JOLLY • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Jolly

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/dʒˈɑli/ Listen

adjective

Jolly adj. (compar. jollier; superl. jolliest)

Full of life and mirth; jovial; joyous; merry; mirthful. "Like a jolly troop of huntsmen." ""A jolly place," said he, "in times of old! But something ails it now: the spot is cursed.""

Expressing mirth, or inspiring it; exciting mirth and gayety. "And with his jolly pipe delights the groves." "Their jolly notes they chanted loud and clear."

Of fine appearance; handsome; excellent; lively; agreeable; pleasant. "A jolly cool wind." (Now mostly colloq.) "Full jolly knight he seemed, and fair did sit." "The coachman is swelled into jolly dimensions."

verb

Jolly 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." "At noon we lunched at the tail of the ambulance, and gently "jollied" the doctor's topography."

noun

Jolly n. (pl. jollies) A marine in the English navy. (Sailor's Slang) "I'm a Jolly 'Er Majesty's Jolly soldier an' sailor too!"

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Etymology of 'Jolly'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Jolly" Quotes from Famous Books

... and laughter, The cheeks of Christmas glow red and jolly, And sprouting is every corbel and rafter With lightsome green of ivy and holly; Through the deep gulf of the chimney wide Wallows the Yule-log's roaring tide; The broad flame-pennons droop and flap And belly and tug as a flag in the wind; Like a locust shrills ...

— The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell • James Lowell

... clerk, interposing. "You're wrong, Master Ford, as I will prove. Here is the head of one of Will's bolts, dropped in the greenwood on the day you rescued us from him. I have kept it in my pouch, for 'tis a pretty thing." He laughed all over his jolly face. "Here, Robin, keep it, and learn therefrom how not to make arrows, for vanity is a sin to be avoided and put on one side. The plainer the barb the straighter does it fly, as all true bowmen ...

— Robin Hood • Paul Creswick

... little fighters rolled, biting and scratching and tearing and growling and snarling. Jolly, round, red Mr. Sun hid his face behind a cloud, so as not to see such a dreadful sight. The stranger had been in many fights and he was very crafty. For a while Johnny felt that he was getting the worst of it, and he began to wonder if he really would have to leave the Green ...

— The Adventures of Johnny Chuck • Thornton W. Burgess

... 4d.), one could never obtain change. Frequently, unless you wished to leave the change behind, you were obliged to carry away the balance in cheap stearine or beer. I took the stearine. A short distance from the town was a seminary, with four German friars, very fat, very jolly, very industrious. ...

— Across Unknown South America • Arnold Henry Savage Landor

... college papers and magazines interested him, and finally he was much amused by an account of his mysterious disappearance. All in a day he found himself famous. Then Dale and his room-mates were so friendly and jolly that if his captivity had not meant the disgrace of the freshman class, Ken would have rejoiced in it. He began to thaw out, though he did not lose his backwardness. The life of the great university began to be real to him. Almost the whole sophomore ...

— The Young Pitcher • Zane Grey

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