jovial \jo"vi*al\, a. [F., fr. L. Jovialis pertaining to Jove.
The planet Jupiter was thought to make those born under it
joyful or jovial. See Jove.]
[1913 Webster]
1. [capitalized] Of or pertaining to the god, or the planet,
Jupiter. [Obs.]
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Our jovial star reigned at his birth. --Shak.
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The fixed stars astrologically differenced by the
planets, and esteemed Martial or Jovial according to
the colors whereby they answer these planets. --Sir
T. Browne.
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2. Sunny; serene. [Obs.] "The heavens always joviall."
--Spenser.
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3. Gay; merry; joyous; jolly; mirth-inspiring; hilarious;
characterized by mirth or jollity; as, a jovial youth; a
jovial company; a jovial poem.
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Be bright and jovial among your guests. --Shak.
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His odes are some of them panegyrical, others moral;
the rest are jovial or bacchanalian. --Dryden.
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Note: This word is a relic of the belief in planetary
influence. Other examples are saturnine, mercurial,
martial, lunatic, etc.
Syn: Merry; joyous; gay; festive; mirthful; gleeful; jolly;
hilarious.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
jovial
adj : full of or showing high-spirited merriment; "when hearts
were young and gay"; "a poet could not but be gay, in
such a jocund company"- Wordsworth; "the jolly crowd at
the reunion"; "jolly old Saint Nick"; "a jovial old
gentleman"; "have a merry Christmas"; "peals of merry
laughter"; "a mirthful laugh" [syn: gay, jocund, jolly,
merry, mirthful]
WordNet (r) 2.0
42 Moby Thesaurus words for "jovial":
affable, amiable, bantering, blithe, blithesome, boon, buxom,
chaffing, convivial, facetious, festal, festive, free and easy,
frivolous, gala, gay, genial, gladsome, gleeful, good-natured,
hail-fellow-well-met, hearty, hilarious, humorous, jocose, jocular,
jocund, jolly, jollying, joshing, joyful, joyous, laughter-loving,
lighthearted, merry, merrymaking, mirth-loving, mirthful,
on the loose, rejoicing, risible, sociable
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
JOVIAL
(Jule's Own Version of IAL) A version of IAL
produced by Jules I. Schwartz in 1959-1960. JOVIAL was based
on ALGOL 58, with extensions for large scale real-time
programming. It saw extensive use by the US Air Force. The
data elements were items, entries ({records) and tables.
Versions include JOVIAL I ({IBM 709, 1960), JOVIAL II ({IBM
7090, 1961) and JOVIAL 3 (1965). Dialects: J3, JOVIAL
J73, JS, JTS.
Ada/Jovial Newsletter, Dale Lange +1 (513) 255-4472.
[CACM 6(12):721, Dec 1960].
(1996-07-19)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03)
gay, jocund, jolly, merry, mirthful
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