glee

See also: Glee and g'lée

English

Etymology

From Middle English gle, from Old English glēo, glīġ, glēow, glīw (“glee, pleasure, mirth, play, sport; music; mockery”), from Proto-Germanic *glīwą (“joy, mirth”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- (“to joke, make fun, enjoy”). Cognate with Scots gle, glie, glew (“game, play, sport, mirth, joy, rejoicing, entertainment, melody, music”), Old Norse glȳ (“joy, glee, gladness”), Ancient Greek χλεύη (khleúē, “joke, jest, scorn”). A poetic word in Middle English, the word was obsolete by 1500, but revived late 18c.

Pronunciation

• enPR: glē, IPA^(key): /ɡliː/
• Rhymes: -iː

Noun

glee (countable and uncountable, plural glees)

1. (uncountable) Joy; happiness great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.

   Synonyms: merriment, mirth, gaiety, gloat

   • 1968, “Sympathy for the Devil”, in The Rolling Stones (music), Beggars Banquet:

     I watched with glee while your kings and queens fought for ten decades for the gods they made.

   • 2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55:

     Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

2. (uncountable) Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
3. (music, countable) An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices, not necessarily merry.

Derived terms

• glee club
• gleeful
• gleefully
• gleefulness
• gleeman
• gleesome
• gleewoman

Translations

Joy; merriment; mirth; gayety; particularly, the mirth enjoyed at a feast

• Arabic: بَهْجَة f (bahja)
• Bulgarian: радост (bg) f (radost), веселие (bg) n (veselie), ликуване (bg) n (likuvane)
• Catalan: alegria (ca) f, joia (ca) f
• Dutch: vrolijkheid (nl)
• Finnish: ilo (fi), riemu (fi)
• French: joie (fr) f
• Georgian: მხიარულება (mxiaruleba), ზეიმი (zeimi)
• German: Freude (de) f, Fröhlichkeit (de) f, Ausgelassenheit (de) f
• Greek: ευωχία (el) f (evochía)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Italian: gioia (it) f, allegria (it) f
• Norwegian: glede (no) m
• Persian: شادی (fa)
• Portuguese: alegria (pt)
• Russian: ликова́ние (ru) n (likovánije), весе́лье (ru) n (vesélʹje), ра́дость (ru) f (rádostʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian: veselje (sh), likovanje
• Spanish: alegría (es) f
• Swedish: glädje (sv) c, fröjd (sv) c, munterhet (sv) c

Music; minstrelsy; entertainment

• German: Rundgesang m
• Portuguese: música (pt), canção (pt)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: му́зыка (ru) f (múzyka), развлече́ния (ru) n pl (razvlečénija)

An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices

• German: Rundgesang m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: пе́сня (ru) f (pésnja), песнопе́ние (ru) n (pesnopénije)

Verb

glee (third-person singular simple present glees, present participle gleeing, simple past and past participle gleed)

1. To sing a glee (unaccompanied part song).

Anagrams

• Egle, Lege, lege

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Limburgish

Noun

glee f

1. something that is wet because it has been pasted together

Inflection

Inflection

	Root singular	Root plural	Diminutive singular	Diminutive plural
Nominative	glee	gleeër	gleeke	gleekes
Genitive	glee	gleeër	gleekes	gleekes
Locative	glöj	glöjjer	glöjke	glöjkes
Dative¹	glöje	gleeër	?	?
Accusative¹	glee	gleeërn	gleeke	gleekes

• Dative and accusative are nowadays obsolete, use nominative instead.

See also

• èpperglieëdjómme

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Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German klein, kleine, from Old High German kleini, from Proto-Germanic *klainiz (“shining, fine, splendid, tender”), from Proto-Indo-European *gleh₁y- (“to cleave, stick”). Compare German klein, Dutch klein.

Adjective

glee

1. small