merrie

merrie (comparative merrier, superlative merriest)

1. Obsolete form of merry.
   • 1889 August 21, “City Items”, in The Dayton Daily Herald, volume XII, number 21, Dayton, Ohio, page [3], column 3:

     The annual meet of the National Archery Association will take place at the Soldiers’ Home next week, commencing on the 27th. It will be a merrie meet, and all the skilled bowsmen and bowswomen in the districts are expected to compete for the admirable prizes.

   • 1973 November 25, James G. Andrews, “In Merrie Olde Arkansas”, in The Commercial Appeal Mid-South Magazine, page 4:

     Crossbowmen from such distant realms as Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, all right there in Merrie Olde Arkansas, in the non-medieval year of 1973.

   • 1991, Nicholas Hagger, Selected Poems (1960-1990): A Metaphysical’s Way of Fire, Element Books, →ISBN, page 76:

     And watch this ailing Knight of a Merrie day / Extend a sagging hand and fall into a chair; […]

From Middle Dutch merrie, from Old Dutch *meria (compare Old High German meriha), from Proto-Germanic *marhijō. Cognate with West Frisian merje, German Mähre, English mare.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɛ.ri/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: mer‧rie
• Rhymes: -ɛri

merrie f (plural merries, diminutive merrietje n, masculine hengst)

1. a mare, female equine (mostly horse)

• merriebron
• merriekachtel
• merriemelk
• merriepaard
• merrieveulen
• merriewreen
• stamboekmerrie

• maarschalk

• Afrikaans: merrie
• Negerhollands: merri, mėri

• nachtmerrie (not related, but connected through folk etymology)
• veulen