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# jolly

«jolly» in Mova's school dictionary: **Happy, cheerful and friendly** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

adjective (jolly, jollier, jolliest); adverb (UK, informal: jolly good); verb (jolly along — informal)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Happy, cheerful and friendly. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#m1)

2) (UK, informal, a bit old-fashioned) Very, as in «jolly good» or «jolly well». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#m2)

3) (verb, informal) «jolly someone along» — cheer them up to keep them going. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#m3)

4) (UK, noun, informal) A trip or outing for fun, as in «a jolly». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#m4)

5) A Jolly Roger is the black flag with a skull and crossbones that pirate ships flew. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In stories: Father Christmas is jolly, a jolly sailor. In British talk: «Jolly good!» «You jolly well will!» In songs: «For he's a jolly good fellow». It tells the reader the mood is happy.

### examples

- Santa is a jolly man with a big laugh. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#x1)
- We had a jolly time at the party. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#x2)
- That's jolly good work! (UK) [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#x3)
- You'll jolly well tidy your room! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#x4)
- The pirates sang a jolly song. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#x5)
- The staff went on a jolly to the seaside. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#x6)
- She jollied us along on the long walk. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/#x7)

### note

Comparatives: jollier, jolliest. «Jolly» meaning «very» is British and old-fashioned. The pirate flag is the «Jolly Roger». Adverb form «jollily» is rare.

### In the corpora

- [Why not stay on quietly here, like us, and be jolly?»](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/56-willows-ch9-part1-change-in-the-air/11/)
- [It's the jolly times on shore that appeal to me».](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/books/58-willows-ch9-part3-the-sea-rat/20/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «jolly» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/J/jolly/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.