jovial

Adjective

WordNet 3.0

Adjective (1)

  1. full of or showing high-spirited merriment“when hearts were young and gay”“a poet could not but be gay, in such a jocund company — Wordsworth”“the jolly crowd at the reunion”“jolly old Saint Nick”“a jovial old gentleman”“have a merry Christmas”“peals of merry laughter”“a mirthful laugh”Synonyms: gayjocundjollymerrymirthful
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Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

jovial \jo"vi*al\, a. [F., fr. L. Jovialis pertaining to Jove. The planet Jupiter was thought to make those born under it joyful or jovial. See Jove.] [1913 Webster]

1.[capitalized] Of or pertaining to the god, or the planet, Jupiter. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]

Our jovial star reigned at his birth.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
The fixed stars astrologically differenced by the planets, and esteemed Martial or Jovial according to the colors whereby they answer these planets.— Sir T. Browne.[1913 Webster]

2.Sunny; serene. [Obs.] "The heavens always joviall." --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

3.Gay; merry; joyous; jolly; mirth-inspiring; hilarious; characterized by mirth or jollity; as, a jovial youth; a jovial company; a jovial poem. [1913 Webster]

Be bright and jovial among your guests.— Shak.[1913 Webster]
His odes are some of them panegyrical, others moral; the rest are jovial or bacchanalian.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

Note: This word is a relic of the belief in planetary influence. Other examples are saturnine, mercurial, martial, lunatic, etc.

Syn: Merry; joyous; gay; festive; mirthful; gleeful; jolly; hilarious. [1913 Webster]

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing

JOVIAL

<language> (Jule's Own Version of IAL) A version of IAL produced by Jules I. Schwartz in 1959-1960. JOVIAL was based on ALGOL 58, with extensions for large scale real-time programming. It saw extensive use by the US Air Force. The data elements were items, entries (records) and tables.

Versions include JOVIAL I (IBM 709, 1960), JOVIAL II (IBM 7090, 1961) and JOVIAL 3 (1965). Dialects: J3, JOVIAL J73, JS, JTS.

Ada/Jovial Newsletter, Dale Lange +1 (513) 255-4472.

[CACM 6(12):721, Dec 1960].

(1996-07-19)

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