different between delight vs jocularity

English

Etymology

An unetymological spelling, in imitation of words like light, might, etc.; the analogical modern spelling would be delite; from Middle English delite, from Old French deleiter, deliter, from Latin delectare (“to delight, please”), frequentative of delicere (“to allure”); see delectation and delicate.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??la?t/, /d??la?t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Noun

delight (countable and uncountable, plural delights)

1. Joy; pleasure.
   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Proverbs 18.2,^[1]

     A fool hath no delight in understanding.

   • c. 1611, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act III, Scene 2,^[2]

     […] the isle is full of noises,

     Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:delight.
2. Something that gives great joy or pleasure.
   • 1580, Greensleeves,

     Greensleeves was all my joy / Greensleeves was my delight, […]

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 5, lines 17-19,^[3]

     […] Awake

     My fairest, my espous’d, my latest found,

     Heav’ns last best gift, my ever new delight,

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:delight.

Derived terms

• undelight
• delightful

Translations

Verb

delight (third-person singular simple present delights, present participle delighting, simple past and past participle delighted)

1. To give delight to; to affect with great pleasure; to please highly.
   • 1842, Tennyson, Le Morte d’Arthur:

     Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:delight.

2. (intransitive) To have or take great pleasure.
   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Again?t venemous tongues enpoy?oned with ?claunder and fal?e detractions &c.:

     A ?claunderous tunge, a tunge of a ?kolde,
     Worketh more mi?chiefe than can be tolde;
     That, if I wi?t not to be controlde,
     Yet ?omwhat to ?ay I dare well be bolde,
     How ?ome delite for to lye, thycke and threfolde.

   • 1580, Greensleeves:

     For I have loved you well and long, / Delighting in your company.

   • 1908, T.J. Griffths, The Cambrian (volume 28, page 504)

     He was an eisteddfodwr and delighted to hear good singing, whether it was in the sanctuary or at the eisteddfodic gatherings.

Derived terms

• delight in
• duping delight

Related terms

• delicacy
• delicate
• delicatessen
• delicious

Translations

Further reading

• delight in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• delight in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• gildeth, glideth, lighted

English

Etymology

jocular +? -ity

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?d??kj??l???ti/

Noun

jocularity (countable and uncountable, plural jocularities)

1. Joking, humorous remarks or behaviour.
   • 1791, James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, p. 494,^[1]

     It should seem he had that day been in a humour for jocularity and merriment, and upon such occasions I never knew a man laugh more heartily.

   • 1824, Walter Scott, Redgauntlet, Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co., Volume III, Chapter 5, p. 156,^[2]

     […] Cristal Nixon at that moment rode up to them, and said, with an affectation of jocularity which sat very ill upon his sullen features, […]

   • 1980, Anthony Burgess, Earthly Powers, London: Hutchinson, Chapter 74,

     All were armed with pistols, and there was a small armoury of rifles against a wall. “Guns,” I said with fearful jocularity, “in a holy place?”

   • 1989, Jack Vance, Madouc, Chapter Four,

     Madouc was neither pleased nor impressed by Prince Bittern’s mannerisms, and remained pointedly unresponsive to his lame jocularities.

Translations

Synonyms

• jokefulness