Dictionary

joyance en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈd͡ʒɔɪəns/

Etymology

Apparently coined by Edmund Spenser, from joy + -ance.

Meanings

1. (archaic, countable, poetic, uncountable) Enjoyment, joy, delight.
   • In ſuch luxurious plentie of all pleaſure, / It ſeem’d a ſecond paradiſe to gheſſe, / So lauiſhly enricht with natures threaſure, / That if the happie ſoules, which doe poſſeſſe / Th’Elyſian fields, and liue in laſting bleſſe, / Should happen this with liuing eye to ſee, / They ſoone would loath their leſſer happineſſe, / And wiſh to life return’d againe to bee, / That in this ioyous place they mote haue ioyance free. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza XXIII, page 145:
   • So dreadfully he towardes him did pas, / Forelifting vp a loft his ſpeckled breſt, / And often bounding on the bruſed gras, / As for great ioyaunce of his newcome gueſt. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza XV, page 159:
   • So forth they marchen in this goodly fort, / To take the ſolace of the open aire, / And in freſh flowring fields themſelues to ſport; / Emongſt the reſt rode that falſe Lady faire, / The foule Dueſsa, next vnto the chaire / Of proud Lucifer’, as one of the traine: / But that good knight would not ſo nigh repaire, / Him ſelfe eſtraunging from their ioyaunce vaine, / Whoſe fellowſhip ſeemd far vnfitt for warlike ſwaine. 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza XXXVII, page 55:
   • And on a great blooming laurel-bush the mocking-bird sang, heedless of the darkness to come, heedless of the day gone by, possessed by its fervor of music that made gloom light and all life a joyance [...]. 1891, Mary Noailles Murfree, In the "Stranger People's" Country, Nebraska, published 2005, page 134:
   • After them went Diſpleaſure and Pleaſaunce, / He looking lompiſh and full ſullein ſad, / And hanging downe his heauy countenaunce; / She chearfull freſh and full of ioyaunce glad, / As if no ſorrow ſhe ne felt ne dread; / That euill matched paire they ſeemd to bee: / An angry Waſpe th’one in a viall had / Th’other in hers an hony-lady Bee, / Thus marched theſe ſix couples forth in faire degree 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza XVIII, page 581:
   • O the one life within us and abroad, Which meets all motion and becomes its soul, A light in sound, a sound-like power in light, Rhythm in all thought, and joyance everywhere— 1795, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Eolian Harp, lines 26–29:
   • There with great ioyance and with gladſome glee, / Of faire Pœana I receiued was, / And oft imbraſt, as if that I were hee, / And with kind words accoyd, vowing great loue to mee. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto VIII”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza LIX, page 125:
   • ...for excess of joyance never knew How went the day and how it came again. 1885, Sir Richard Burton, The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, volume 5:
   • For though like withered tree, that wanteth iuyce, / She old and crooked were, yet now of late, / As freſh and fragrant as the floure deluce, / She was become, by chaunge of her eſtate, / And made full goodly ioyance to her new found mate. 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IIII, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza XXXI, page 14:

Forms