Joy

• POS: Noun, Verb (intransitive), Verb (transitive)

CIDE DICTIONARY

Joy, n. [OE. joye, OF. joye, joie, goie, F. joie, L. gaudia, pl. of gaudium joy, fr. gaudere to rejoice, to be glad; cf. Gr. gai`ein to rejoice, gay^ros proud. Cf. Gaud, Jewel.].

•  The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; pleasurable feelings or emotions caused by success, good fortune, and the like, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exhilaration of spirits; delight.  [1913 Webster]

  "Her heavenly form beheld, all wished her joy."  [1913 Webster]

  "Glides the smooth current of domestic joy."  [1913 Webster]

  "Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame."  [1913 Webster]

  "Tears of true joy for his return."  [1913 Webster]

  "Joy is a delight of the mind, from the consideration of the present or assured approaching possession of a good."  [1913 Webster]
•  That which causes joy or happiness.  [1913 Webster]

  "For ye are our glory and joy."  [1913 Webster]

  "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."  [1913 Webster]
•  The sign or exhibition of joy; gayety; mirth; merriment; festivity.  [1913 Webster]

  " Joy is used in composition, esp. with participles, to from many self-explaining compounds; as, joy-bells, joy-bringing, joy-inspiring, joy-resounding, etc."

  "Such joy made Una, when her knight she found."  [1913 Webster]

  "The roofs with joy resound."  [1913 Webster]

Syn. -- Gladness; pleasure; delight; happiness; exultation; transport; felicity; ecstasy; rapture; bliss; gayety; mirth; merriment; festivity; hilarity.

Joy, v. i. [OF. joir, F. jouir. See Joy, n.].

 To rejoice; to be glad; to delight; to exult.  [1913 Webster]
"I will joy in the God of my salvation."  [1913 Webster]
"In whose sight all things joy."  [1913 Webster]

Joy, v. t. 

•  To give joy to; to congratulate.  Dryden.  [1913 Webster]

  "To joy the friend, or grapple with the foe."  [1913 Webster]
•  To gladden; to make joyful; to exhilarate.  [1913 Webster]

  "Neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits."  [1913 Webster]
•  To enjoy.  [1913 Webster]

  "Who might have lived and joyed immortal bliss."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Joy, n. & v.
--n.
1 (often foll. by at, in) a vivid emotion of pleasure; extreme gladness.
2 a thing that causes joy.
3 Brit. colloq. satisfaction, success (got no joy).
--v. esp. poet.
1 intr. rejoice.
2 tr. gladden.

Idiom

joy-bells bells rung on festive occasions. wish a person joy of iron. be gladly rid of (what that person has to deal with).

Derivative

joyless adj. joylessly adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF joie ult. f. L gaudium f. gaudere rejoice

THESAURUS

Joy

amusement, be in heaven, be pleased, beam, beatification, beatitude, bewitchment, blessedness, bliss, blissfulness, caper, caracole, carol, cheer, cheerfulness, chirp, chirrup, clap hands, cloud nine, crow, crow over, dance, delectation, delight, die with delight, ecstasy, ecstatics, elation, enchantment, enjoyment, exaltation, exhilaration, exuberance, exult, feel happy, felicity, frisk, frivolity, frolic, fruition, fun, gaiety, gambol, gladness, glee, gleefulness, gloat, gloat over, glory, go into raptures, happiness, heaven, high glee, high spirits, hilariousness, hilarity, intoxication, jocularity, jocundity, jolliness, jollity, joviality, joyance, joyfulness, joyousness, jubilate, laugh, laughter, levity, lilt, merriment, merriness, mirth, mirthfulness, overhappiness, overjoyfulness, paradise, purr, rapture, ravishment, rejoice, revel, rollick, romp, seventh heaven, sing, skip, skip for joy, smile, sunshine, take great satisfaction, transport, tread on air, triumph, unalloyed happiness, whistle

ROGET THESAURUS

Joy

Pleasure

N pleasure, gratification, enjoyment, fruition, oblectation, delectation, delection, relish, zest, gusto, satisfaction, complacency, well-being, good, snugness, comfort, ease, cushion, sans souci, without worry, mind at ease, joy, gladness, delight, glee, cheer, sunshine, cheerfulness, treat, refreshment, amusement, luxury, mens sana in corpore sano, a sound mind in a sound body, happiness, felicity, bliss, beatitude, beautification, enchantment, transport, rapture, ravishment, ecstasy, summum bonum, paradise, elysium, third heaven, seventh heaven, cloud nine, unalloyed happiness, hedonics, hedonism, honeymoon, palmy days, halcyon days, golden age, golden time, Dixie, Dixie's land, Saturnia regna, Arcadia, Shangri-La, happy valley, Agapemone, pleased, not sorry, glad, gladsome, pleased as Punch, happy, blest, blessed, blissful, beatified, happy as a clam at high water, happy as a clam, happy as a king, happy as the day is long, thrice happy, ter quaterque beatus, enjoying, joyful, hedonic, in a blissful state, in paradise, in raptures, in ecstasies, in a transport of delight, comfortable, at ease, content, sans souci, overjoyed, entranced, enchanted, enraptures, enravished, transported, fascinated, captivated, with a joyful face, with sparkling eyes, pleasing, ecstatic, beatic, painless, unalloyed, without alloy, cloudless, happily, with pleasure, with glee, one's heart leaping with joy, a wilderness of sweets, I wish you all the joy that you can wish, jour de ma vie, joy ruled the day and love the night, joys season'd high and tasting strong of guilt, oh happiness, our being's end and aim!, there is a pleasure that is born of pain, throned on highest bliss, vedi Napoli e poi muori, zwischen Freud und Leid ist die Brucke nicht weit, the bridge between joy and sorrow is not wide.

VB be pleased, feel pleasure, experience pleasure, joy, enjoy oneself, hug oneself, be in clover &c, be in elysium, tread on enchanted ground, fall into raptures, go into raptures, feel at home, breathe freely, bask in the sunshine, be pleased with, receive pleasure, derive pleasure, from, take pleasure, in, delight in, rejoice in, indulge in, luxuriate in, gloat over, enjoy, relish, like, love, take to, take a fancy to, have a liking for, enter into the spirit of, take in good part, treat oneself to, solace oneself with.