blitheness

noun

Etymology: From Middle English *blithenesse, from Old English blīþnes, from Proto-West Germanic *blīþinassī, equivalent to blithe + -ness. Cognate with West Frisian blidens (“blitheness, joy”), Old High German blīdnissa (“joy”).

1. The characteristic of being blithe.

   “A mood of blitheness rarely experienced even by young men was Dick’s on the following Monday morning. It was the week after the Easter holidays, and he was journeying along with Smart the mare and the light spring-cart, watching the damp slopes of the hill-sides as they streamed in the warmth of the sun, […]”