Joy, n.
Etymology: [OE. joye, OF. joye, joie, goie, F. joie, L. gaudia, pl. of gaudium joy, fr. gaudere to rejoice, to be glad; cf. Gr. Gaud, Jewel.]
1. The passion or emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good; pleasurable feelings or emotions caused by success, good fortune, and the like, or by a rational prospect of possessing what we love or desire; gladness; exhilaration of spirits; delight. Her heavenly form beheld, all wished her joy. Dryden. Glides the smooth current of domestic joy. Johnson. Who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame. Heb. xii. 2. Tears of true joy for his return. Shak. Joy is a delight of the mind, from the consideration of the present or assured approaching possession of a good. Locke.
2. That which causes joy or happiness. For ye are our glory and joy. 1 Thess. ii. 20. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Keats.
3. The sign or exhibition of joy; gayety; mirth; merriment; festivity. Such joy made Una, when her knight she found. Spenser. The roofs with joy resound. Dryden.
Note: Joy is used in composition, esp. with participles, to from many self-explaining compounds; as, joy-hells, joy-ringing, joy-inspiring, joy-resounding, etc.
1 more senses
Syn. -- Gladness; pleasure; delight; happiness; exultation; transport; felicity; ecstasy; rapture; bliss; gayety; mirth; merriment; festivity; hilarity.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Joy, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Joyed; p. pr. & vb. n. Joying.]
To rejoice; to be glad; to delight; to exult. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Hab. iii. 18. In whose sight all things joy. Milton.
Joy, v. t.
1. To give joy to; to congratulate. [Obs.] "Joy us of our conquest." Dryden. To joy the friend, or grapple with the foe. Prior.
2. To gladden; to make joyful; to exhilarate. [Obs.] Neither pleasure's art can joy my spirits. Shak.
3. To enjoy. [Obs.] See Enjoy. Who might have lived and joyed immortal bliss. Milton.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for joy; he lists it under happiness.
Where he writes about it:
Happiness, in the full sense, is mental or spiritual or both, and is viewed as resulting from some worthy gratification or satisfaction; we may speak of a brute as experiencing comfort or pleasure, but scarcely as in possession of happiness; we speak of vicious pleasure, delight, or joy, but not of vicious happiness. — from happiness
Joy is more intense than happiness, deeper than gladness, to which it is akin, nobler and more enduring than pleasure. — from happiness
Gaiety is more superficial than joy, more demonstrative than gladness. — from happiness
Rejoicing is happiness or joy that finds utterance in word, song, festivity, etc. — from happiness
Delight is vivid, overflowing happiness of a somewhat transient kind; ecstasy is a state of extreme or extravagant delight so that the one affected by it seems almost beside himself with joy; rapture is closely allied to ecstasy, but is more serene, exalted, and enduring. — from happiness
Triumph is such joy as results from victory, success, achievement. — from happiness