- go on one's merry way
- like merry hell
- make merry
- Mary-marry-merry merger
- merrilymerriment
- merriness
- merry-andrew
- merry as a cricket
- merry as a grig
- Merry Christmas
- merry Christmas
- merry cocker
- merry company
- merry dance
- merry dancers
- merry-go-around
- merry-go-down
- merry-go-round
- merry-go-sorry
- merry-go-whirl
- Merry Hill
- merry-maker
- merrymaker
- merry-making
- merrymaking
- merry men
- merry widow
- play merry hell with
Related terms
- mirth
Translations
jolly and full of high-spirits
|
festive and full of fun and laughter
|
brisk
|
Etymology 2
French merise
Noun
merry (plural merries)
- An English wild cherry.
Anagrams
- Rymer