▪ I. sunny, n. U.S. colloq.
(ˈsʌnɪ)
[Dim. formation on sunfish or sun-perch.]
= sun-fish 1 b.
| 1835 Audubon Ornith. Biog. III. 48 To the willow-twig fastened to his waist, a hundred ‘sunnies’ are already attached. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 64 A score of lean, sun-dried perches and Sunnies. |
▪ II. sunny, a. (
ˈsʌnɪ)
Also 4
sunni, 6
sonnye,
sunnye, 6–7
sunnie,
son(n)y, 7
sonie,
Sc. sunȝie,
sunie, 8
Sc. sinny.
[f. sun n.1 + -y1. Cf. WFris. sinnich, LG. sunnig, Du. zonnig, G. sonnig (dial. sunnig, sönnig).] 1. Characterized by or full of sunshine; in or during which the sun shines:
esp. of a day, weather, or the like.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 23341 On sunni dai To se fixs in a water plai. 1508 Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1903) 174 Was there neuer sonnye day so cleere. 1592 Soliman & Pers. i. ii. 43 Far more welcome..Then sunny daies to naked Sauages. c 1788 Burns Fair Eliza iii, The bee upon the blossom, In the pride o' sunny noon. 1832 Lytton Eugene A. i. v, The fresh yet sunny air stole in. 1851 Helps Comp. Solit. i. (1874) 12 The inhabitants of sunnier climes. 1868 Dickens Let. to Miss Dickens 16 Mar., We have had two brilliant sunny days. |
2. a. Exposed to, illumined or warmed by, the rays of the sun; on which the sun shines.
| 1567 Fenton Trag. Disc. xiii. (1898) II. 278 Neither roote of tree, height of rocke, nor sonnye syde of any greene hill. 1587 L. Mascall Cattle (1596) 58 Cattell..delight to be in sunnie places in winter..and in summer to be in thicke shadie woods. 1667 Milton P.L. iii. 28 Where the Muses haunt Cleer Spring, or shadie Grove, or Sunnie Hill. 1725 Fam. Dict. s.v. Pears, Ambrotia, a handsom good siz'd Pear,..of a smooth, greenish yellow Skin, red of the Sunny Side. 1833 Macaulay Ess., H. Walpole (1897) 275 An entertainment worthy of a Roman epicure, an entertainment consisting of nothing but delicacies, the brains of singing-birds, the roe of mullets, the sunny halves of peaches. 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. x. 158 Those placid streams and sunny lakes stocked with all kinds of fish. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 58 This little gay room was certainly brighter and sunnier. |
† b. sunny half,
sunny quarter: that side of a piece of land which faces the south (opposed to
shadow half).
Cf. sun half (
sun n.1 13).
sunny-east: south-east. Also
† sunny chamber, a summer-house.
Sc. Obs.| 1574 in Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1587–8. 496/1 Dimidietatem solarem lie sonnie halff de Mylntoun de Conen. 1585 Ibid. 695/2 Sa mekill of our foirsaid sony halff landis haldin be ws as said is, as lyis outwith the propper designit boundis heirefter following. 1600 Ibid. 337/1 Octo bovatas terrarum..vocatas the Sonny-quarter. 1610 Ibid. 102/2 Lie sony quarter landis of Tyrie. 1633 Ibid. 725/2 Lie sonie-eist-half de Dumbertnit. 1641 Ibid. 368/2 Cum claustro et lie sunȝie⁓chalmer cum hortis ejusdem. |
c. sunny South: the southern states of the
U.S.| 1846 Spirit of Times (N.Y.) 18 Apr. 96/2 The wish of his heart should always be, peace and prosperity to the ‘Sunny South’. 1950 Chicago Tribune 11 Mar. 8/3 Eric, the redbird..flew by, fat 'n' sassy from a sojourn in the sunny South. |
3. a. Pertaining to the sun; solar.
rare (
exc. as in b).
