gladness
(ˈglædnɪs)
[f. glad a. + -ness.]
The state of being glad; joy, rejoicing. † Also, cheerfulness, alacrity (in action).
| c 900 tr. Bæda's Hist. v. xvii. [xix.] (1891) 454 Þa ongan se bysceop lustfullian þæs iungan snytro..& glædnesse his dæda. a 1225 Ancr. R. 126 Al þet hurt & al þet sore were uorȝiten & forȝiuen uor glednesse. a 1240 Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 199 Ich þe biseche..þat þu bringe þene Munuch to þire glednesse. a 1300 Cursor M. 5249 Quen ioseph wit his fader mett..þai gret for gladnes. 1382 Wyclif 1 Esdras iv. 63 Thei ioȝeden ful out with musikis and gladnessys seuene daȝes. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xx. 64, I had ioye entier and eke gladnesse. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V, 75 The greate gladnes, the hertie rejoysyng and the greate delight that the comen people had at this concorde. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. i. 39 Sorrow, that is couch'd in seeming gladnesse, Is like that mirth, Fate turnes to sudden sadnesse. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 141 ¶4 My company gave alacrity to a frolick, and gladness to a holiday. 1814 S. Rogers Jacquel. i. 74 Her every gesture said ‘rejoice’, Her coming was a gladness. 1874 Green Short Hist. v. §1. 213 It is this new gladness of a great people which utters itself in the verse of Geoffrey Chaucer. |