Jol·ly a. [Compar. Jollier superl. Jolliest.]
1. Full of life and mirth; jovial; joyous; merry; mirthful.
Like a jolly troop of huntsmen. --Shak.
“A jolly place,” said he, “in times of old!
But something ails it now: the spot is cursed.” --Wordsworth.
2. Expressing mirth, or inspiring it; exciting mirth and gayety.
And with his jolly pipe delights the groves. --Prior.
Their jolly notes they chanted loud and clear. --Fairfax.
3. Of fine appearance; handsome; excellent; lively; agreeable; pleasant. “A jolly cool wind.” --Sir T. North. [Now mostly colloq.]
Full jolly knight he seemed, and fair did sit. --Spenser.
The coachman is swelled into jolly dimensions. --W. Irving.
jolly
adj : full of or showing high-spirited merriment; "when hearts
were young and gay"; "a poet could not but be gay, in
such a jocund company"- Wordsworth; "the jolly crowd at
the reunion"; "jolly old Saint Nick"; "a jovial old
gentleman"; "have a merry Christmas"; "peals of merry
laughter"; "a mirthful laugh" [syn: gay, jocund, jovial,
merry, mirthful]
n 1: a happy party
2: a yawl used by a ship's sailors for general work [syn: jolly
boat]
adv : used as an intensifier (`jolly' is used informally in
Britain); "pretty big"; "pretty bad"; "jolly decent of
him" [syn: pretty]
v : be silly or tease one another; "After we relaxed, we just
kidded around" [syn: kid, chaff, josh, banter]
[also: jollied, jolliest, jollier]