[‘ Of a person or a person’s disposition, actions, etc.: smiling, mirthful, cheerful, light-hearted.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /riːˈɒ̃/, ˈrʌɪənt, U.S. /riˈɑnt/, ˈraɪənt
Etymology: < French /riant/ smiling, laughing, cheerful (c/1100 in Old French), pleasant to look at (13th cent.), use as adjective of present participle of /rire to laugh < classical Latin /rīdēre/ to laugh (see rident adj.). Compare riante adj., rident adj.
*1.* Of a person or a person’s disposition, actions, etc.: smiling, mirthful, cheerful, light-hearted.
1567 T. Paynell tr. /Amadis de Gaula/ 276 What an evill is it to be depryved of all the goodnesse that I receyved of hir riant and laughing eye.
1827 T. Carlyle /Musæus/ in /German Romance/ I. 13 Whatever bordered upon awe or horror, his riant fancy rejected with aversion.
1867 T. Carlyle /E. Irving/ 206 He was jovial, riant, jocose rather than serious.
1897 A. C. Gunter /Don Balasco/ ii. 28 A girl of..dancing, riant blue eyes, and exquisite figure.
1923 J. K. Spencer /Friar in Fiction/ 45 The mocking, riant, yet sometimes serious, sometimes almost holy face of Friar Rabelais peeps from the pages of Gargantua and Pantagruel.
1998 /Denver Post/ (Nexis) 26 Apr. w1 If grandpa was riant, extra butter was used for sauteing the doubled portions of garlic and onions. On crabbed days, a pinch of salt might only be a quarter teaspoon.
*2.* Of a thing, esp. a landscape, place, etc.: having a pleasant aspect, agreeable to the sight, looking bright or cheerful.
1720 Pope /Observ. Shield of Achilles/ in tr. Homer /Iliad/ V. xviii. 49 There is something inexpressibly riant in this Piece, above all the rest.
1760 T. Gray /Let./ 23 Jan. (1971) II. 656 The Vale [is] as riant, as rich, & as well cultivated.
1789 A. Young /Jrnl./ 29 July in /Trav. France/ (1792) i. 149 A pretty riant landskip of the river doubling through the vale.
1860 P. H. Gosse /Romance Nat. Hist./ 178 Choice plants..were there in wild and riant luxuriance.
1892 A. Heales /Archit. Churches Denmark/ 2 These together present a singularly bright, riant impression.
1914 S. G. W. Benjamin /Life & Adventures Free Lance/ x. 257 Much as I love sunshine, blue skies, and riant landscapes clothed with verdure, there is also another quite as pronounced a side of my nature, which shows my northern blood.
1987 M. Butler /August & Rab/ vi. 51 That part of the island, which seemed to us more riant and less frowned on by mountains.
Derivatives
ˈriantly adv.
1821 /Retrosp. Rev./ *3* 122 He is, in consequence, learnedly humorous and not naturally witty—gravely jocose and not riantly playful.
1862 /Harper’s Mag./ Mar. 471/1, I flew straight to the ‘prophet’s chamber’, blushing riantly, I own, as I crossed its threshold.
1897 A. C. Gunter /Susan Turnbull/ xxiii. 303 ‘Then you will all have to keep me company,’ says Miss Naughty, riantly.
1904 A. C. Gunter /My Japanese Prince/ ii. vi. 163 Then I affect a playful dread and plead riantly: ‘You don’t suppose they’ll shoot me for fresh lamb, do you?’
1927 H. Miller /Moloch/ (1993) vii. 111 That day its broad thoroughfare was thronged with cheering, smiling crowds; flags fluttered riantly, bands played.