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.Definition 2024
happy
happy
See also: Hapy
English
A happy boy from Vanuatu
Alternative forms
- happie (obsolete)
Adjective
happy (comparative happier or more happy, superlative happiest or most happy)
- Experiencing the effect of favourable 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.
- Music makes me feel happy.
- 1769, Oxford Standard text, Bible (King James), Psalms, 144, xv:
- Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.
- 1777, Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man in Four Epistles: Argument of Epistle II, in The Poetical Works of Alexander Pope, Esq, Volume III, page 26:
- The learn'd is happy nature to explore, / The fool is happy that he knows no more;
- Favored by luck or fortune; lucky.
- 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, 2006, Elibron Classics (imprint), page 227:
- […] I may presume that what I have hitherto discoursed will induce you to think, that chymists have been much more happy in finding experiments than the causes of them; or in assigning the principles by which they may best be explained.
- 1661, Robert Boyle, The Sceptical Chymist, 2006, Elibron Classics (imprint), page 227:
- Dexterous; ready; apt; felicitous.
- 1761, Jonathan Swift, A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation: Introduction, in The works of Dr Jonathan Swift, Volume VII, page 246:
- For instance, one lady can give an anſwer better than aſk a queſtion : one gentleman is happy at a reply ; another excels in a rejoinder : one can revive a languiſhing converſation by a ſudden ſurpriſing ſentence ; […] .
- 1761, Jonathan Swift, A Complete Collection of Genteel and Ingenious Conversation: Introduction, in The works of Dr Jonathan Swift, Volume VII, page 246:
- Content, satisfied (with or to do something); having no objection (to something).
- Are you happy to pay me back by the end of the week?
- Are you happy with your internet service provider?
- (as a suffix to a noun) favouring or inclined to use, as in trigger-happy.
- 2004, Dan Benson, 12 Stupid Mistakes People Make with Their Money (page 128)
- We live in a sue-happy society. If Santa slides off your roof and busts his tailbone, he could sue you, and probably will.
- 2012 August 21, Jason Heller, “The Darkness: Hot Cakes [music review]”, in The Onion A.V. Club, archived from the original on 24 August 2012:
- “Baby, I was a loser / Several years on the dole / An Englishman with a very high voice / Doing rock ’n’ roll,” sings falsetto-happy frontman Justin Hawkins at the start of “Every Inch Of You,” Hot Cakes’ opener.
- 2004, Dan Benson, 12 Stupid Mistakes People Make with Their Money (page 128)
Usage notes
- (favored by hap, luck or fortune): Said of expedients, efforts, ventures, omens, etc.
- (experiencing the effect of favorable fortune): Said of people, hours, thoughts, times, etc.
Synonyms
- (favored by luck): lucky, fortunate, prosperous, cheerful, content, delighted, elated, exultant, orgasmic
See Wikisaurus:happy
Antonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from happy (adjective)
Translations
enjoying peace, comfort, etc.; contented, joyous
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fortunate
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dexterous; ready; apt; felicitous
content (to do something); having no objection (to something)
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