Emily Dickinson Lexicon

HAP'PY, a. [from hap; W. hapus, properly lucky, fortunate, receiving good from something that falls or comes to one unexpectedly, or by an event that is not within control. See Hour.]

1. Lucky; fortunate; successful. Chimists have been more happy in finding experiments, than the causes of them. Boyle. So we say, a happy thought; a happy expedient.
2. Being in the enjoyment of agreeable sensations from the possession of good; enjoying pleasure from the gratification of appetites or desires. The pleasurable sensations derived from the gratification of sensual appetites render a person temporarily happy; but he only can be esteemed really and permanently happy, who enjoys peace of mind in the favor of God. To be in any degree happy, we must be free from pain both of body and of mind; to be very happy, we must be in the enjoyment of lively sensations of pleasure, either of body or mind. Happy am I, for the daughters will call me blessed. Gen. xxx. He found himself happiest, In communicating happiness to others. Wirt.
3. Prosperous; having secure possession of good. Happy is that people whose God is Jehovah. Ps. cxliv.
4. That supplies pleasure; that furnishes enjoyment; agreeable; applied to things; as, a happy condition.
5. Dextrous; ready; able. One gentleman is happy at a reply, another excels in a rejoinder. Swift.
6. Blessed; enjoying the presence and favor of God, in a future life.
7. Harmonious; living in concord; enjoying the pleasures of friendship; as, a happy family.
8. Propitious; favorable. Shak.