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 465 The Cocke..is a terror to the Lion..because they are both partakers of the Sunnes qualities.., and.. there is a more eminent and predominant sunny propertie in the Cocke, then in the Lion. |
b. Of light: Of or proceeding from the sun.
| 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Aug. 81 All as the Sunnye beame so bright. 1590 ― F.Q. ii. v. 32 There he him found..In secret shadow from the sunny ray. 1593 Breton Daff. & Prim. Wks. (Grosart) I. 19/1 There was no speach of sonny beame, Nor of the golden silke. 1725 Pope Odyss. x. 186 A tall stag..lay, Stretch'd forth, and panting in the sunny ray. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 74 The sunny daylight seeming to go round her in an amber mist. |
| fig. 1602 Marston Ant. & Mel. v. Wks. 1856 I. 61 Your brightest beames Of sunny favour. 1657 F. Cockin Div. Blossomes 47 You bath your souls in this her sunny-shine. 1819 Keats Lines to Fanny 44 O, for some sunny spell To dissipate the shadows of this hell! |
4. Resembling the sun in colour or brightness; appearing as if illumined by the sun; (of the hair) bright yellow or golden.
| 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 169 Her sunny locks Hang on her temples like a golden fleece. 1647 Cowley Mistr., Vain Love 8 A rich, and sunny Diamond. 1742 Collins Odes iv. 45 Truth, in sunny vest array'd. 1810 Scott Lady of L. ii. xxv, His flaxen hair, of sunny hue. 1838 Lytton Alice ii. i, Ringlets of darkest yet sunniest auburn. 1887 Rider Haggard Jess xxvii, She..laid her sunny head upon the old man's shoulder. |
5. fig. a. ‘Bright’, cheerful, joyous; expressing or awakening gladness or happiness.
| 1545 Coverdale Erasm. Enchir. xiii, To have a clean and sunny mind. 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. ii. i. 99 A sunnie looke of his. 1849 De Quincey Eng. Mail Coach iii. Wks. 1897 XIII. 325 Again the choir burst forth in sunny grandeur. 1870–2 Liddon Elem. Relig. iv. (1904) 131 Such is Schopenhauer's reply to the sunny Optimism of Leibnitz. 1891 Farrar Darkn. & Dawn xiv, A little boy, whose sweet and sunny face looked the picture of engaging innocence. 1891 E. Peacock N. Brendon I. 254 Her soul was bright and sunny. |
b. sunny side (
fig. or in
fig. contexts): (
a) in phrases expressive of cheerfulness or optimism,
esp. on the sunny side of the wall; (
b)
on the sunny side of (an age): on the right side of,
i.e. less than (
cf. shady a. 2 b); (
c)
sunny side up: of an egg, fried on one side only; hence
sunnyside egg.
| (a) 1831 E. J. Trelawny Adventures Younger Son II. viii. 61 Then, only looking at the sunny side of things, all was bright. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life ii. iv. (1862) 138 To present the sunny side of the picture as the reverse of my gloomy one. 1858 Trollope Dr. Thorne I. vi. 141 Mary..was..of the same age as Frank; but, as I..have so often said before, ‘Women grow on the sunny side of the wall.’ 1890 W. S. Gilbert Gondoliers ii. 119 Live to love and love to live—You will ripen at your ease, Growing on the sunny side—Fate has nothing more to give. 1970 C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 111 Sunny side (of the street), the ‘good life’; luxury, leisure and comfort. |
| (b) 1865 Atlantic Monthly XV. 711 How many of us,..on the sunny side of thirty, have gone through the ‘Paradise Lost’? 1967 Boston Sunday Globe 23 Apr. (TV Week) 2/1 That's mighty high flying for a young Negro actor still on the sunny side of 30. |
| (c) 1901 Dialect Notes II. 149 Sunny side up,..of eggs, to fry [sic] on only one side. 1948 Royal Air Force Rev. Jan. 20/2 It's whizzo when you get a fried egg sunny-side-up for tea. 1953 A. Christie After Funeral xii. 101 Worried, bad-tempered and irritable in the office. But since his uncle's death that's all changed. He's like the breakfast eggs (if we had 'em). Sunny side up! 1967 [see once adv. B. 8 e]. 1971 H. Howard Murder One vii. 92 If he's made a funeral in the family he'll fry like a sunny⁓side egg. 1979 R. Fiennes Hell on Ice iii. 32 Ginnie ladled her sunny-side-up eggs' with semolina. |
c. Sunny Jim, the name of an energetic character employed as the proprietary name for a brand of breakfast cereal; also used allusively, as a term of address, and as a nickname. Also
Sonny Jim (influenced by
sonny).
