▪ I. delight, n.
(dɪˈlaɪt)
Forms: 3–6 delit, (3 delijt), 4–6 delyt(e, -lite, (5 delytte, 6 dellyte), 6– delight.
[ME. delit, a. OF. delit (-eit), (= Pr. deliet, Sp. deleite, It. diletto), f. stem of deliter vb. The etymological delite is found as late as 1590, but earlier in 16th c. it had generally been supplanted by delight, an erroneous spelling after light, flight, etc.]
1. a. The fact or condition of being delighted; pleasure, joy, or gratification felt in a high degree.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 272 So sone so me..let þene lust gon inward & delit waxen. a 1240 Ureisun in Cott. Hom. 201 Þe muchele delit of þine swetnesse. c 1340 Cursor M. 8164 (Fairf.) Þai hailsed him wiþ grete delite. c 1386 Chaucer Prol. 335 To lyuen in delit was euere his wone, For he was Epicurus owene sone. 1559 Mirr. Mag., Dk. Clarence xxxix, In study set his hole delite. 1610 Shakes. Temp. iii. ii. 145 Sounds, and sweet aires, that giue delight and hurt not. 1736 Butler Anal. i. iii. 72 The gratification itself of every natural passion must be attended with delight. 1793 Coleridge Poems, The Rose, He gazed! he thrilled with deep delight! 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. v. 38, I had read with delight Coleridge's poem. |
b. Phr. to take or have delight (in a thing, in doing, to do).
† to have delight was formerly used as = to desire, Fr. avoir envie (see quots. 1470, 1477).
| c 1230 Hali Meid. 7 And habbeð mare delit þerin þen anie oðre habbeð i likinge of þe worlde. a 1300 Cursor M. 23339 (Cott.) Bot suld þai haf a gret delite, To se þam setlid in þair site. c 1470 Henry Wallace viii. 1626 The nobill king..Had gret delyte this Wallace for to se. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 1, I had delyte & axed to rede some good historye. 1483 Caxton G. de la Tour D vj, The delite that men take in the savour and etyng of them. a 1569 A. Kingsmill Confl. Satan (1578) 49 When he hath a delite in that that he doeth. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. xxxvii. 1 As a decrepit father takes delight To see his active child do deeds of youth. 1652 J. Wright tr. Camus' Nature's Paradox 12 [He] took more delight in Arms than at his Book. 1726 Adv. Capt. R. Boyle 28 Gardening was what I always took delight in. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 184 The branch of knowledge..in which he takes the greatest delight. |
2. Anything in which one takes delight, or which affords delight; an object of delight; a source of great pleasure or joy.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 102 Þes cos..is a swetnesse & a delit of heorte. 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 269 Bot in his delytis settes his hert fast. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xv. 66 It es a place of delytez. 1598 Shakes. Merry W. v. v. 158 Why, Sir Iohn, do you thinke..that euer the deuill could haue made you our delight? 1697 Dryden Virg. Past. v. 65 Daphnis, the Fields Delight. 1709 Pope Ess. Crit. 124 Be Homer's works your study and delight. 1848 Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. 396 The poetry and eloquence of Greece had been the delight of Raleigh and Falkland. |
3. The quality (in objects) which causes delight; quality or faculty of delighting; charm, delightfulness. Now only poet.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 1199 Dido, With sadyl red enbroudit with delyt. 1500–20 Dunbar Thistle & Rose 145 No flour is so perfyt, So full of vertew, plesans and delyt. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cii. 12 Sweets grown common lose their dear delight. 1662 Gerbier Princ. 38 The Louver at Paris..with the delight of the annexed Tuilleries. 1804 Wordsw. Poem, She was a Phantom of delight When first she gleamed upon my sight. |
4. lumps of delight: a former name for Turkish delight (see Turkish a. 2 b).
| 1870 [see Turkish a. 1]. 1875 L. M. Alcott Eight Cousins v, Phebe..crunched the ‘Lump of Delight’ tucked into her mouth. 1894 Daily News 4 June 7/7 The Turkish, or rather Greek, sweetmeat known as Rahat Loukoums, or ‘Lumps of Delight’. |
† Hence delight-taking.
| 1619 W. Sclater Expos. 1 Thess. (1630) 468 Pleasure or delight-taking in the partie loued. |
▪ II. delight, v.
(dɪˈlaɪt)
Forms: 3–7 delite, 4–6 delyte, (4 delytte, 4–5 dilyte, 6 delyt), 6 delyght, 6– delight.
