delight

plural delights

1. countableuncountableJoy; pleasure.

   A fool hath no delight in understanding.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 18:2

   4 more examples

   […] the isle is full of noises, Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

   1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

   Gay as a flutter of butterflies and light as a zephyr, these dainty fabrics instantly suggest a wardrobe of sheer delight.

   1901, Country Life, volume 40, number July, page 2

   At any other time Jessamy would have laughed at the expressions that chased each other over his freckled face: crossness left over from his struggle with the baby; incredulity; distress; and finally delight.

   1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 122

   From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

   2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52

   Synonyms: delightedness, joy, glee, blitheness, blithesomeness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, contentness

2. countableuncountableSomething that gives great joy or pleasure.

   Greensleeves was all my joy / Greensleeves was my delight, […]

   1580, Greensleeves

   1 more example

   […] Awake My fairest, my espous’d, my latest found, Heav’ns last best gift, my ever new delight,

   1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 17-19

present singular third person delights · participle present delighting · participle past delighted · past delighted

1. To give delight to; to affect with great pleasure; to please highly.

   A beautiful landscape delights the eye.

   1 more example

   Delight our souls with talk of knightly deeds.

   1842, Tennyson, Le Morte d’Arthur

   Synonyms: cheer up, perk up, beatify, enrapture, begladden, blissen, bright, cheer

2. intransitiveTo have or take great pleasure.

   For I have loved you well and long, / Delighting in your company.

   1580, Greensleeves

   2 more examples

   A ſclaunderous tunge, a tunge of a ſkolde, Worketh more miſchiefe than can be tolde; That, if I wiſt not to be controlde, Yet ſomwhat to ſay I dare well be bolde,

   c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.

   He was an eisteddfodwr and delighted to hear good singing, whether it was in the sanctuary or at the eisteddfodic gatherings.

   1908, T.J. Griffths, The Cambrian, volume 28, page 504

   Synonyms: blithen, happy

1. A place in the United States:
   1. A town in Pike County, Arkansas.
   2. A township in Custer County, Nebraska.