Wiktionary

jolly

See also: Jolly

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English joli, jolif (merry, cheerful), from Old French joli, jolif (merry, joyful)[1] It is uncertain whether the Old French word is from Old Norse jól ("a midwinter feast, Yule", hence "fest-ive"),[2] in which case, equivalent to yule +‎ -ive, compare Dutch jolig (“happy, festive, frolicsome, jolly”), West Frisian joelich, joalich (“merry, jolly”), Middle High German jœlich (“hooting, jubilant”); however, OED considers this etymology unlikely.[3] Alternatively, the Old French adjective originates from Vulgar Latin *gaudivus (from Latin gaudeō, more at joy), which would require that Early Old French ⟨d⟩ /ð/ irregularly turns up as ⟨l⟩ in jolif instead of being regularly dropped (alternatively, /l/ may be a hiatus filler inserted into expected *joïf). Possible parallels are found in French cigale and Provençal cigala from cigāda, and French Valois from Vadensis.[3] For the loss of final -f compare tardy, hasty, hussy, etc.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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jolly (comparative jollier, superlative jolliest)

  1. Full of merriment and high spirits; jovial; joyous; merry.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, , stanzas 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 Stage Coach”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.:
      […] he is swelled into jolly dimensions by frequent potations of malt liquors […]
  2. (colloquial, dated) Splendid, excellent, pleasant.
  3. (informal) Drunk.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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jolly (plural jollies)

  1. (UK, dated, often humorous) A pleasure trip or excursion.
  2. (slang, dated) A marine in the English navy.
    Synonym: joey
  3. (slang, archaic) A word of praise, or favorable notice.
    • 2021, Jenni Spangler, The Incredible Talking Machine:
      'We just need to chuck him a jolly.'
      'I beg your pardon?' said Faber.
      'Chuck a jolly... you know! Get people on the street talking about how amazing the show is! Tell them the tickets are sold out for the next two weeks.'

Derived terms

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Adverb

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jolly (comparative more jolly, superlative most jolly)

  1. (British, dated) very, extremely
    It’s jolly hot in here, isn’t it?
    • 1991, Stephen Fry, chapter III, in The Liar, London: William Heinemann, →ISBN, page 26:
      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.’

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To amuse or divert.
  2. (transitive, informal, archaic) To praise or talk up.
    • 1898, Marketing/Communications, volume 23, page 52:
      I do not believe in 'jollying' and 'soft soaping' a man when his work is really bad.

Derived terms

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terms derived from all parts of speech

Translations

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References

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  1. ^ Etymology
  2. ^ Etymology
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "jolly, adj. and adv." OED Online, Oxford University Press, December 2019. Accessed 9 December 2019.
  • Jolly in the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica, vol. 15, p. 495.

Italian

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Etymology

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

Pronunciation

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Noun

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jolly m (invariable)

  1. (card games) joker
  2. wild card

See also

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Playing cards in Italian · carte da gioco (layout · text)
             
asso due tre quattro cinque sei sette
             
otto nove dieci fante donna,
regina 		re jolly, joker,
matta
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