haply 
haply (hap'li), a*-. [< An;) 1 , n., + -','/ 2 -] By 
hup, accident, or chance; perhaps; perchance. 
Lest haply ye be found even to flght against God. 
Acts v. 39. 
I believed him, and turned out of that way into this, if 
haply I might be soon eased of my burden. 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 95. 
=Syn. See happily. 
hap orth (ha'perth), n. [Contr. of halfpenny- 
viorth.] A halfpenny-worth; hence, a very 
small quantity. [Colloq., Eng.] 
Ha'porth of treacle, three farthings' worth of bread. 
Thackeray, Curate's Walk. 
happet, v. t. A Middle English form of hapV. 
happen 1 (hap'n), v. i. [< ME. happenen, hapnen, 
an extension, with verb-formative -n (see -en 1 , 
3), of the more common ME. happen (pres. ind. 
happe), E. hap: see hap 1 , i\] 1. To occur by 
chance ; occur unexpectedly or unaccountably ; 
in general, to occur ; take place. 
Governinge yo" so, yo w male remaine in that good es- 
tate yo w be, or els male easilie happen yo u to remember 
what yo w were. 
Booke of Precedence (E. E. T. S., extra ser.), L 74. 
There shall no evil happen to the just. Prov. xil. 21. 
All that happens is only transference of matter from one 
place to another. W. Wallace, Epicureanism, p. 180. 
How happens it that, Instead of being dependent on con- 
tinental skill and enterprise, our skill and enterprise are 
at a premium on the continent? 
H. Spencer, Social Statics, p. 429. 
2. To chance ; be by chance or unexpectedly : 
as, he happened to be at home. 
The young Man hapning to be gaming at Dice. 
Congreve, Hymn to Venus, note. 
As for coals, it is not likely they should ever be used 
there in anything but forges and great towns, if ever they 
happen to have any. Beverley, Virginia, ii. 1[ 8. 
To happen in or Into, to enter or come in casually ; es- 
pecially, to make a chance call. 
It was the Spanyards good hap to happen in those parts 
where were infinite numbers of people. 
Quoted in Capt. John Smith's Works, I. 220. 
To happen on, to meet with ; fall or light upon. 
I deny not but that these men . . . may some time hap- 
pen on something that is good and great. 
B. Joneon, Alchemist, To the Reader. 
happen 1 (hap'n), adv. [E. dial.; sometimes hap- 
pens; abbr. of it may happen. Cf. E. dial, map- 
pen, a contr. of the same, and cf. colloq. may- 
hap, maybe, abbr. of it may hap, it may be.] 
Possibly; perhaps. 
Happen I have not getten things as they mout be yet. 
... A man as has been misforchnit is loike to be slow. 
F. II. Burnetl, Haworth's, xviii. 
happen 2 !, a. [ME., < Icel. happinn, fortunate, 
happy: see hap 1 , and ef. happy.] Fortunate; 
happy; blessed. 
Thay arn happen that han in hert pouerte. 
Alliterative Poems (ed. Morris), iii. 13. 
The hapnest vnder heuen kyng hyjest mon of wylle. 
Sir Gawayne and the Green Knight (E. E. T. S.), 1. 56. 
happening (hap'ning), n. [Verbal n. of hap- 
pen 1 , v.] An occurrence. 
happer 1 (hap'er), . A Scotch form of hopper 1 . 
These four-and-twenty mills complete 
Sail gang for thee throw all the yeir ; 
And as mekle of gude reid wheit 
As all thair happen dow to bear. 
Johnie Armstrang (Child's Ballads, VI. 47). 
" Miller," said he to me, " an thou wilt turn thy back on 
the mill, and wend with me, I will make a man of thee." 
But I chose rather to abide by clap and happer, and the 
better luck was mine. fit-oil, Monastery, xiii. 
happer 2 t, v. i. [Appar. for Chopper, v. i., freq. 
of hop 1 .'] To skip about ; hop. 
