To hope for something is to desire it with only some expectation that it will happen. The verb aspire nudges desire toward action, implying an eagerness and drive to make it so. The work that goes into making an aspiration real may even leave you breathless. After all, aspire comes from the Latin verb meaning "to breathe upon" or "to pant after." Consider the lofty aspirations of the dog who pants after the squirrel; much like Fido, when we aspire to something, we are working to attain it.

Someone who is jolly is lively or merry (Jolly Old Saint Nick, or Santa Claus, comes to mind!). Mirthful, on the other hand, evokes mischievousness rather than the hearty “ho, ho, ho” of jolly. Mirthful, while less common than jolly, may be used to describe one’s mood, smile, or laughter itself, all containing a hint of being entertained by some secret silliness.

When a group is on the larger side, it may be called a bevy. Bevy's earliest use in English was as a collective noun for quail (behold, the bevy of quail!), similar to a covey of partridges. When in reference to people, bevy has historically described groups of women. While you will still encounter these specific uses, the word bevy has resisted being pigeonholed. The term is now widely used in a general sense to emphasize abundance in number, and can be found in reference to just about any type of assemblage or collection.