Hypertext Webster Gateway: "jolly"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Jolly \Jol"ly\ (j[o^]l"l[y^]), a. [Compar. {Jollier}
(-l[i^]*[~e]r); superl. {Jolliest}.] [OF. joli, jolif,
joyful, merry, F. joli pretty; of Scand. origin, akin to E.
yule; cf. Icel. j[=o]l yule, Christmas feast. See {Yule}.]
1. Full of life and mirth; jovial; joyous; merry; mirthful.

Like a jolly troop of huntsmen. --Shak.

``A jolly place,'' said he, ``in times of old! But
something ails it now: the spot is cursed.''
--Wordsworth.

2. Expressing mirth, or inspiring it; exciting mirth and
gayety.

And with his jolly pipe delights the groves.
--Prior.

Their jolly notes they chanted loud and clear.
--Fairfax.

3. Of fine appearance; handsome; excellent; lively;
agreeable; pleasant. ``A jolly cool wind.'' --Sir T.
North. [Now mostly colloq.]

Full jolly knight he seemed, and fair did sit.
--Spenser.

The coachman is swelled into jolly dimensions. --W.
Irving.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Jolly \Jol"ly\, v. t.
To cause to be jolly; to make good-natured; to encourage to
feel pleasant or cheerful; -- often implying an insincere or
bantering spirit; hence, to poke fun at. [Colloq.]

We want you to jolly them up a bit. --Brander
Matthews.

At noon we lunched at the tail of the ambulance, and
gently ``jollied'' the doctor's topography. --F.
Remington.

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

Jolly \Jol"ly\, n.; pl. {Jollies}. [Prob. fr. {Jolly}, a.]
A marine in the English navy. [Sailor's Slang]

I'm a Jolly -- 'Er Majesty's Jolly -- soldier an'
sailor too! --Kipling.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

jolly
adj : 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" [syn: {gay}, {jocund}, {jovial},
{merry}, {mirthful}]
n 1: (British) a happy party
2: a yawl used by a ship's sailors for general work [syn: {jolly
boat}]
adv : intensifier, as in "pretty big"; "pretty bad"; (`jolly' is
used informally in Britain as in "jolly decent of him")
[syn: {pretty}]
v : be silly or tease one another; "After we relaxed, we just
kidded around" [syn: {kid}, {chaff}, {banter}]

Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup

dict.stokkie.net

Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents; see the Webster Gateway FAQ, and also the Back-end/database links and credits.