A Dictionary of the English Language
                        A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson
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Happy

View Scan · View Transcription · from Page 965

View Scan · View Transcription · from Page 965

Háppy. adj. [from hap; as lucky for luck.]

  1. In a state of felicity; in a state where the desire is satisfied.

    At other end Uran did Strephon lend
    Her happy making hand.
    Sidney.

                  Am I happy in thy news?
    — If to have done the thing you gave in charge
    Beget you happiness, be happy then;
    For it is done.
    Shakespeare's Richard III.

    Truth and peace, and love, shall ever shine
    About the supreme throne
    Of him, t' whose happy making sight alone,
    When once our heav'nly guided soul shall climb.
    Milton.

    Though the presence of imaginary good cannot make us happy, the absence of it may make us miserable. Addison.

  2. Lucky; successful; fortunate.

    Chymists have been more happy in finding experiments than the causes of them. Boyle.

    Yet in this agony his fancy wrought,
    And fear supply'd him with this happy thought.
    Dryden.

  3. Addressful; ready.

    One gentleman is happy at a reply, and another excels in a rejoinder. Swift.

Sources: Addison, Joseph (306) · Boyle, Robert (58) · Dryden, John (573) · Milton, John (331) · Shakespeare's Richard III (45) · Sidney, Philip (101) · Swift, Jonathan (226)

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Cite this page: Johnson, Samuel. "Happy." A Dictionary of the English Language: A Digital Edition of the 1755 Classic by Samuel Johnson. Last modified: November 4, 2012. http://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/?p=2034.


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