blithe

See also: bliþe and Blithe

English

WOTD – 2 July 2021

Etymology

From Middle English blithe (“glad, happy, joyful; causing joy, joyous; gentle, mild; gracious, merciful; bright, shining; beautiful, fair”) [and other forms],^[1] from Old English blīþe (“happy, gentle”), from Proto-West Germanic *blīþī, from Proto-Germanic *blīþiz (“friendly; gentle, mild; pleasing”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlī- (“fine; light; pleasant”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- (“shiny; white”).^[2]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /blaɪð/, /blaɪθ/
Audio (Received Pronunciation): (file)
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -aɪð, -aɪθ

Adjective

blithe (comparative blither, superlative blithest)

Casually careless or indifferent; showing a lack of concern; nonchalant.
She had a blithe disregard of cultures outside the United States.

Southern liberals (there are a good few) exhibit blithe insouciance: it is a real blight.
- 1913–1921, D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “England, My England”, in England My England and Other Stories, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Seltzer, published 24 October 1922, →OCLC, page 23:
  From mother and nurse it was a guerilla^[sic] gunfire of commands, and blithe, quicksilver disobedience from the three blonde, never-still little girls.
(chiefly Scotland, elsewhere dated or literary) Cheerful, happy.
- c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 47, column 2:
  And now ſweet Emperour be blithe againe,
  And bury all thy feare in my deuiſes.
- a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC, page 31:
  There on Beds of Violets blew,
  And freſh-blown Roſes waſht in dew,
  Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,
  So buckſom, blith, and debonair.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 610–613:
  For that fair femal Troop thou ſawſt, that ſeemd
  Of Goddeſſes, ſo blithe, ſo ſmooth, ſo gay,
  Yet empty of good wherein conſiſts,
  Womans domeſtic honour and chief praiſe; […]
- 1725, Homer, “Book I”, in [Elijah Fenton], transl., The Odyssey of Homer. […], volume I, London: […] Bernard Lintot, →OCLC, page 26, lines 211–214:
  Shou'd he return, that troop ſo blithe and bold,
  With purple robes inwrought, and ſtiff with gold,
  Precipitant in fear, wou'd wing their flight,
  And curſe their cumbrous pride's unwieldy weight.
- 1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Introduction to Canto Second: To the Rev. John Marriot, M.A.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, page 63:
  But not more blythe than sylvan court,
  Than we have been at humbler sport;
  Though small our pomp, and mean our game,
  Our mirth, dear Marriot, was the same.
- 1816, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, […], volume III (Old Mortality), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for William Blackwood, […]; London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, pages 85–86:
  Tarry, tarry, ye wha were aye sae blythe to be at the meetings of the saints, and wad ride every muir in Scotland to find a conventicle.
- 1820 June (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To a Skylark”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, →OCLC, stanza 1, page 201:
  Hail to thee, blithe spirit!
  Bird thou never wert,
  That from heaven, or near it,
  Pourest thy full heart
  In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.
- 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave Five. The End of It.”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 158:
  He looked so irresistibly pleasant, in a word, that three or four good-humoured fellows said, "Good morning, sir! A merry Christmas to you!" And Scrooge said often afterwards, that of all the blithe sounds he had ever heard, those were the blithest in his ears.
- 1876 June, Mark Twain, “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:
  I was feeling blithe, almost jocund.
- 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter III, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the first (The Maiden), page 31:
  To-night, however, she was even in a blither mood than usual. There was a dreaminess, a preoccupation, an exaltation, in the maternal look which the girl could not understand.