cheer
Pluralcheers
Pluralcheers
Formscheers, cheering, cheered
- 1A shout that expresses joy, approval, or support, such as "hurrah."
A great cheer erupted as the band took the stage.
Loud cheers greeted the final whistle of the match.
Similarapplause, acclaim, acclamation, clapping
Oppositeboo
Note
This is the countable shout, as opposed to the cheerful mood. A cheer rises from a crowd, and cheers are counted out in the set phrase three cheers for someone. Its natural opposite is a boo. Tennyson's "thundering cheer of the street" (1864) shows the singular standing for a whole crowd's noise.
- 2To applaud or encourage someone with shouts and cheers.
Thousands cheer as the marathon leaders pass.
The crowd cheered the firefighters as they returned home.
Oppositeboo
Note
The verb works both with and without an object: a crowd simply cheers, or it cheers the athletes. To stress encouragement rather than mere applause, English adds on, as in cheering a runner on. Hurrah, hurray and the older huzzah are near-synonyms. Boo is the exact opposite, as it is for the noun.
- 3A cheerful frame of mind; happiness or a good, positive mood.
The holiday season fills the house with warmth and cheer.
Despite the rain, she kept her cheer all afternoon.
Similarhappiness, joy, gladness, merriment, gaiety
Oppositegloom, sadness, misery
Note
The word began with a face. Middle English chere came through Old French chiere, "head, face; appearance", from Late Latin cara, "head". A face shows a mood, and the meaning moved from one to the other, which is why Shakespeare can write "cheer of mind" in Richard III. In this sense it is uncountable: you have cheer or spread it, but you never give "a cheer", which is the shout.
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- 7Food, drink, and entertainment prepared to promote good spirits at a festive occasion.
The inn offered plenty of cheer to weary travelers at Christmas.
Neighbors brought cheer in the form of cakes and music.
Similarhospitality, fare, festivity
Note
Hospitality made solid: here the cheer is what sits on the table. Its usual home is the phrase good cheer. A table is loaded with good cheer, a shepherd offers his "best cheer" in James Hogg's Mary Burnet (1828), and Christmas cards promise "roaring good cheer" in Ben Travers's A Cuckoo in the Nest (1922). It was once countable and is now uncountable, and it carries a festive ring.
- 8To instill life, courage, or hope in someone; to comfort and console.
The doctor's reassurance cheered the anxious family.
Letters from home cheer the soldiers stationed far away.
Similarcomfort, console, soothe, inspire, invigorate
Oppositedishearten, discourage, demoralize
- 9Cheerleading practiced as a competitive team sport.
Competitive cheer demands gymnastics, stunts, and tight coordination.
Her daughter trains for cheer four evenings a week.
Note
A separate word that happens to share the spelling. It is a clipping of cheerleading and has no link to the Old French face. It belongs chiefly to Canada and the US. It names the sport itself, as in doing cheer all through college, and it often works as a modifier: cheer shoes, a gym cheer program.
Less common meanings
- 10One's attitude or mood; a person's general state of mind.
The travelers kept a hopeful cheer despite the long road.
And anon he talked with them, and sayde unto them: be of good chere, it is I, be not afrayed.
1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt (Tyndale Bible)Note
Between the face and the happy mood sits a neutral sense: a mood that could go either way. Tyndale's New Testament of 1526 has "be of good chere", the formula through which the sense still survives. Philemon Holland's Livy (1659) has parents fleeing "with heavy cheer". Because cheer alone now implies happiness, this archaic use needs its adjective to be understood.
- 11One's facial expression or countenance; the look worn on a person's face.
‘thorough evill rest of this last night, / Or ill apayd or much dismayd ye be; / That by your change of cheare is easie for to see.’
1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie QueeneAnd soo on the morne they were alle accorded that they shold departe eueryche from other / And on the morne they departed with wepynge chere / and euery knyȝt took the way that hym lyked best
1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “viij”Note
Here the word still means the face, as its Old French source did. Malory's knights part "with wepynge chere" in 1485, and Florio's Montaigne (1603) uses "heavie cheere" to render visage. The sense is obsolete and easy to misread. Spenser's "change of cheare" is a change of expression, not of mood. The two ideas sat close together, though, and that closeness is how the cheerful-mood sense grew.
- 12To urge or encourage someone to do something.
The huntsman cheered his dogs onward across the moor.
Old commanders would cheer their troops to one last charge.
Similarencourage, motivate, incite, push, drive
Note
An obsolete use with its own construction: you cheer someone to do something. Marlowe's Tamburlaine has "Let's cheere our souldiers to incounter him". Here cheering is urging, closer to goad or stir up than to applause. Modern English keeps that push forward only in the shouting sense and its phrasal form, cheer on.
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Origins
From Middle English 'chere', via Anglo-Norman 'chere' and Old French 'chiere' (meaning head, face, appearance, or reception), which came from Late Latin 'cara' ('head').
A clipping of 'cheerleading'.