merry
pronunciation
How to pronounce merry in British English:
UK [ˈmeri]
How to pronounce merry in American English:
US [ˈmeri]
-
- Adjective:
- full of or showing high-spirited merriment
- offering fun and gaiety
- quick and energetic
Word Origin
- merry
- merry: [OE] Merry goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *murgjaz, which appears to have been derived from a base meaning ‘short’. By the time it reached Old English, as myrige, it meant ‘pleasant’ – a semantic leap perhaps inspired by the notion of ‘shortening’ time by passing it pleasantly. The modern meaning ‘jolly’ did not emerge until the 14th century. A derivative of *murgjaz was the noun *murgithō, source of English mirth [OE]; Dutch has the related merchte ‘mirth’.=> mirth
- merry (adj.)
- Old English myrge "pleasing, agreeable, pleasant, sweet; pleasantly, melodiously," from Proto-Germanic *murgijaz, which probably originally meant "short-lasting," (compare Old High German murg "short," Gothic gamaurgjan "to shorten"), from PIE *mreghu- "short" (see brief (adj.)). The only exact cognate for meaning outside English was Middle Dutch mergelijc "joyful." Connection to "pleasure" is likely via notion of "making time fly, that which makes the time seem to pass quickly" (compare German Kurzweil "pastime," literally "a short time;" Old Norse skemta "to amuse, entertain, amuse oneself," from skamt, neuter of skammr "short"). There also was a verbal form in Old English, myrgan "be merry, rejoice." For vowel evolution, see bury (v.).Bot vchon enle we wolde were fyf, þe mo þe myryer. [c. 1300]The word had much wider senses in Middle English, such as "pleasant-sounding" (of animal voices), "fine" (of weather), "handsome" (of dress), "pleasant-tasting" (of herbs). Merry-bout "an incident of sexual intercourse" was low slang from 1780. Merry-begot "illegitimate" (adj.), "bastard" (n.) is from 1785. Merrie England (now frequently satirical or ironic) is 14c. meri ingland, originally in a broader sense of "bountiful, prosperous." Merry Monday was a 16c. term for "the Monday before Shrove Tuesday" (Mardi Gras).
Antonym
Example
- 1. Merry old england : popular british classics enjoyed in india
- 2. Both groups , he suggested , were high-tech versions of the merry pranksters , and the computer itself was a new lsd .
- 3. Drawing on the rhetorical tactics of cybernetics , brand offered up xerox parc , resource one , and the merry pranksters as prototypical elites for the techno-social future .