Part of Speech: adjective
Pronunciation: [bLIdh]
Definition: Joyous, spiritedly if not giddily happy; happy to the point of ignoring reality.
Usage: I'm for returning to the old Scottish greeting, "I'm blithe to meet you" though I will probably attract few to the cause. In the US we tend to overuse the adverb without its central meaning, as in "He blithely understated her qualifications," meaning he did so simply without thought rather than as a result of being carried away with happiness. Today's word retains its sense of joy, as Shelley used it to address his skylark: "Hail thee, blithe spirit! Bird thou never wert- That from heaven or near it Pourest thy full heart In profuse strains of unpremeditated art." (Then the poem gets even better.)
Suggested Usage: The comparative is "blither," pronounced [bLIdh-êr] in contrast to the verb "blither" [blidhêr]. The superlative is "blithest" and "blithely" is the adverb. "Blithesome" is an odd variant with a superfluous adjective suffix tacked onto an adjective that simply retains the original meaning, "cheerful." When the Scots were blithe to meet a new born child, blithemeat "happy food" was served, a term from the time when "meat" meant simply "food," as it does in "mincemeat."
0 评论:
发表评论