different between lightsome vs jolly

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?l??ts?m/

Etymology 1

From light (“bright”, adjective) +? -some (“very like, same as”, suffix forming adjectives).

Adjective

lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)

1. Characterised by light; luminous; emitting or manifesting light; radiant.
   • 1600, Edward Fairfax, The Jerusalem Delivered of Tasso, X, xlix:

     This said, the smoky cloud was cleft and torn, / Which like a veil upon them stretched lay, // And up to open heav'n forthwith was borne, / And left the prince in view of lightsome day.

   • 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska 2005, p.105:

     There came a day when he remembered the moment, when he regretted that he had not ridden off into the buoyant midst of these lightsome elements.

   • 2006, Goswin (of Bossut.), Martinus Cawley, Send me God:

     If any find it incredible that Ida be even outwardly so lightsome that she saw clearly in the night, let them answer this question.

   • 2009, David Rooney, The wine of certitude:

     The literal sense of the Greek is: “If therefore thy whole body is lightsome, having no part darksome, thy whole body will be lightsome, as when the lamp lightens thee with its flashing.”

Antonyms

• darksome

Derived terms

• lightsomely (adverb) (archaic)
• lightsomeness (noun) (archaic)

Translations

Etymology 2

From light (“not heavy”, adjective) +? -some (“very like, same as”, suffix forming adjectives).

Adjective

lightsome (comparative more lightsome, superlative most lightsome)

1. Upbeat; cheery; light graceful.
   • 1983, Raimon Panikkar, The Vedic experience:

     Reality is lightsome, that is, light and graceful.... Moreover, the play, the lightsome character of reality, would be misunderstood if this dimension were to be severed from what really makes a play a play, [...]

   • 1999, Thomas Middleton, David M. Bevington, Kathleen McLuskie, Plays on women - Page 69:

     When I was of your youth, I was lightsome and quick two years before I was married.

Derived terms

• lightsomely (adverb) (archaic)
• lightsomeness (noun) (archaic)

English

Etymology

From Middle English joli, jolif (“merry, cheerful”), from Old French joli, jolif (“merry, joyful”)It is uncertain whether the Old French word is from Old Norse jól ("a midwinter feast, Yule", hence "fest-ive") , in which case, equivalent to yule +? -ive; or ultimately from Latin gaude? (see etymology at joy). For the loss of final -f compare tardy, hasty, hussy, etc.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d??li/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?d??li/
• Rhymes: -?li
• Hyphenation: jol?ly

Adjective

jolly (comparative jollier, superlative jolliest)

1. Full of merriment and high spirits; jovial; joyous; merry.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, "The Faerie Queene", Book I, Canot 2, xi-xii:

     "Full jolly Knight he seemed […] full large of limb and every joint / He was, and cared not for God or man a point."

   • 1815, William Wordsworth, "Hart-Leap Well," Part Second:

     "A jolly place," said he, "in times of old! / But something ails it now: the spot is curst. ..."

   • 1819, Washington Irving, The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., "The Stage Coach":

     […] he is swelled into jolly dimensions by frequent potations of malt liquors […]

2. (colloquial, dated) Splendid, excellent, pleasant.
   • 1853, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, ch. 16:

     Jo silently notices how white and small her hand is and what a jolly servant she must be to wear such sparkling rings.

3. (informal) drunk

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

jolly (plural jollies)

1. (Britain, dated) A pleasure trip or excursion.
2. (slang, dated) A marine in the English navy.

   Synonym: joey

   • 1896, Rudyard Kipling, Soldier an' Sailor Too

     I'm a Jolly — 'Er Majesty's Jolly — soldier an' sailor too!

Adverb

jolly (comparative more jolly, superlative most jolly)

1. (Britain, dated) very, extremely
   • 1991, Stephen Fry, The Liar, p. 37:

     Adrian thought it worth while to try out his new slang. ‘I say, you fellows, here's a rum go. Old Biffo was jolly odd this morning. He gave me a lot of pi-jaw about slacking and then invited me to tea. No rotting! He did really.’

Derived terms

• jolly well

Verb

jolly (third-person singular simple present jollies, present participle jollying, simple past and past participle jollied)

1. (transitive) To amuse or divert.

Derived terms

• jolly along

Translations

References

• Jolly in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 15, p. 495.

Italian

Etymology

From English jolly joker, an older name for the joker card in a deck of cards.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d???l.li/

Noun

jolly m (invariable)

1. (card games) joker
2. wild card

See also