exhilarate

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To cheer, to cheer up, to gladden, to make happy, to elate.

   Good news exhilarates the mind; wine exhilarates the drinker.

2. 2
   verb

   To excite, to thrill.

   [A]lcohol, as all the world knows, or should know, does not nourish, but only stimulates,—exhilarates if you will, but exhilarates as fire exhilarates! Would carbon or any other combustible exhilarate only to burn up, consume, and destroy?

3. 3
   verb

   fill with sublime emotion

Etymology

From Latin exhilarō (“to delight, to gladden, to make merry”), from ex- (“out, away”) (from Proto-Indo-European *h₁eǵʰs (“out”)) + hilarō (“to cheer, to gladden”), from hilaris (“cheerful, light-hearted, lively”), from Ancient Greek ἱλαρός (hilarós, “cheerful, merry”), from ἵλαος (hílaos, “gracious, kind, propitious”), from Proto-Indo-European *selh₂- (“comfort, mercy”). By surface analysis, ex- + Latin hilar(ō) + -ate.