mirth
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old English myrġþ, approximately equivalent to merry + -th.
Pronunciation[edit]
- (General American) IPA(key): /mɜɹθ/, [mɝθ]; enPR: mûrth
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /mɜːθ/
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Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)θ
Noun[edit]
mirth (usually uncountable, plural mirths)
- The emotion usually following humour and accompanied by laughter; merriment; jollity; gaiety.
- 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
- And he began to laugh again, and that so heartily, that, though I did not see the joke as he did, I was again obliged to join him in his mirth.
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1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 2, in The Mirror and the Lamp[1]:
- She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.
- 1912, Willa Cather, The Bohemian Girl:
- 1883, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island
- That which causes merriment.
- 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses
- Phantasmal mirth, folded away: muskperfumed.
- 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Derived terms
Translations[edit]
merriment
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