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RELATED WORDS

comfort, encourage, enliven, gladden, inspirit, brighten

Nearby words

cheeked, cheekpiece, cheektowaga, cheeky, cheep, cheer, cheer on, cheer up, cheerer-upper, cheerful, cheerfully

Idioms

    be of good cheer, (used as an exhortation to be cheerful): Be of good cheer! Things could be much worse.
    with good cheer, cheerfully; willingly: She accepted her lot with good cheer.

Origin of cheer

1175–1225; Middle English chere face < Anglo-French; compare Old French chiere < Late Latin cara face, head < Greek kárā head

Related forms

Synonym study

10. Cheer, gladden, enliven mean to make happy or lively. To cheer is to comfort, to restore hope and cheerfulness to (now often cheer up, when thoroughness, a definite time, or a particular point in the action is referred to): to cheer a sick person; She soon cheered him up. To gladden does not imply a state of sadness to begin with, but suggests bringing pleasure or happiness to someone: to gladden someone's heart with good news. Enliven suggests bringing vivacity and liveliness: to enliven a dull evening, a party.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

British Dictionary definitions for cheer up

cheer

/ (tʃɪə) /

verb

noun

See also cheers

Derived Forms

cheerer, nouncheeringly, adverb

Word Origin for cheer

C13 (in the sense: face, welcoming aspect): from Old French chere, from Late Latin cara face, from Greek kara head
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with cheer up (1 of 2)

cheer up

Become or make happy, raise the spirits of, as in This fine weather should cheer you up. This term may also be used as an imperative, as Shakespeare did (2 Henry IV, 4:4): “My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself.” [Late 1500s]

Idioms and Phrases with cheer up (2 of 2)

cheer

In addition to the idioms beginning with cheer

  • cheer on
  • cheer up

also see:

  • three cheers
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.