cheers

Formscheerses, cheersing, cheersed

1. 1
   interjection

   A common toast people say while drinking together in a group.

   Cheers, everyone! Here's to the happy couple and a long marriage.

   The guests clinked their glasses and called out "Cheers" across the table.

2. 2
   interjectioncolloquialCommonwealth

   An informal way of saying thank you.

   Cheers for the help with those boxes. It would have taken me hours alone.

   She handed back the pen with a quick "Cheers" and went on her way.

   Similarthanks, ta

   Note

   Here the word does the job of thanks and borrows its grammar. It can stand alone as a quick acknowledgment, or take for and the thing being thanked for. Like the email sign-off, it is casual Commonwealth usage. It suits small favors between equals rather than formal gratitude, where thank you is the safer choice.

3. 3
   interjectioncolloquialCommonwealth

   An informal way to say goodbye, especially as a sign-off at the end of an email or comment.

   Looking forward to hearing back from you soon. Cheers, Sarah.

   Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in next week's post. Cheers.

   Similarbye, cheerio

   Note

   A sign-off for the end of a written message. It sits where best wishes or regards would go, often just before the writer's name. It belongs to Commonwealth English and to informal writing. It is natural in a quick email or a comment thread and out of place in a formal letter. The same regional, casual habit lies behind the "thank you" meaning.

4. 4
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To drink a toast by saying "cheers", either generally or to a particular person.

   Let's cheers to the bride and groom before the dancing starts.

   At every reunion they cheers one another the moment the drinks arrive.

   Similartoast

   Note

   A verb built from the toast itself, which keeps its final s through every form: cheerses, cheersing, cheersed. It works with or without an object. Bryan Washington's Memorial (2020) has a narrator tilting his beer, "cheersing him," while "we cheersed" needs no one named. So "let's cheers" is correct here, and it is not a slip for the cheer of applause.

5. 5
   noun

   Plural of cheer.

   Cheers erupted from the audience as the curtain came down.

   Her closing remarks were met with cheers and applause from the delegates.

   Note

   Only the countable meanings of cheer make this plural. They are cries of joy or approval, and the chants a crowd raises for its team. The uncountable ones stay singular: good spirits, and the food and entertainment of a festive occasion. So good cheer never becomes "good cheers." As a plural it goes naturally with sound and response: cheers went up, a speech met with cheers.

6. 6
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of cheer.

   He cheers his daughter on from the sidelines each Saturday.

   The whole stadium cheers whenever the goalkeeper makes a save.

   Note

   The everyday present-tense form behind sentences like the crowd cheers or she cheers him up. Up is the particle it most often takes when the meaning is "gladden." In the applauding sense it works with or without an object: the stadium cheers, she cheers the team. The spelling is shared with the toasting verb, but that verb is a different word with its own forms.

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