mirthfuladj.
/ˈməːθf(ᵿ)l/, U.S. /ˈmərθf(ə)l/ 1.
a. Of a person, or a person's demeanour, disposition, etc.: full of mirth; joyful, merry.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > merriment > [adjective]
blitheOE
merryOE
golikc1175
lustya1225
playfulc1225
jollyc1305
merrya1350
jocund?c1380
galliardc1386
in (also on) a (merry, etc.) pinc1395
mirthfula1400
baudec1400
gayc1400
jovy1426
jocantc1440
crank1499
envoisiesa1500
as merry as a cricket1509
pleasant1530
frolic?1548
jolious1575
gleeful1586
buxom1590
gleesome1590
festival1592
laughter-loving1592
disposed1593
jucund1596
heartsomec1600
jovial1607
jovialist1610
laughsome1612
jocundary1618
gaysome1633
chirpinga1637
jovialissime1652
airy1654
festivous1654
hilarous1659
spleneticala1661
cocket1671
cranny1673
high1695
vogie1715
raffing?1719
festal1724
as merry (or lively) as a grig1728
hearty1755
tittuping1772
festive1774
fun-loving1776
mirthsome1787
Falstaffian1809
cranky1811
laughful1825
as lively as a cricket1832
hurrah1835
hilarious1838
Bacchic1865
laughterful1874
griggish1879
banzai1929
slap-you-on-the-back1932
a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) 10611 (MED) Þai..taght hir to þat kirc..þar bileft þat mirthful mai.
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 183 Be myrthfull now at all ȝour mycht, For passit is ȝour dully nycht.
1572 (a1500) Taill of Rauf Coilȝear (1882) 357 Befoir that mirthfull man menstrallis playis.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 14 Brasse buttons, pieces of Pewter, spur-rowels, or what else the mirthfull Saylers exchange.
1726 E. Fenton in A. Pope et al. tr. Homer Odyssey V. xx. 415 A mirthful phrenzy seiz'd the fated crowd.
a1745 W. Broome tr. Anacreon Odes (1835) liv. 8 Hence, hoary Age!—I now am young, And dance the mirthful Youths among.
1763 J. Warton Fashion 6 As mirthful Infants, idling out the Day, With wooden Swords, or toothless Puppies play.
1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 45 Each mirthful lout The ale-house seeks.
1860 N. Hawthorne Marble Faun I. xvi. 187 ‘It will not suffice,’ said some of the mirthful party.
1915 L. M. Montgomery Anne of Island xviii. 173 Anne..could not help thinking longingly of Patty's Place, its cosy open fire, Aunt Jamesina's mirthful eyes.
1940 W. Faulkner Hamlet iv. i. 279 His constant expression of incorrigible and mirthful disbelief had left him now.
1991 C. Hammond How to use Homeopathy (BNC) 118 Sometimes they are loquacious and mirthful when ill.
b. Of a place, time, etc.: characterized by mirth or rejoicing. Of a sound, utterance, etc.: expressive of mirth, prompted by joy.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > merriment > [adjective] > specifically of things, places, or seasons
blithea1300
jocund?c1380
mirthful?a1513
gaysome1598
mirthsome1841
the mind > emotion > pleasure > merriment > [adjective] > specifically of sounds or utterances
mirthful?a1513
a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 167 Thane all the birdis song with voce on hicht, Quhois mirthfull soun wes mervelus to heir.
a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 998 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 126 In mirthfull moneth of may.
1634 T. Herbert Relation Some Yeares Trauaile 198 This Ceremony..to Libidinists may seeme mirthfull and charitable.
1680 J. Chamberlaine Sacred Poem 161 I am the Subject of their mirthful Song.
1739 W. Broome Poems 44 Some careless waste the mirthful Day With generous Wines, and wanton Play.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 13 Dames of ancient days Have led their children through the mirthful maze.
1807 G. Crabbe Parish Reg. iii, in Poems 128 But most, his Reverence lov'd a mirthful Jest.
1834 E. Bulwer-Lytton Last Days of Pompeii II. iii. ii. 26 There is nothing very mirthful in your strain.
1877 P. J. Bailey Festus (ed. 10) xvii. 234 I cannot sing a mirthful strain.
1909 Chatterbox 46/2 That naughty child..Unheeds the mirthful hours, I fear.
1955 A. R. Ammons Ommateum 22 Dying in a mirthful place I looked around at..The hips and laughing throats And the motions of the dance.
1986 D. Madden Hidden Symptoms (1988) 22 The mirthful sounds of half a conversation were audible.
2. Of a thing: entertaining, amusing; affording mirth.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > pleasure > laughter > causing laughter > [adjective]
mirthfula1547
mirth-moving1598
laughable1600
mirth-inspiring1725
laugh-at-able1759
laughsome1798
mirth-provoking1828
a1547 Earl of Surrey tr. Virgil Certain Bks. Aenæis (1557) ii. sig. Diiv There mirthful wealth, there kingdom is for thee.
1595 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 3 v. vii. 43 And now what rests but that we spend the time, With stately Triumphs and mirthfull comicke shewes.
1620 tr. G. Boccaccio Decameron I. v. x. f. 207 To purge your mindes of melancholly, and entertaine the time with mirthful matter.
1684 J. Harington Grecian Story 1 Mirthful Play Was their chief end.
1762 S. Scott Descr. Millenium Hall 11 Many mirthful scenes and juvenile amusements return to the remembrance.
1799 W. Godwin St. Leon II. v. 130 The son..looks back with a wistful eye upon his mirthful sports, his former companions, and the simple charms of her who first obtained his guileless love.
1833 C. Lamb Stage Illusion in Last Ess. Elia 26 The teller of a mirthful tale has latitude allowed him.
1877 Athenæum 13 Oct. 475/2 The piece..is one of the most mirthful and original that has, during late years, been seen on the stage.
1943 National Geographic Mag. Dec. 766 (caption) Playing ‘shoes in a circle’ by moonlight is mirthful sport.
1987 New Republic 8 June 26/1 It may have sounded like a mirthful idea for May to kick off with a Bob Hope–Bing Crosby formula.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.a1400