Dictionary

overjoy en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- English joy English overjoy From over- + joy.

Meanings

1. Very great joy.
   • 1835, William Wordsworth, “The Russian Fugitive” in Yarrow Revisited, and Other Poems, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, p. 143, Amazement rose to pain, / and over-joy produced a fear / Of something void and vain,
   • to salute my king / With ruder terms, such as my wit affords / And over-joy of heart doth minister 1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
   • The katydids express their overjoy / Down in knee-high maturing August grasses; 1975, Jesse Stuart, “No Warning from the Wind”, in The World of Jesse Stuart: Selected Poems,, New York: McGraw-Hill, page 158:
   • a. 1631, John Donne, Letter to Robert Karre in Letters to Severall Persons of Honour, London: Richard Marriot, 1651, p. 299, I beginne to bee past hope of dying: And I feele that a little ragge of Monte Magor, which I read last time I was in your Chamber, hath wrought prophetically upon mee, which is, that Death came so fast towards mee, that the over-joy of that recovered mee.
2. Excessive joy.
   • The emotional extremes of overexcitement, overjoy, depression, and anxiety are all blockages in the Message Center. 2006, Zhi Gang Sha, chapter 6, in Soul Mind Body Medicine, Novato, CA: New World Library, page 158:
   • Restraint of the organs of sense, on which success in study and discipline depends, can be enforced by abandoning lust, anger, greed, vanity (māna), haughtiness (mada) and overjoy (harṣa). 1963, B. A. Saletore, Ancient Indian Political Thought and Institutions, Asia Publishing House, page 318:
   • The knowledge that some are deprived tempers overjoy or overdesire. 1991, Robert F. Morneau, Mantras from a Poet: Jessica Powers, Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, page 5:

Synonyms

ecstasy

overjoy en · VERB

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *úp Proto-Indo-European *-er Proto-Indo-European *upér Proto-Germanic *uber Old English ofer- Middle English over- English over- English joy English overjoy From over- + joy.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To give great joy, delight or pleasure to.
   • If my Letter pleas'd you, your's overjoy'd me; and I expect impatiently your kind Viſit: […] 1711 July 5 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Alexander Pope, “Letters to Henry Cromwell, Esq. Letter V.”, in Mr Pope’s Literary Correspondence, volume II, London: […] E[dmund] Curll, […], published 1735, →OCLC, page 10:
   • In overjoying me, you are grown sad; c. 1612–1615?, John Fletcher, Francis Beaumont, revised by Philip Massinger, “Loves Cure or, The Martial Maid”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act V, scene ii, page 143:
   • This salutation ouerioyes my heart. 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
   • The prospect of writing three exams in a row without a break does not overjoy me.
2. (rare, transitive) To give too much joy to.
   • Ah, child, thou art but half thy darling mother’s; / Hers couldst thou wholly be, / My light in thee would outglow all in others; / She would relive to me. / But niggard Nature’s trick of birth / Bars, lest she overjoy, / Renewal of the loved on earth / Save with alloy. 1898, Thomas Hardy, “To an Orphan Child”, in Wessex Poems and Other Verses, New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 163:
3. (intransitive, obsolete) To take too much pleasure (in something).
   • it is hard not to ouer-ioy in a sudden prosperitie, and, to vse happinesse is no lesse difficult, then to forbeare it 1618, Joseph Hall, Contemplations upon the Principall Passages of the Holy Story, volume 4, London: Henry Fetherstone, page 42:
   • 1685, Thomas Manton, “A Description of the True Circumcision” in Several Discourses Tending to Promote Peace and Holiness among Christians, London: Jonathan Robinson, p. 113, That he doth not over-joy in worldly Comforts, nor over-grieve for worldly Losses.
   • 1598, John Wilbye, The First Set of English Madrigals, London: Thomas Este, Madrigal , Your deeds my hart surchargd with ouerioying:

Forms

Deriveds

overjoyed