JOLLY

gay, jocund, jolly, jovial, merry, mirthful

(adjective) 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”

reasonably, moderately, pretty, jolly, somewhat, fairly, middling, passably

(adverb) to certain extent or degree; “pretty big”; “pretty bad”; “jolly decent of him”; “the shoes are priced reasonably”; “he is fairly clever with computers”

jolly

(noun) a happy party

kid, chaff, jolly, josh, banter

(verb) be silly or tease one another; “After we relaxed, we just kidded around”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Proper noun

Jolly

A female given name

A surname.

Etymology

Adjective

jolly (comparative jollier, superlative jolliest)

Full of merriment and high spirits; jovial.

Full of life and mirth; jouous; merry.

(colloquial) Splendid, excellent, pleasant

(colloquial) Large

Noun

jolly (plural jollies)

(British, dated) A pleasure trip or excursion.

(slang, dated) A marine in the English navy.

Synonym: joey

Adverb

jolly (comparative more jolly, superlative most jolly)

(British, dated) very, extremely

Verb

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

(transitive) To amuse or divert.

Source: Wiktionary

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Jol"ly, a. [Compar. Jollier; superl. Jolliest.] Etym: [OF. joli, jolif, joyful, merry, F. joli pretty; of Scand. origin, akin to E. yule; cf. Icel. j yule, Christmass feast. See Yule.]

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.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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