I. ˈhapē, -pi adjective
( usually -er/-est )
Etymology: Middle English, from hap, happe hap + -y — more at hap
1. : favored by luck or fortune : fortunate , prosperous , propitious , favorable
perennially happy dice should be inspected to discover whether they are loaded — J.R.Newman
scientific discoveries … seem to drop out of the blue, the gift of happy chance — Lamp
they experiment in color … with results sometimes happy , sometimes disastrous — Roger Fry
2. : notably well adapted or fitting : markedly effective : apt , felicitous , appropriate , just
he will seek to establish by law the happy mean — G.L.Dickinson
the happy diction, and the graceful phrase — E.G.Bulwer-Lytton
the passage in the finale was particularly happy — Virgil Thomson
television is an especially happy medium — Irving Kolodin
the attendants had a happy thought — Jeremiah Dowling
3.
a. : having the feeling arising from the consciousness of well-being
would forbid any novelist to represent a good man as ever miserable or a wicked man as ever happy — Havelock Ellis
b. : characterized or attended by happiness : expressing, reflecting, or suggestive of happiness : not tragic : pleasant , joyous
the happy years of childhood
a happy family life
a book with a happy ending
it had been a merciful passing, even a happy one — S.H.Adams
the happy noises of prolonged mastication — C.H.Rickword
paints a happy picture of rural life
past happy brooks flashing to the sun — G.D.Brown
c. : glad , pleased
I am happy to meet you
I would be happy for the president to declare his policy — Time
d. : having or marked by an atmosphere of good fellowship or camaraderie : harmonious , congenial , friendly
sailormen prefer a happy to a taut ship, where strict discipline is the only diet — A.R.Griffin
I know that they will find … a happy welcome on the Canadian shore — F.D.Roosevelt
its happy industrial relations and the loyal spirit of its workers — Sam Pollock
4. obsolete : blessed
5. : having a feeling of well-being as a result of drink
came home a bit happy
6.
a. : characterized by a dazed irresponsible state — used as a terminal element in combination with the cause of the condition indicated
a punch- happy prizefighter
the gold- happy miners decided to have a horse race — J.A.Michener
b. : impulsively, nervously, or obsessively quick to use something — used as a terminal element in combinations with the object indicated
they'll be gun- happy and … let go at anything that moves — William Wright
trigger- happy soldiers
c. : enthusiastic to the point of obsession : obsessed — used as a terminal element in combinations with the object of the feeling indicated
I know your type … publicity- happy — Ellery Queen
that guy is stripe- happy — Norman Mailer
sailor- happy girls who move around after the fleet — Katharine T. Kinkead
Synonyms: see fit , glad , lucky
II. transitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-es )
now dialect : to make happy
it don't happy me up any — Howard Troyer