joy
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: joi
ipa: /d͡ʒɔɪ/
rhymes: -ɔɪ
Forms: form: joys
form: joying
form: joyed
form: joyed
Etymology: The noun is from Middle English joye, borrowed from Old French joie, from Late Latin gaudia, neuter plural (mistaken as feminine singular) of Latin gaudium (“joy”), from gaudēre (“to be glad, rejoice”). Doublet of jo and gaudy (“Oxford college reunion”). Displaced native Old English ġefēa.
The interjection is from the noun.
The verb is from Middle English joyen, joȝen, joien, from Old French jöir, from the Old French noun (see above).
Senses: examples: text: for oftymes or this oure lord shewed hym vnto good men and vnto good knyghtes in lykenes of an herte But I suppose from hens forth ye shalle see no more / and thenne they Ioyed moche / and dwelled ther alle that day / And vpon the morowe whan they had herde masse / they departed and commaunded the good man to god
ref: 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter IX, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:
text: I joy to see you wear around your neck the holy relic I bestowed on you;—but what Moorish charmlet is that you wear beside it?
ref: 1829, Walter Scott, chapter 8, in Anne of Geierstein, volume 3, Edinburgh: Cadell, page 222:
text: 1885, Richard Francis Burton (translator), The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 18, “Tale of the Portress,” p. 178,
I swore readily enough to this and he joyed with exceeding joy and embraced me round the neck while love for him possessed my whole heart.
glosses: To feel joy, to rejoice.
examples: text: I haue my wish, in that I ioy thy sight,
ref: 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
text: For from the time that Scudamour her bought,
In perilous fight, she neuer ioyed day […].
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 5:
text: Is this the Love, is this the recompence
Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve, exprest
Immutable when thou wert lost, not I,
Who might have liv’d and joyd immortal bliss,
Yet willingly chose rather Death with thee:
ref: 1667, John Milton, “(please specify the page number)”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, lines 1164-1168:
glosses: To enjoy.
examples: text: Then round our Death-bed ev'ry Friend ſhou'd run, / And joy us of our Conqueſt, early won: […]
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, book III, page 88:
text: Evil like Us they shun, and covet Good;
Abhor the Poison, and receive the Food.
Like Us they love or hate: like Us they know,
To joy the Friend, or grapple with the Foe.
ref: 1709, Mat[thew] Prior, “(please specify the chapter or poem)”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 405:
glosses: To give joy to; to congratulate.
examples: text: Yet neither pleasure’s art can joy my spirits,
Nor yet the other’s distance comfort me.
ref: c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: To gladden; to make joyful; to exhilarate.
Derived terms: unjoyed