blithe
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English blithe (“glad, happy, joyful; causing joy, joyous; gentle, mild; gracious, merciful; bright, shining; beautiful, fair”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English blīþe (“happy, gentle”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *blīþiz (“friendly; gentle, mild; pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlī- (“fine; light; pleasant”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny; white”).[2]
Pronunciation
[edit]- (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA(key): /blaɪð/, /blaɪθ/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file) Audio (General American): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪð, -aɪθ
Adjective
[edit]blithe (comparative blither, superlative blithest)
- Casually careless or indifferent; showing a lack of concern; nonchalant.
- She had a blithe disregard of cultures outside the United States.
- 1913–1921, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “England, My England”, in England My England and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, published 24 October 1922, →OCLC, page 23:
- From mother and nurse it was a guerilla gunfire of commands, and blithe, quicksilver disobedience from the three blonde, never-still little girls.
- (chiefly Scotland, elsewhere dated or literary) Cheerful, happy.
- c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 47, column 2:
- And now ſweet Emperour be blithe againe,
And bury all thy feare in my deuiſes.
- a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 31:
- There on Beds of Violets blew,
And freſh-blown Roſes waſht in dew,
Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,
So buckſom, blith, and debonair.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 610–613:
- For that fair femal Troop thou ſawſt, that ſeemd
Of Goddeſſes, ſo blithe, ſo ſmooth, ſo gay,
Yet empty of good wherein conſiſts,
Womans domeſtic honour and chief praiſe; […]
- 1725, Homer, “Book I”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 26, lines 211–214:
- Shou'd he return, that troop ſo blithe and bold,
With purple robes inwrought, and ſtiff with gold,
Precipitant in fear, wou'd wing their flight,
And curſe their cumbrous pride's unwieldy weight.
- 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Introduction to Canto Second: To the Rev. John Marriot, M.A.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, page 63:
- But not more blythe than sylvan court,
Than we have been at humbler sport;
Though small our pomp, and mean our game,
Our mirth, dear Marriot, was the same.
- 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 85–86:
- Tarry, tarry, ye wha were aye sae blythe to be at the meetings of the saints, and wad ride every muir in Scotland to find a conventicle.
- 1820 June (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To a Skylark”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 201:
- Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
That from heaven, or near it,
Pourest thy full heart
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
- 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 158:
- He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good-humoured fellows said, "Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you!" And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of all the blithe sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears.
- 1876 June, Mark Twain, “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut”, in The Atlantic[1]:
- I was feeling blithe, almost jocund.
- 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter III, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), page 31:
- To-night, however, she was even in a blither mood than usual. There was a dreaminess, a preoccupation, an exaltation, in the maternal look which the girl could not understand.
Alternative forms
[edit]- blythe (obsolete)
Derived terms
[edit]Related terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]casually careless or indifferent; showing a lack of concern
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References
[edit]- ^ “blīthe, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
- ^ Compare “blithe, adj., n., and adv.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1887; “blithe, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams
[edit]Scots
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From Middle English blithe, from Old English blīþe, from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *blīþiz. Cognate with Danish blid, Dutch blij, Icelandic blíður. Compare bliss.
Pronunciation
[edit]Adjective
[edit]blithe (comparative blither, superlative blithest)
- Happy
- A howp ye haed a blithe birthday
- I hope you had a happy birthday
Categories:
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰel- (shiny)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/aɪð
- Rhymes:English/aɪð/1 syllable
- Rhymes:English/aɪθ
- English lemmas
- English adjectives
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- Scottish English
- English dated terms
- English literary terms
- en:Happiness
- Scots terms inherited from Middle English
- Scots terms derived from Middle English
- Scots terms inherited from Old English
- Scots terms derived from Old English
- Scots terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- Scots terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- Scots terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:Scots/aɪð
- Scots lemmas
- Scots adjectives
- Scots terms with usage examples