glee

Meanings

Noun

• Joy; happiness great delight, especially from one's own good fortune or from another's misfortune.
• Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
• An unaccompanied part song for three or more solo voices, not necessarily merry.

Verb

• To sing a glee (unaccompanied part song).

Origin

• From Middle English gle, from Old English glēo, glīġ, glēow, glīw, from Proto-Germanic *glīwą ("joy, mirth"), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰlew- ("to joke, make fun, enjoy"). Cognate with Scots gle, glie, glew, Old Norse glý ("joy, glee, gladness"), Ancient Greek χλεύη ("joke, jest, scorn"). A poetic word in Middle English, the word was obsolete by 1500, but revived late 18c.