Which are, within these forty years, crawled out of the 
bottomless pit, to happer and swarm throughout the 
world. Harmar, tr. of Beza's Sermons, p. 242. 
happify (hap'i-fi), v. t. ; pret. and pp. happified, 
ppr. happifying. [< happy + -fy.] To make 
happy. [Bare except as cant.] 
This Prince, unpeerd for Clemency and Courage, 
Justly surnam'd the Great, the Good, the Wise, 
Mirour of Future, Miracle of Fore- Age, 
One short mishap for ever happifies. 
Sylvester, tr. of P. Mathieu's Henry the Great, 1. 642. 
llappifij is a barbarism which I have never met with but 
in the dialect of the Methodist pulpit. Even "diction- 
aries unabridged " do not contain it. 
A. Phelps, English Style, p. 368. 
The hopeless loss of one half of our brothers and sisters, 
and the "happified selflshness " of the other half ! 
N. and Q., 7th ser., V. 482. 
happily (hap'i-li), adv. [< ME. happiliche; < 
linjipy + -lyt.] 1. By good fortune; fortunate- 
ly; luckily. 
Neuertheles it pleased God to bring the wind more west- 
erly, * so, in the moneth of May. 1592. we happily doubled 
Cape Comori without sight of the coast of India. 
Uakluyt's Voyages, II. ii. 105. 
Who's this? . . . 
The person I was bound to seek. Fair sir, 
You are happily met. B. Joneon, Volpone, iii. 1. 

in 
2713 
A man who is lost, as we say, to a sense of right and 
wrong (happily not a very common case) can only be kept 
straight by the prospect of reward or punishment. 
Fowler, Shaftesbury and Hutcheson, p. 147. 
2. In a happy or pleasing way or state; in 
pleasant or fortunate circumstances; with hap- 
piness or joy. 
He writes 
How happily ho lives, how well-belov'd, 
And daily graced by the emperor. 
Shak.,T. G. of V.,i. 3. 
This is a day of triumph ; all contentions 
Are happily accorded. 
Beau, and Fl., Laws of Candy, v. 1. 
3. With address, skill, dexterity, or aptness; 
dexterously; felicitously; aptly; gracefully. 
Formed by thy converse happily to steer 
From grave to gay, from lively to severe. 
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 379. 
The happily descriptive remark of Emerson, though it 
accentuates the crepuscular habit of mind, equally ex- 
plains two other mental traits of Hawthorne. 
Fortnightly Rev., N. S., XL. 614. 
4f. By chance ; peradventure ; haply. 
If any thyng shall happily channce vnto vs in this mat- 
ter otherwise than well, thou shalt percase heare of it. 
Udall, Flowers for Latine Speakinge, fol. 138. 
Besides, old Gremio is heark'ning still ; 
And happily we might be interrupted. 
Shak., T. of theS., iv. 4. 
One thing more I shall wish you to desire of them who 
happily may peruse these two treatises. Sir K. Digoy. 
=Syn. 1. Haply, Happily. Haply, now rarely used in 
prose, means by chance ; happily, by a happy chance. 2. 
Prosperously, successfully, contentedly, 
happiness (hap'i-nes), n. [< happy + -ness.] 
The state or quality of being happy, (a) Good 
luck ; good fortune. 
Might we but have that happiness, ray lord, that you 
would once use our hearts, whereby we might express 
some part of our zeals, we should think ourselves for ever 
perfect. Shak., T. of A., i. 2. 
'&) Any state of being, having considerable permanence, 
In which pleasure decidedly predominates over pain. 
Dead and inglorious, 
Like beast whose breath but in his nostrels is, 
And hath no hope of happinesse or blis. 
Spenser, Ruins of Time, 1. 358. 
happiness, our being's end and aim ! 
Good, pleasure, ease, content, whate'er thy name ; 
That something still which prompts the eternal sigh, 
For which we bear to live, or dare to die ! 
