merrymake means merry-making, celebration, festivity. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “merrymake” is a great word
MERRYMAKE — [Noun, Verb] A festive celebration or the act of engaging in one. From the English phrase 'make merry'; the noun is first attested in 1579 in the writing of Edmund Spenser. Unlike "revelry," which suggests clamorous, Bacchic excess, or "festivity," a neutral and administrative modern term, "merrymake" bears the gentle archaism of a conscious, communal craft. It is the rustle of paper crowns at a humble feast, the patterned wear on floorboards from generations of dances, the harmonized lift of a familiar chorus in the gathering dark: a testament to the collective labor required to briefly hold gloom at bay.
Etymology
From make merry.
noun
- Merry-making, celebration, festivity.“when he saw her toy, and gibe, and geare, / And passe the bonds of modest merimake, / Her dalliance he despisd, and follies did forsake.”
verb
- To make merry, have fun, celebrate.“Drawing near, / Loud from the chambers of the bridge below, / Sounds of carousal came and song, / And unveiled women bade the advancing youth / Come merry-make with them.”