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A sprightly dance; a coranto; a courant.

Full of spirit; brisk; lively; sprightly; overconfident; opinionated. He who was, a little before, bedrid, . . . was now crank and lusty. Udall. If you strong electioners did not think you were among the elect, you would not be so crank about it. Mrs. Stowe.

Sprightliness; vigor; health.

A title of honor equivalent to master, or sir. [Obs.] Old Dan Geoffry, in gently spright The pure wellhead of poetry did dwell. Spenser. What time Dan Abraham left the Chaldee land. Thomson.

Free; nimble; sprightly; active. [Obs.] Wonderly deliver and great of strength. Chaucer.

shore she plays, Disclosing rock, and slope, and forest brown! Byron. Her lively looks a sprightly mind disclose. Pope.

To give spirit or vivacity to; to make sprightly, gay, or cheerful; to animate; as, mirth and good humor enliven a company; enlivening strains of music.

to examination, investigation, or research; searching; curious. A young, inquisitive, and sprightly genius. I. Watts.

Amorous; also, lively; light-footed; nimble; gay; sprightly. [Prov. Eng.] Halliwell.

Animated; sprightly. [Poetic] Coleridge. -- Life"some*ness, n.

Animated, brisk motion; spirited rhythm; sprightliness. The movement, the lilt, and the subtle charm of the verse. F. Harrison.

The quality or state of being lively or animated; sprightliness; vivacity; animation; spirit; as, the liveliness of youth, contrasted with the gravity of age. B. Jonson.

Deficient in animation and courage; dejected; depressed; not sprightly. -- Low"-spir`it*ed*ness, n.

Having the qualities fabled to belong to the god Mercury; swift; active; sprightly; fickle; volatile; changeable; as, a mercurial youth; a mercurial temperament. A mercurial man Who fluttered over all things like a fan. Byron.

To be sprightly, fantastic, or capricious. [Obs.]

Sprightly or mercurial quality; spirit; mutability; fickleness. [Obs.] He was so full of mercury that he could not fix long in any friendship, or to any design. Bp. Burnet.

ning; to obtain with some effort or difficulty. One of those who can muster up sufficient sprightliness to engage in a game of forfeits. Hazlitt.

To annoy; to vex. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] Piers Plowman. All that noyed his heavy spright. Spenser.

Lively; brisk; sprightly; smart. [Obs.] Shak.

Cheerful; enlivening; gay; sprightly; humorous; sportive; as, pleasant company; a pleasant fellow. From grave to light, from pleasant to serve. Dryden.