hearty

comparative heartier · superlative heartiest

1. Warm and cordial towards another person.

   a hearty welcome; hearty in supporting the government.

   3 more examples

   We, full of hearty tears / For our good father's loss

   c. 1603, John Marston, The Malcontent, act IV, scene I

   Then we relapsed into a discomfited silence, and wished we were anywhere else. But Miss Thorn relieved the situation by laughing aloud, and with such a hearty enjoyment that instead of getting angry and more mortified we began to laugh ourselves, and instantly felt better.

   1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

   […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well.

   1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC

   Synonyms: sincere, real, unfeigned, undissembled, earnest, affectionate, caring, cordial

2. Energetic, active or eager.

   a hearty appetite

   Synonyms: ardent, vigorous, zealous, abuzz, active, agile, airy, alive

3. Cheerful; vivacious.

   a hearty fellow

   Synonyms: ebullient, joyful, berserk, blissed out, blithe, buoyant, chirpy, blithesome

4. Exhibiting strength; firm; courageous.

   a hearty handshake; a hearty timber

   Synonyms: hale, hardy, robust, stalwart

5. Promoting strength; nourishing.

   hearty food

   2 more examples

   I launched out in search of a vegetarian restaurant. […] I would trot ten or twelve miles each day, go into a cheap restaurant and eat my fill of bread, but would never be satisfied. During these wanderings I once hit on a vegetarian restaurant in Farringdon Street. The sight of it filled me with the same joy that a child feels on getting a thing after its own heart. Before I entered I noticed books for sale exhibited under a glass window near the door. I saw among them Salt's Plea for Vegetarianism. This I purchased for a shilling and went straight to the dining room. This was my first hearty meal since my arrival in England.

   1927-29, M.K. Gandhi, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, translated 1940 by Mahadev Desai, Part I, Chapter xiv

   Broccoli florets come into play as a hearty stand-in. These green bits bring texture and color to the plate. Our meals got a revamp with broccoli. It made dishes pop.

   2025 February 3, Andrew Gray, “7 Tasty Green Peas Substitutes: Explore New Flavors”, in CooksCrafter

   Synonyms: substantial

plural hearties

1. humorousobsoletenauticala term of familiar address and fellowship among sailors.

   “Ay, ay,” muttered the chief mate, as they rolled out of then-boats and swaggered on deck, “it’s your turn now, but it will be mine before long. Yaw about while you may, my hearties, I’ll do the yawing after the anchor’s up.”

   1849, Herman Melville, chapter VI, in Redburn. His First Voyage