bonnie

comparative bonnier · comparative more bonnie · superlative bonniest · superlative most bonnie · alternative bonny · alternative bonie

1. Merry; happy.

   Be you blithe and bonny Converting all your sounds of woe Into Hey nonny, nonny.

   1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

   Synonyms: frolicsome, cheerful, blithe, gay

2. GeordieScotlandBeautiful; pretty; attractive; handsome.

   O once I lov'd a bonnie lass, / Aye, and I love her still

   1774, “Handsome Nell”, Robert Burns (lyrics), published 1803

3. GeordieScotlandFine, good (often used ironically).

   My bonnie friend, come over here.

plural bonnies · alternative bonny · alternative bonie

1. Northern IrelandcolloquialA bonfire; chiefly one several storeys tall and burned to celebrate Eleventh Night.

1. A female given name from English.

   1 more example

   Rhett leaning over the child had said: 'Her eyes are going to be pea-green.' 'Indeed they are not,' cried Melanie indignantly, forgetting that Scarlett's eyes were almost that shade. 'They are going to be blue, like Mr O'Hara's eyes, as blue as - as blue as the bonnie blue flag.' 'Bonnie Blue Butler,' laughed Rhett, taking the child from her and peering more closely into the small eyes. And Bonnie she became until even her parents did not recall that she had been named for two queens.

   1936 June 30, Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published June 1944, →OCLC, part V, page 891