/ English Dictionary |
CHEERY
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
Irregular inflected forms: cheerier , cheeriest
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Bright and pleasant; promoting a feeling of cheer
Example:
a sunny smile
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Similar:
cheerful (being full of or promoting cheer; having or showing good spirits)
Derivation:
cheer (the quality of being cheerful and dispelling gloom)
Context examples:
These last were continually changing, for it was never a very cheery situation, and sometimes it became past all bearing.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
If an order were given, John would be on his crutch in an instant, with the cheeriest Aye, aye, sir! in the world; and when there was nothing else to do, he kept up one song after another, as if to conceal the discontent of the rest.
(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
He leaned his elbow on the rough chimney-piece, and gazed upon a few expiring embers in the grate; but he raised his head, hopefully, on my coming in, and spoke in a cheery manner.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
It’s a very cheery thing to come into London by any of these lines which run high, and allow you to look down upon the houses like this.
(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Such was the cheery cry of our excellent Zambo.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
But in spite of their efforts to be as cheery as larks, the flutelike voices did not seem to chord as well as usual, and all felt out of tune.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The cheery answer came with so merry a ring that the clouds cleared from my uncle’s face.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
There were folk, too, to be met upon the road—beggars and couriers, chapmen and tinkers—cheery fellows for the most part, with a rough jest and homely greeting for each other and for Alleyne.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
He was very courteous and very cheery in his manner, and seeing that I had been sleeping, he said:—"So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed. There is the surest rest. I may not have the pleasure to talk to-night, since there are many labours to me; but you will sleep, I pray."
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
And so in ten minutes I had left my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to be.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)