merry
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmɛɹi/
enpr: mĕrʹē
note: without the Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈmɛəɹi/
note: Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈmɛɹi/
ipa: /ˈmeɹi/
ipa: /ˈmɛɹɪ/
ipa: /ˈmɛɹe/
note: Philadelphia, merry–Murray merger
ipa: /ˈmʌɹi/
homophone: Merry
homophone: Mary
homophone: marry (both only in accents with Mary–marry–merry merger)
homophone: Murray (merry–Murray merger)
rhymes: -ɛɹi
Forms: form: merrier
form: merriest
form: merie
form: merrie
form: mery
Etymology: 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 (“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.
Senses: examples: text: We had a very merry Christmas.
text: I am neuer merry when I heare ſweet muſique.
ref: 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, [Act V, scene i]:
text: 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.
ref: 1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 281:
glosses: Jolly and full of high spirits; happy.
examples: text: Everyone was merry at the party.
text: 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.
ref: 1883, Howard Pyle, chapter V, in The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood […], New York, N.Y.: […] Charles Scribner’s Sons […], →OCLC:
glosses: Festive and full of fun and laughter.
examples: text: The play moved along at a merry pace.
text: The car moved at a merry clip.
glosses: Brisk
examples: text: a merry jest
text: There eke my feeble barke a while may ſtay, / Till mery wynd and weather call her thence away.
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 171:
glosses: Causing laughter, mirth, gladness, or delight.
examples: text: Some of us got a little merry at the office Christmas party.
glosses: drunk; tipsy
Synonyms: sense: jolly
word: cheerful
word: content
word: ecstatic
word: exultant
word: gay
word: happy
word: jovial
word: joyful
word: pleased
sense: festive
word: convivial
sense: festive
word: gay
sense: festive
word: jovial
sense: brisk
word: energetic
word: lively
word: spirited
word: active
sense: causing laughter
word: delightful
sense: causing laughter
word: gladful
sense: drunk
word: lushy
word: muzzy
word: squiffy
word: drunk
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
merrily
merriment
merriness
Merriweather
merry-andrew
merry as a cricket
merry as a grig
merrybell
merry chase
merry Christmas
Merry Christmas
merry cocker
merry company
merry dance
merry dancers
merrydom
merry-go-around
merry-go-down
merry-go-round
merry-go-sorry
merry-go-whirl
Merry Hill
Merry Lees
merrymaker
merry-maker
merry-making
merrymaking
merryman
merrymeeting
merry-meeting
merry men
merrythought
merry-totter
merry widow
merry Xmas
overmerry
play merry havoc with
play merry hell with
Related terms: mirth