Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Happy
1.
Favored by hap, luck, or fortune; lucky; fortunate; successful; prosperous; satisfying desire;
as, a
happy
expedient; a happy
effort; a happy
venture; a happy
omen.Chymists have been more
happy
in finding experiments than the causes of them. Boyle.
2.
Experiencing the effect of favorable fortune; having the feeling arising from the consciousness of well-being or of enjoyment; enjoying good of any kind, as peace, tranquillity, comfort; contented; joyous;
as,
. happy
hours, happy
thoughtsHappy
is that people, whose God is the Lord. Ps. cxliv. 15.
The learned is
The fool is
happy
Nature to explore,The fool is
happy
that he knows no more. Pope.
3.
Dexterous; ready; apt; felicitous.
One gentleman is
happy
at a reply, another excels in a in a rejoinder. Swift.
Happy family
, a collection of animals of different and hostile propensities living peaceably together in one cage. Used ironically of conventional alliances of persons who are in fact mutually repugnant.
– Happy-go-lucky
, trusting to hap or luck; improvident; easy-going.
“Happy-go-lucky carelessness.” W. Black.
Webster 1828 Edition
Happy
HAP'PY
a. [from hap.]1.
Lucky; fortunate; successful. Chimists have been more happy in finding experiments, than the causes of them.
So we say, a happy thought; a happy expedient.
2.
Being in the enjoyment of agreeable sensations from the possession of good; enjoying pleasure from the gratification of appetites or desires. The pleasurable sensations derived from the gratification of sensual appetites render a person temporarily happy; but he only can be esteemed really and permanently happy, who enjoys peace of mind in the favor of God. To be in any degree happy, we must be free from pain both of body and of mind; to be very happy, we must be in the enjoyment of lively sensations of pleasure, either of body or mind. Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed. Gen.30.
He found himself happiest, in communicating happiness to others.
3.
Prosperous; having secure possession of good. Happy is that people whose God is Jehovah. Ps.144.
4.
That supplies pleasure; that furnishes enjoyment; agreeable; applied to things; as a happy condition.5.
Dexterous; ready; able. One gentleman is happy at a reply, another excels in a rejoinder.
6.
Blessed; enjoying the presence and favor of God, in a future life.7.
Harmonious; living in concord; enjoying the pleasures of friendship; as a happy family.8.
Propitious; favorable.