JOVIAL • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Jovial

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/dʒˈoʊviəl/ Listen

adjective

jovial adj.

(capitalized) Of or pertaining to the god, or the planet, Jupiter. (Obs.) "Our jovial star reigned at his birth." "The fixed stars astrologically differenced by the planets, and esteemed Martial or Jovial according to the colors whereby they answer these planets."

Sunny; serene. (Obs.) "The heavens always joviall."

Gay; merry; joyous; jolly; mirth-inspiring; hilarious; characterized by mirth or jollity; as, a jovial youth; a jovial company; a jovial poem. "Be bright and jovial among your guests." "His odes are some of them panegyrical, others moral; the rest are jovial or bacchanalian." Note: This word is a relic of the belief in planetary influence. Other examples are saturnine, mercurial, martial, lunatic, etc.

Synonyms: Merry; joyous; gay; festive; mirthful; gleeful; jolly; hilarious.

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Etymology of 'Jovial'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Jovial" Quotes from Famous Books

... with the Roman Catholic. They have not got far beyond Plotinus. We do not think it worth while to quote Calvin on this point, for he, as everybody knows, was an invalid for his whole lifetime. But we do take it hard, that the jovial Luther, in the midst of his ale and skittles, should have deliberately censured Juvenal's mens sana in corpore ...

— Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 5, March, 1858 • Various

... and his court were sitting in the solemn state that Midas required, there rode into their midst, tipsily swaying on the back of a gentle full-fed old grey ass, ivy-crowned, jovial and foolish, the satyr Silenus, guardian of ...

— A Book of Myths • Jean Lang

... I resigned myself to this imperative though inglorious course, my heart warmed once more to the jovial young squire. He would laugh, but not unkindly, at my grotesque dilemma; at the thought of his laughter I began to smile myself. If he gave me another chance I would smoke that cigar with him before starting home afresh, and remove, front my own mind no less than from his, all ill impressions. ...

— Dead Men Tell No Tales • E. W. Hornung

... Gaylord, the younger, was making his way towards the office of the Gaylord Lumber Company, conveniently situated on Willow Street, near the railroad. Young Tom was in a particularly jovial frame of mind, despite the fact that he had arrived in Ripton, on the night express, as early as five o'clock in the morning. He had been touring the State ostensibly on lumber business, but young Tom had a large and varied personal as ...

— The Crossing • Winston Churchill

... Vaughan was Lord Carlisle, who seems to have liked Morgan, in spite of his jovial "goings on" with his old buccaneer friends in the taverns of Port Royal, and in some of his letters speaks of Morgan's "generous manner," and hints that whatever allowances are made to him ...

— The Pirates' Who's Who - Giving Particulars Of The Lives and Deaths Of The Pirates And Buccaneers • Philip Gosse

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