joy

From Middle English joye, borrowed from Old French joie, from Late Latin gaudia, neuter plural (mistaken as feminine singular) of Latin gaudium (“joy”), from gaudēre (“to be glad, rejoice”). Displaced native Middle English wunne (from Old English wynn), Middle English hight, hught (“joy, hope”) (from Old English hyht), Middle English rot, root (“joy, delight”) (from Old English rōt), while partially replacing Middle English blisse (“joy, bliss”) (from Old English blisse, blīþs). Middle English gleo (“joy, glee”) (from Old English glēow, glīw (“glee”)) was at first displaced but later resurrected as English glee.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Canada) enPR: joi, IPA^(key): /dʒɔɪ/

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• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

joy (countable and uncountable, plural joys)

1. A feeling of extreme happiness or cheerfulness, especially related to the acquisition or expectation of something good.

   a child's joy on Christmas morning

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.

   They will be a source of strength and joy in your life.

2. Anything that causes such a feeling.

   the joys and demands of parenthood

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), imprinted at London: By Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, 1 Thessalonians 2:20:

     For, ye are our glory and ioy.

   • Keats

     A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

3. Luck or success; a positive outcome.
   • Colin Owen, Colin's Shorts (volume 2, page 65)

     Grant had no joy with taking a nap, so he began to systematically feel if everything was working: fingers and toes, etc.

   • 2012, Robert Stansbridge, Bia's Wedding (page 4)

     'Rob? It's Gary. Are you having any joy with this trip to Bali?' 'No joy at all, mate. I reckon Bali's out for the foreseeable future. […]

4. (obsolete) The sign or exhibition of joy; gaiety; merriment; festivity.
   • Spenser

     Such joy made Una, when her knight she found.

   • Dryden

     The roofs with joy resound.

• (feeling of happiness): infelicity, joylessness, unhappiness, unjoy

joy (third-person singular simple present joys, present participle joying, simple past and past participle joyed)

1. (intransitive) To feel joy, to rejoice.
   • 1485, Sir Thomas Malory, chapter ix, in Le Morte Darthur, book XVII:

     for oftymes or this oure lord shewed hym vnto good men and vnto good knyghtes in lykenes of an herte But I suppose from hens forth ye shalle see no more / and thenne they Ioyed moche / and dwelled ther alle that day / And vpon the morowe whan they had herde masse / they departed and commaunded the good man to god

   • 1829, Walter Scott, Anne of Geierstein, Edinburgh: Cadell, Volume 3, Chapter 8, p. 222,

     I joy to see you wear around your neck the holy relic I bestowed on you;—but what Moorish charmlet is that you wear beside it?

   • 1885, Richard Francis Burton (translator), The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, Night 18, “Tale of the Portress,” p. 178,

     I swore readily enough to this and he joyed with exceeding joy and embraced me round the neck while love for him possessed my whole heart.

2. (transitive, archaic) To enjoy.
   • 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,

     I haue my wish, in that I ioy thy sight,

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 4, Canto I, p. 5,

     For from the time that Scudamour her bought,

     In perilous fight, she neuer ioyed day […] .

   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 9, lines 1164-1168,

     Is this the Love, is this the recompence

     Of mine to thee, ingrateful Eve, exprest

     Immutable when thou wert lost, not I,

     Who might have liv’d and joyd immortal bliss,

     Yet willingly chose rather Death with thee:

3. (transitive, obsolete) To give joy to; to congratulate.
   • 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, […], OCLC 228732415, book III, page 88:

     Then round our Death-bed ev'ry Friend ſhou'd run, / And joy us of our Conqueſt, early won: […]

   • 1718, Matthew Prior, Poems on Several Occasions, London: Jacob Tonson, p. 405,

     Evil like Us they shun, and covet Good;

     Abhor the Poison, and receive the Food.

     Like Us they love or hate: like Us they know,

     To joy the Friend, or grapple with the Foe.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To gladden; to make joyful; to exhilarate.
   • 1608, William Shakespeare, Pericles, Act I, Scene 2,

     Yet neither pleasure’s art can joy my spirits,

     Nor yet the other’s distance comfort me.