Merries

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. States or qualities of happiness and cheerfulness often expressed through lively behavior and joyful spirit; instances or moments of festive joy and celebration marked by gaiety
2. Experiences or demonstrations of lightheartedness and pleasure characterized by lively merriment and spirited enthusiasm; occasions distinguished by conviviality and cheer
3. Conditions or periods of spirited delight and upbeat moods typically shown through exuberant fun and lively enjoyment; events or times filled with gladness and a joyful atmosphere

Etymology: The plural "merries" is simply the plural of "merry," so the story is really the story of "merry." Its ancestor, Old English "myrġe," meant "pleasing, agreeable, pleasant, sweet, delightful," and it is nothing like the rowdy sense the word carries now. The surprise is that its deepest root means "short." That ancient base, reconstructed as "*mréǵʰus," also gave Latin "brevis" and Greek "brakhús," so "merry" and "brief" are doublets, two English words that descend from the same source by separate routes. The link to "short" seems to have passed through the sense of something slight, slow, or leisurely, and from there the word drifted toward pleasantness and cheer. Middle English "myrie" and "merie" kept that broad sense of agreeable and pleasing, and Scots and Middle Dutch "mergelijc" show the same move toward joyfulness. The gladness of the modern meaning is a later narrowing of a word once used for almost any agreeable quality.

Synonyms: joys, festivities, celebrations, cheerfulness, glees

Antonyms: sorrows, troubles, sadnesses, glooms, miseries