Definition of "merrie"

The annual meet of the National Archery Association will take place at the Soldiers’ Home next week, commencing on the 27th. It will be a merrie meet, and all the skilled bowsmen and bowswomen in the districts are expected to compete for the admirable prizes.

1889 August 21, “City Items”, in The Dayton Daily Herald, volume XII, number 21, Dayton, Ohio, page , column 3

Crossbowmen from such distant realms as Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, New York, New Jersey and Delaware, all right there in Merrie Olde Arkansas, in the non-medieval year of 1973.

1973 November 25, James G. Andrews, “In Merrie Olde Arkansas”, in The Commercial Appeal Mid-South Magazine, page 4

And watch this ailing Knight of a Merrie day / Extend a sagging hand and fall into a chair; […]

1991, Nicholas Hagger, Selected Poems (1960-1990): A Metaphysical’s Way of Fire, Element Books, page 76