merry

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɹi/
• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˈmeɹi/
• (General American) enPR: mĕrʹē, IPA^(key): /ˈmɛɹi/, /ˈmeɪɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (Mary–marry–merry distinction)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

  (Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Homophone: Merry
• Homophones: Mary, marry (both only in accents with the Mary–marry–merry merger)
• Hyphenation: mer‧ry
• Rhymes: -ɛɹi

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-West Germanic *murgī, 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)

1. 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I am neuer merry when I heare ſweet muſique.

   • 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, 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.

2. Festive and full of fun and laughter.

   Everyone was merry at the party.

   • 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood , New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons , →OCLC:

     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

   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. , London: [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 171:

     There eke my feeble barke a while may ſtay, / Till mery wynd and weather call her thence away.

5. (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

• (antonym(s) of "jolly"): miserable, unhappy

Derived terms

Related terms

• mirth

Translations

Etymology 2

French merise

Noun

merry (plural merries)

1. An English wild cherry.

See also

Anagrams

• Rymer