high spirits

English

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Noun

high spirits pl (plural only)

  1. Joyous elation, joyfulness, joyousness.
    Synonyms: jolliness, jollity; see also Thesaurus:happiness
    Antonyms: low spirits; see also Thesaurus:sadness
    • 1909 September 9, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], “A Court Ball”, in The Squire’s Daughter, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 9:
      They stayed together during three dances, went out on to the terrace, explored wherever they were permitted to explore, paid two visits to the buffet, and enjoyed themselves much in the same way as if they had been school-children surreptitiously breaking loose from an assembly of grown-ups. The boy became volubly friendly and bubbling over with unexpected humour and high spirits.
    • 2000, Mary S. Lovell, A Rage to Live: A Biography of Richard and Isabel Burton, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 415:
      Apart from yachting and the cross-Channel steamer it was her first experience of being at sea and she was in high spirits.

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