glee
/ɡliː/ noun, verb
Forms glees gleeing gleed
- noun (uncountable) Joy; happiness; great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.
- noun (uncountable) Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- noun (singing, countable) An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices, not necessarily merry.
- verb To sing a glee (unaccompanied part song).
Synonyms
merriment mirth gaiety gloat blitheness blithesomeness cheerfulness cheeriness contentness contentedness delight delightedness elatedness elation exuberance exuberantness felicity gayness gayfulness gladness hilarity mirthfulness gleefulness gloating
Etymology
From Middle English gle, from Old English glēo, glīġ, glēow, glīw (“glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport; music; mockery”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīw, from Proto-Germanic *glīwą (“joy, mirth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- (“to joke, make fun, enjoy”).
Cognate with Scots gle, glie, glew (“game, play, sport, mirth, joy, rejoicing, entertainment, melody, music”), Icelandic glý (“joy, glee, gladness”), Ancient Greek χλεύη (khleúē, “joke, jest, scorn”). A poetic word in Middle English, the word was obsolete by 1500, but revived late 18c.
From Middle English gleen, glewen, from Old English glēowian (“to sing, play an instrument, jest”), from Proto-West Germanic *glīwōn, from Proto-Germanic *glīwōną. Cognate with Icelandic glýja (“to be gleeful”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun Music; minstrelsy; entertainment. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- noun Joy; merriment; mirth; gayety; paricularly, the mirth enjoyed at a feast. Spenser.
Etymology [OE. gle, gleo, AS. gleów, gleó, akin to Icel. gl: cf. Gr. 1. Music; minstrelsy; entertainment. [Obs.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “glee”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details