Definition of "chear"

Piping down the valleys wild /Piping songs of pleasant glee / On a cloud I saw a child. / And he laughing said to me: / "Pipe a song about a Lamb!" / So I piped with merry chear.

1789, William Blake, “Introduction”, in Songs of Innocence

He chears the fearful, and commends the bold, / And makes deſpairers hope for good ſucceſs.

1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis: The Year of Wonders, 1666. […], London: […] Henry Herringman, […], stanza 242, page 61

WHo ever ſaw a noble ſight, / That never view’d a brave Sea Fight: / Hang up your bloody Colours in the Aire, / Up with your Fights and your Nettings prepare, / Your Merry Mates chear, with a luſty bold ſpright, / Now each Man his brindice, and then to the Fight, […]

1673 May (first performance), John Dryden, Amboyna. A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1673, Act III, page 31

He opens all the Magazins above, / Of boundleſs Goodneſs and Eternal Love, / From theſe rich Stores of Heav’n, theſe ſacred Springs / Of everlaſting Joy and Peace, he brings / Ambroſial Food, and rich Nectarean Wine, / Which chear pure Souls, and nouriſh Life Divine.

1695, Richard Blackmore, “Book I”, in Prince Arthur. An Heroick Poem. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Awnsham and John Churchil […], page 13

The youth ruſh eager to the ſylvan war; / Swarm o’er the lawns, the foreſt walks ſurround, / Rowze the fleet hart, and chear the opening hound.

1713, Alexander Pope, “Windsor-Forest. […]”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, page 57

And ſtill their long Reſearches met in This, / This Truth of Truths, which nothing can refel: / “From Virtue’s Fount the pureſt Joys out-well, / “Sweet Rills of Thought that chear the conſcious Soul; […]”

1748, James Thomson, “Canto II”, in The Castle of Indolence: […], London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], stanza XXXVI, page 59

The Baroneſs de Roſenheim renewed her exertions to chear the ſpirits of her dejected daughter, as in the great gothic hall, where they uſually eat, they took their melancholy ſupper.

1794, Charlotte Smith, chapter I, in The Banished Man. […], volume I, London: […] T[homas] Cadell, Jun. and W[illiam] Davies, (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], page 6