characterized by liveliness and lightheartedness; "buoyant spirits"; "his quick wit and chirpy humor"; "looking bright and well and chirpy"; "a perky little widow in her 70s"
tending to float on a liquid or rise in air or gas; "buoyant balloons"; "buoyant balsawood boats"; "a floaty scarf"
a punishment in which a student must stay at school after others have gone home; "the detention of tardy pupils"
a state of being confined (usually for a short time); "his detention was politically motivated"; "the prisoner is on hold"; "he is in the custody of police"
the person who is in possession of a check or note or bond or document of title that is endorsed to him or to whoever holds it; "the bond was marked `payable to bearer'"
make understandable to the general public; "Carl Sagan popularized cosmology in his books"
cater to popular taste to make popular and present to the general public; bring into general or common use; "They popularized coffee in Washington State"; "Relativity Theory was vulgarized by these authors"
bearing a stress or accent; "an iambic foot consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable as in `delay'"
suffering severe physical strain or distress; "he dropped out of the race, clearly distressed and having difficulty breathing"; "the victim was in a bad way and needed immediate attention"