[ME. delite-n, a. OF. delitier (-leitier, -leter, -liter) = Pr., Sp. delectar, Sp., Pg. deleitar, It. delettare, dilettare:—L. dēlectāre to allure, attract, delight, charm, please, freq. of dēlicĕre to entice away, allure: cf. delicious. The current erroneous spelling after light, etc. arose in the 16th c., and prevailed about 1575: the Bible of 1611 occasionally retained delite.]
1. a. trans. To give great pleasure or enjoyment to; to please highly. Frequently in pass. (const. with, at, † in, or with infin.). Also absol.
| c 1300 K. Alis. 5802 So hy ben delited in that art That wery ne ben hy neuere cert. c 1374 Chaucer Anel. & Arc. 266 But for I..was so besy you to delyte. 1535 Fisher Wks. (1876) 366 The loue of this game deliteth him so muche. 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 151, I am mervelously delighted with merrie conceites. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. i. (1676) 70 The stateliness of Houses..delighteth the eye. 1673 Ray Journ. Low C. 395 The Italians are greatly delighted in Pictures. 1704 Pope Spring 67 If Windsor-shades delight the matchless maid. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. 496 Charles..was delighted with an adviser who had a hundred pleasant..things to say. 1873 Black Pr. Thule xxii. 371 If the money belonged to me, I should be delighted to keep it. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 476, I was quite delighted at this notion. 1904 L. T. Meade Love Triumphant v, I mean to go to London..to meet my equals. I shall dazzle, I shall delight. 1908 G. F. Atherton Gorgeous Isle iii, There had been much to delight and awe. |
b. refl. = 2.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 3086 Ȝyf þou delyte þe oftyn stoundes, Yn horsys, haukys, or yn houndes. c 1340 Cursor M. 1560 (Fairf.) A-mong caymys kyn, þat delitet ham al to syn. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 29 Lot..Dilytede him in drinke. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 1 A gentylman..whiche gretly delited hym in alle vertuouse..thynges. 1611 Bible Ps. cxix. 16, I will delight my selfe in thy statutes. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 199 He has many Elephants with whose Majestie he greatly delights himselfe. 1742 Collins Eclog. iii. 36 Fair happy maid!.. With love delight thee. 1828 D'Israeli Chas. I, I. v. 95 A life of pleasure—to delight himself and to be the delight of others. |
2. intr. (for refl.) To be highly pleased, take great pleasure, rejoice: a. in or to do (anything).
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 52 Eue..iseih hine ueir, & ueng to deliten i þe biholdunge. a 1325 Prose Psalter l[i]. 17 Þou ne shalt nouȝt deliten in sacrifices. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 415 Yet hath he made lewde folke delyte To serue yow. a 1450 Le Morte Arth. 3717 Suche we haue delyted in. 1535 John ap Rice in Four C. Eng. Lett. 33 He delited moche in playing at dice and cardes. 1548 Hall Chron. 201 b, An Inne, wherein he delighted muche to be. 1605 Shakes. Macb. ii. iii. 55 The labour we delight in physicks paine. 1611 Bible Ps. lxviii. 30 Scatter thou the people that delite in warre. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 16 They delight to dawbe and make their skin glister with grease. 1710 Steele & Addison Tatler No. 254 ¶1 There are no Books which I more delight in than Travels. 1869 Freeman Norm. Conq. (1876) III. xii. 145 The obsolete titles delighted in by the Latin writers. 1874 Morley Compromise (1886) 39 We know the kind of man whom this system delights to honour. |
b. absol. (without const.).
| 1393 Gower Conf. III. 243 And she..So ferforth made him to delite Through lust. 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. x. ii, Divers persons in sundry wyse delyght. |
c. transf. of things.
| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 33 b, The Beane delighteth in riche and wel dounged ground. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. iii. 34 The Manatee delights to live in brackish Water. 1849 Johnston Exp. Agric. 116 The hop delights in woollen rags. |
† 3. trans. To enjoy greatly: = to delight in.
| a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 63 The whiche makithe hym to desire and delite foule plesaunce of the synne of lechery. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iv. (1641) 34/2 Brave-minded Mars..Delighting nought but Battails, blood, and murder. 1602 W. Basse Eleg. i. 3 Who lou'd no riot, tho delighted sport. 1618 J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) II. 285 Shee often went with her husband part of those hunting journeys, delighting her crosbowe. |