gayety

Noun

gaiety (countable and uncountable, plural gaieties)

1. (dated, uncountable) The state of being happy or merry.
   • There was much gaiety at the ball.

   Synonyms:

   gayfulness, gayness, blitheness, blithesomeness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, contentness, contentedness, delight, delightedness

2. (countable, dated) Merrymaking or festivity.
   • And he would tell her all sorts of wonders, old-world gaieties, long before she was born; and how finely the great Mr. [George Frideric] Handel played upon the harpischord^([sic]) in the Music Hall, and how his talk was in German, Latin, French, English, Italian, and half-a-dozen languages beside...1863, J[oseph] Sheridan Le Fanu, “How an Evening Passes at the Elms, and Dr. Toole Makes a Little Excursion; and Two Choice Spirits Discourse, and Hebe Trips In with the Nectar”, in The House by the...