Pope, Essay on Man, iv. 1. 
Happiness, ... in its full extent, is the utmost plea- 
sure we are capable of. 
Locke, Human Understanding, II. xxi. 42. 
The word happy is a relative term ; in strictness, any 
condition may be denominated happy in which the amount 
or aggregate of pleasure exceeds that of pain ; and the 
degree of happiness depends upon the quantity of this 
excess. Paley, Moral Philos., i. 6. 
Every man speaks of happiness as his end of ends : he 
wishes to live well or to do well, which he considers to be 
the same as being happy. But men disagree exceedingly 
in their opinions as to that which constitutes happiness: 
nay, the same man sometimes places it in one thing, some- 
times in another in health or in riches, according as he 
happens to be sick or poor. . Grote, Aristotle, 
(c) Fortuitous aptness or fitness ; an unstudied grace or 
beauty ; felicitousness. 
How pregnant sometimes his replies are ! a happiness 
that often madness hits on. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 
Certain graces and happinesses peculiar to every lan- 
guage give life and energy to the words. Sir J. Denham. 
Ye powers who rule the tongue, if such there are, 
And make colloquial happiness your care. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 82. 
Both show a wide knowledge of human nature, and a 
great happiness in sketching the details of individual 
manners. Ticknor, Span. Lit., I. 77. 
=Syn. Happiness, Felicity, Blessedness, Bliss; well-being, 
prosperity, welfare, enjoyment, comfort, security. Hap- 
piness, the generic word, is expressive of nearly every 
general state of pleasure. It is so far from its derivation 
that it is often expressive of that state of mind that tri- 
umphs over circumstances, finding material for content- 
ment or even joy in that which might naturally produce 
deep unhappiness. Felicity is primarily a matter of fa- 
vorable circumstances, which may be mere exemption 
from disaster or disagreeable experiences, or may be of 
a higher type, as domestic felicity depends not merely 
upon the comfort of the home, nor upon freedom from 
anxiety, but especially upon a high degree of mutual love. 
Blessedness is a state of the most refined happiness, aris- 
ing from the purest and warmest benevolent and religious 
feeling. The type of its meaning is furnished by the use 
of the word blessed in the beatitudes, Mat. v. 3-11. Bliss 
is consummate happiness. See animation, mirth, hilar- 
ity, gladness. 
happing (hap'ing), . [Verbal n. of hap 2 , .] 
Same as hap%. 
happit 1 (hap'it). A Scotch preterit and past 
participle of hap 1 . 
happit 2 (hap'it). A Scotch preterit and past 
participle of hap 2 . 
happy (hap'i), a.; compar. happier, superl. hap- 
piest. [< ME. happy; < hap 1 , n., + -y 1 .] 1. 
Manifesting or marked by good hap or fortune ; 
lucky; fortuitously fortunate, favorable, or suc- 
cessful: as, a happy contingency or omen; a 
li"l>l>i/ thought or discovery. 
happy 
Imagining how to purchase 
Grace of the quene there to bide 
Till good fortune some happy guide 
Me send might. Isle oj' Ladies, L 280. 
I shall have share in this most happy wrack. 
Shak., T. N., v. 1. 
A proclaim'd prize ! Most happy ! Shale., Lear, iv. 6. 
Chemists have been more happy in finding experiments 
than the causes of them. /;//(. 
In happy time behold our pilot-star ! 
Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettarre. 
2. Conscious that one's general condition of 
feeling is a highly satisfactory one ; conscious 
that one feels, in general, decidedly more 
pleasure than pain ; having a general feeling 
of pleasure ; satisfied ; pleased. 
He may make us both happy in an hour ; 
Win some five thousand pound, and send us two on 't, 
B. Jonson, Alchemist, i. 1. 
Make such a one thy friend, in whom princes may be 
happy, and great counsels successful. 
