merry1 (meri)

[Early mod. E. merrie, murge, gen. myrges, etc., in pl. merge, mergan, pleasant, delightful (said of gra , trees, landscape, the world, music, song, etc.; not applied to a humorous or sportive mood, nor to speech or conduct); appar. without Teut. cognates, and perhaps, with AS. adj. suffix -ig, That hee had delyveryd hym ouzt of his peynne, And brouzt hym into a mirgurre [merrier] plase. Chron. Vilodun , p. 125. ( Hall i well .) The seson was myri and softe, and the contre feire and deli table. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), iii. 384. When the merry beils ring round. Milton , L'Allegro, 1. 93. 2. Playfully cheerful or gay; enlivened with gladne or good spirits; mirthful in speech or action; frolicsome; hilarious; jubilant: as, a merry company. On that othir syde he was oon of the beste felowes and myriest that myght be founde. Merlin (E. E. T. S.), ii. 136. Be merry , be merry , my wife has all; For women are shrews, both short and tall; 'Tis merry in hall, when beards wag all. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., v. 3. 35 (song). Be merry , sister; I shall make you laugh anon. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, v. 2. 3. Sportive and mirthful in quality or charac ter; jocund; jovial; rollicking; funny: as, a merry heart; a merry song. This riding rime serueth most aptly to wryte a merie tale, so Rythme royall is fittest for a graue discourse. Gas coigne, Notes on Eng. Verse (ed. Arber), § 16. There is a kind of merry war betwixt Signior Benedick and her. Shak., Much Ado, i. 1. 62. 4. Brisk; lively; cheery. Thus to the sea faire Maudlin is gone With her gentle master; God send them a merry wind. The Merchant's Daughter (Child's Ballads, IV. 333). We tacked about and stood our course W. and by S., with a merry gale in all our sails. Winthrop, Hist. New England, I. 18. Chaucer , Parliament of Fowls, 1. 592. merry2 (mer'i), n. [Orig. * merise , then mer ries , applied as a plural to the fruit, whence the sing. merry ; merise , wild cherry; origin uncertain. Cf. cherry1 , ult. cerise , cherry.] The wild cherry of England, Prunus avium . merry-andrew (mer"i-an'drö), n. [ merry1 + Andrew , a man's name: see Andrew . The name Andrew may refer to some buffoon of that name, of whom nothing is now known (cf. a similar use of some man's name in smart Aleck , a slang term for a would-be smart fellow), or it may be a general appellation like zany , a merry-andrew, ult. identical with John . There appears to be no evidence for the a ertion (appar. first made by Hearne) that the name orig. referred to Andrew Boorde, doctor of physic in the reign of Henry VIII., the author of the "Introduction to Knowledge" and other works, and to whom several jest-books were erroneously ascribed (perhaps because of his surname, which recalls ME. boorde, borde, bourde, a jest: see bourd1 ).] One whose busine it is to make sport for others by jokes and ridiculous posturing; a buffoon; a clown. Th' Italian Merry Andrews took their place, And quite debauch'd the Stage with lewd grimace. Dryden, Epil. to Univ. of Oxford (1673), 1. 11.