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Delight

is “to make light.” Hence Shakespeare speaks of the disembodied soul as “the delighted spirit … . blown with restless violence round about the pendant world” (Measure for Measure, iii. 1). So again he says of gifts, “the more delayed, delighted” (Cymbeline, v. 5), meaning the longer they are delayed the “lighter” or less valuable they are esteemed. Delighted, in the sense of “pleased,” means light-hearted, with buoyant spirits.

The delight of mankind. So Titus, the Roman emperor, was entitled (40, 79–81).

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Dei Judicium (Latin)
Deianira
Deiphobus
Deities
Déjeuner à la Fourchette (French)
Delaware
Delectable Mountains (The)
Delf
Delia
Delias
Delight
Delirium
Della Cruscans or Della Cruscan School
Delmonico
Delos
Delphi or Delphos
Delphin Classics
Delta
Deluge
Deluges
Demerit