Link Centre Dictionary

merry

UK/ˈmɛ.ɹi/ US/ˈmɛ.ɹi/ common

adjective

1.

full of or showing high-spirited merriment

  • “when hearts were young and gay”
  • “a poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company” Wordsworth
  • “the jolly crowd at the reunion”
  • “jolly old Saint Nick”
  • “a jovial old gentleman”
  • “have a merry Christmas”
  • “peals of merry laughter”
  • “a mirthful laugh”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

capable of being specified

  • “specifiable complaints”
Synonyms
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3.

quick and energetic

  • “a brisk walk in the park”
  • “a lively gait”
  • “a merry chase”
  • “traveling at a rattling rate”
  • “a snappy pace”
  • “a spanking breeze”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • 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
  • merry as a cricket
  • merry as a grig

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.