glee1
[glee]
- open delight or pleasure; exultant joy; exultation.
- an unaccompanied part song for three or more voices, popular especially in the 18th century.
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Origin of glee1
Synonyms
See more synonyms for glee on Thesaurus.com1. merriment, jollity, hilarity, mirth, joviality, gaiety. See mirth.
glee2
[glee]Scot. and North England
- to squint or look with one eye.
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- a squint.
- an imperfect eye, especially one with a cast.
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Origin of glee2
1250–1300; Middle English glien, gleen; perhaps < Scandinavian; compare Old Norse gljā to shine
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for glee
Contemporary Examples
It happened on Glee and in Sex and The City, and now in Japan women can marry themselves.
And just last May Glee aired “Old Dog, New Trick,” the first episode scripted by Colfer.
Chris Colfer on Writing, Acting, and the Pain of Being A Pop Culture TrailblazerOliver Jones
December 15, 2014
A shriek of glee briefly broke out across the Web as inquiring minds tried to deduce who was the lucky lady.
She actively, and with glee, imbued their lives with an abundance of misery.
J.K. Rowling Pens the Greatest Horror Story Ever: Dolores Umbridge Was RealKevin Fallon
October 31, 2014
Glee actress Lea Michele was seemingly dissed by Jessica Lange on the red carpet.
Historical Examples
The old lady turned back into the house, and her face was alive with glee.
Meadow GrassAlice Brown
Right at him came the donkey, braying as though in glee at the trick he had played.
Frank Roscoe's SecretAllen Chapman
What a sudden sort of glee the night he discovered Bernard Shaw!
The HarborErnest Poole
But suddenly the glee died—as suddenly as if a button had snapped off the current.
The Floating Island of MadnessJason Kirby
At the gate of Elm Cottage the dog came up to him, barking with glee.
The ManxmanHall Caine
glee
- great merriment or delight, often caused by someone else's misfortune
- a type of song originating in 18th-century England, sung by three or more unaccompanied voicesCompare madrigal (def. 1)
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Word Origin
Old English gléo; related to Old Norse glӯ
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
Word Origin and History for glee
n.
Old English gliu, gliw "entertainment, mirth, jest, play, sport," presumably from a Proto-Germanic *gleujam but absent in other Germanic languages except for the rare Old Norse gly "joy;" probably related to glad. A poetry word in Old English and Middle English, obsolete c.1500-c.1700, it somehow found its way back to currency late 18c. In Old English, an entertainer was a gleuman (female gleo-mægden). Glee club (1814) is from the secondary sense of "unaccompanied part-song" (1650s) as a form of musical entertainment.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper