I. ˈmerē, -ri adjective
( -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English mury, miry, mery, from Old English myrge, mirge, merge; akin to Old High German murg, murgi short, Gothic ga maurgjan to shorten — more at brief
1. archaic : giving pleasure or causing happiness : agreeable , amusing , delightful , sweet
2.
a. : full of gaiety or high spirits : marked by animation or vivacity : cheerful , hilarious , joyous , laughing , mirthful
happy as the merry whistle of a schoolboy — John Burroughs
spun yarns that are still merry reading — American Guide Series: Virginia
the windows were alight; signs of merry life within — George Meredith
b. obsolete : happy
c. : elated with drink : high
became merry and befuddled — George Woodbury
d. archaic : mocking , teasing
3. : marked by festive celebration and rejoicing
a merry holiday time
4. of a dog : snappy and attractive in action : alert , quick — used also of the tail
5. : brisk , intense , sharp
a major factor in keeping industrial wheels turning at a merry clip — Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review
— often used as an intensive
gave him merry hell
Synonyms:
blithe , jocund , jovial , jolly : merry suggests gay, cheerful, or joyous, uninhibited enjoyment
very kind merry young people, disposed to take things as gaily as they might — W.M.Thackeray
the song of the merry encounter of some clerk or cavalier with a mocking or complaisant shepherdess — H.O.Taylor
blithe suggests a fresh lightheartedness lastingly glad, buoyant, and debonair
then they both laughed together, and heard their own laughter returning in the echoes, and laughed again at the response, so that the ancient and solemn grove became full of merriment for these two blithe spirits — Nathaniel Hawthorne
a blithe tale, and a pleasant solvent of anxiety and gloom — Amy Loveman
jocund may suggest a habit of exhilaration, elation, good humor, cheer, or beaming complaisance
this they appeared to regard rather as a jocund form of sport than a serious employment, and often the professor's arid chuckle echoed upon the chime of Shiloh's fiery laughter — Elinor Wylie
the great rumbling, roaring, jocund tornado of a man, all masculine save sometimes a catlike glint, hardly a twinkle, in his merry eyes — W.A.White
jovial describes the convivially jolly, taking a high pleasure in good fellowship
a jovial, full-stomached, portly government servant with a marvelous capacity for making bad puns in English — Rudyard Kipling
as he roamed with his companions about Assisi singing jovial choruses and himself the leader of the frolic — H.O.Taylor
jolly may suggest the abundant high spirits that go with laughing, bantering, and jesting
the most colorful restaurants are those that cater to Swedish patronage, and here is often a jolly crowd made up mostly of workingmen with their wives or girls, with here and there a professor from the university, all sharing with gusto the beer, the lutefisk, and the occasional outburst of song — American Guide Series: Minnesota
ebullient, jolly, big-bosomed hoydens, very clearly neither maids nor wives — W.B.Adams
II. noun
( -es )
Etymology: modification of French merise (taken as plural), probably blend of amer bitter (from Latin amarus ) and cerise cherry — more at amaroid , cerise
: gean 1b