‘Sunny Jim was the creation of an American schoolgirl called Ficken (not Fincken) and the various jingles which accompanied him were written by Miss Minnie Hanff. It is believed that Sunny Jim was the winning entry in a competition run by the Force Food Company to find a suitable advertising character to promote {oqq}Force{cqq}.’—C. Fincken (A. C. Fincken & Co. Ltd., manufacturers of Force), private let. to
ed., 24 June 1983.
| 1903 Poster, High o'er the fence leaps Sunny Jim ‘Force’ is the food that raises him. 1904 Trade Marks Jrnl. 30 Mar. 381 ‘Sunny Jim’... Cereal Food Products. The firm trading as the ‘Force’ Food Company, 6, Holborn Viaduct, London, E.C.; Manufacturers. c 1904 Story of Sunny Jim (Force Food Co.), Jim Dumps was a most unfriendly man, Who lived his life on a hermit plan. He'd never stop for a friendly smile, But trudged along in his moody style. Till ‘Force’ one day was served to him. Since then they call him Sunny Jim. 1911 Chesterton Innocence of Father Brown xii. 315 Sir Aaron Armstrong was..comic... It was like hearing that Sunny Jim had hanged himself. 1911 ‘I. Hay’ Safety Match xii. 187 Mr. Blunt..cleared the topmost rail... ‘Now then, Sunny Jim!’ remarked a reproving voice. 1916 Punch 5 Apr. 229/1 [He] says he's quite a Sunny Jim, That buoyant health and youthful vim Are sticking out all over him. 1943 Current Biogr. (1944) 779/2 Vandegrift—so cheerful that he has earned the nickname ‘Sunny Jim’—is..the toughest Marine Corps leader who ever charged at the head of his troops. 1960 D. Storey This Sporting Life i. v. 127 ‘All right, all right! Don't preach, sonny. Hey!’ she calls to the M.P. ‘Hey sonnyjim! What kinda car has Arthur Machin got?’ 1962 S. L. Goldberg Joyce i. 3 What his [sc. James Joyce's] early works do not portray..is the aspect of his character that earned him the family nickname, ‘Sunny Jim’. 1967 A. Wilson No Laughing Matter ii. 127 Does your Mother know you're out, Sonny Jim? 1976 Times 6 Apr. 16/1 The new Prime Minister [sc. James Callaghan]..enjoys life... He is not called Sunny Jim for nothing. |
6. Comb. a. with other
adjs., as
sunny-clear,
sunny golden,
sunny-red,
sunny-sweet,
sunny-warm,
sunny-winking.
| 1708 J. Philips Cyder ii. 70 Flames, whose unresisted Force O'er Sand, and Ashes, and the stubborn Flint Prevailing, turns into a fusil Sea, That in his Furnace bubbles sunny-red. 1833 Tennyson Pal. Art xxiv, In tracts of pasture sunny-warm. 1855 ― Daisy xii, In bright vignettes..Of tower or duomo, sunny-sweet. 1858 Lewes Sea-side Studies 219 The mystic drama will be sunny clear, and all Nature's processes will be visible to man, as a divine Effluence. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 406 She dare not bear the sunny⁓golden babe of day. Ibid. 216 He walked by the treeshade of sunnywinking leaves. |
b. parasynthetic, as
sunny-coloured,
sunny-faced,
sunny-hearted,
sunny-spirited adjs. (with derivatives, as
sunny-heartedness); also
sunny-day adj. (
fig.:
cf. sunshine 5 c,
summer n.1 4 e).
| 1832 Bryant Autumn Woods vii, Their *sunny-coloured foliage. |
| 1821 Scott Kenilw. vii, Such *sunny-day courtiers as my noble guest. |
| a 1847 Eliza Cook Old Mill-stream xxii, The *sunny-faced child. |
| 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. xx. (1879) 211 Ethel was brilliantly happy waiting on the children, and so was *sunny-hearted Meta. |
| 1856 J. W. Kaye Life Sir J. Malcolm I. iv. 54 The elasticity and *sunny-heartedness of the writer. |
| 1848 Faber Spir. Confer. (1870) 143 A *sunny-spirited Christian. |