Sir T. Browne, Christ. Mor., iii. 18. 
How happy could I be with either. 
Were t'other dear charmer away ! 
Gay, Beggar's Opera, ii. 2. 
"0 happy world," thought Pelleas, "all, meseems, 
Are happy ; I the happiest of them all." 
Nor slept that night for pleasure in his blood. 
Tennyson, Pelleas and Ettarre. 
3. Being in a favorable condition or in advan- 
tageous circumstances; fortunate; secure of 
good; blessed. 
And this Pamphilus saith also ; If thou be right happy, 
that is to sayn, If thou be right riche, thou shalte flnde a 
gret nomber of felawes and frendes. 
Chaucer, Tale of Melibeus. 
His knowledge standeth so vpon the abstract and gen- 
eral), that happie is that man who may vnderstande him. 
Sir P. Sidney, Apol. for Poetrie. 
Happy is that people whose God is the Lord. 
Ps. cxliv. 15. 
Calling him happy who had Homer to blaze abroad his 
praises to the world. Purchas, Pilgrimage, p. 328. 
4. Affording pleasure or enjoyment ; bringing 
or attended with good fortune, luck, or plea- 
sure ; agreeable : as, happy thoughts ; a happy 
condition; happier times. 
For thee I longde to liue, for thee nowe welcome death : 
And welcome be that happie pang that stops my gasping 
breath. Gascoigne, In Trust is Treason. 
All places that the eye of heaven visits 
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens. 
Shak., Rich. II., i. 3. 
This happy place, our sweet 
Recess, and only consolation left 
Familiar to our eyes. Milton, P. L., xi. 303. 
A sorrow's crown of sorrow is remembering happier things. 
Tennyson, Locksley Hall. 
5. Indicative or expressive of happiness ; joy- 
ful : as, the happy shouts of children ; happy 
smiles or tears. 
The delight of happy laughter, 
The delight of low replies. 
Tennyson, Maud, xxvi. 
6. Apt; fitting the purpose, occasion, or cir- 
cumstances ; opportune ; felicitous : as, a hap- 
py expedient ; a happy retort. 
Saint Dennis bless this happy stratagem ! 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 
This fell out strangely happy. 
Middlfton (and others), The Widow, ii. 2. 
With twisted quirks and happy hits, 
From misty men of letters. 
Tennyson, Will Waterproof. 
The same expression, so refined, so softly imaginative, 
which Malbone venturing a happy touch, with suspend- 
ed breath had imparted to the miniature. 
Hawthorne, Seven Gables, vii. 
7. Dexterous; ready; able. 
She is a woman of an excellent assurance, and an extra- 
ordinary happy wit and tongue. 
B. Jonton, Epicoene, iii. 2. 
I have known men happy enough at ridicule, who upon 
grave subjects were perfectly stupid. 
Swift, Thoughts on Various Subjects. 
One gentleman is happy at a reply, another excels in a 
rejoinder. Swift. 
Happy despatch, family, hunting-ground, etc. See 
the nouns. Happy man be his dolet. Seedoiei.=Syn. 
Happy, Felicitous, Fortunate, Lucky. Felicitous is now 
rarely used except in the sense of apt and pleasing, a sense 
in which happy also is used : as, a felicitous or happy com- 
bination, answer, speech. Fortunate and lucky, by their 
derivations, are a higher and a lower term for the prosper- 
ous turns of chance or the lot in life. Hapjry, though es- 
sentially the same by derivation, has a broader applica- 
tion ; it is never altogether separated from the idea of en- 
joyment. See happiness. 
happyt (hap'i), v. t. [< happy, a.] To make 
happy. 
By th' one hee happied his own Soule with Rest ; 
By th' other also, hee his People blest. 
Sylvester, St. Lewis (trans.), 1. 75. 
That use Is not forbidden usury, 
Which happies those that pay the willing loan. 
Shak., Sonnets, vi. 
