Search the Dictionary

Gay; airy; cheering; exhilarating. That lightsome affection of joy. Hooker. -- Light"some*ly, adv. -- Light"some*ness, n. Happiness may walk soberly in dark attire, as well as dance lightsomely in a gala dress. Hawthorne.

To utter with spirit, animation, or gayety; to sing with spirit and liveliness. A classic lecture, rich in sentiment, With scraps of thundrous epic lilted out By violet-hooded doctors. Tennyson.

Gay; airy; animated; spirited. From grave to gay, from lively to severe. Pope.

A gay seducer of women; a libertine.

ract. I am not lured with love. Piers Plowman. And various science lures the learned eye. Gay.

tes of reptiles, shell of a lobster, etc. We . . . strip the lobster of his scarlet mail. Gay.

One of a genus (Calochortus) of tuliplike bulbous herbs with large, and often gaycolored, blossoms. Called also butterfly lily. Most of them are natives of California.

ing to the laws or customs of the place. Tell him that he shall marry the couple himself. Gay.

d from their time of blossoming; also, the hawthorn. The palm and may make country houses gay. Nash. Plumes that micked the may. Tennyson.

In a merry manner; with mirth; with gayety and laughter; jovially. See Mirth, and Merry. Merrily sing, and sport, and play. Granville.

See Merrymake, v. Gay.

Gayety, with laughter; mirth; frolic. "Follies and light merriment." Spenser. Methought it was the sound Of riot and ill-managed merriment. Milton.

The quality or state of being merry; merriment; mirth; gayety, with laughter.

Laughingly gay; overflowing with good humor and good spirits; jovial; inclined to laughter or play ; sportive. They drank, and were merry with him. Gen. xliii. 34. I am never merry when I hear sweet music. Shak.

A fermented beverage made of honey and water; mead. Gay.

e breasts or udder of, by the hand or mouth; to withdraw the milk of. "Milking the kine." Gay. I have given suck, and know How tender 't is to love the babe that milks me. Shak.

Merriment; gayety accompanied with laughter; jollity. Then will I cause to cease ... from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth. Jer. vii. 34.

A young unmarried woman or a girl; as, she is a miss of sixteen. Gay vanity, with smiles and kisses, Was busy 'mongst the maids and misses. Cawthorn.

t, sweeten, and enrich with spices; as, to mull wine. New cider, mulled with ginger warm. Gay.

gether; to enroll in service; to get together. "Mustering all its force." Cowper. All the gay feathers he could muster. L'Estrange. To muster troops into service (Mil.), to inspect and enter troops on the muster roll of the army. -- To muster troops out of service (Mil.), to register them for final payment and dischar…