heaven
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
- heav'n (dated)
EtymologyEdit
From a wide variety of Middle English forms including heven, hevin, heuen, and hewin (“heaven, sky”), from Old English heofon (“heaven, sky”), of uncertain origin.[1]
Cognate with Scots heiven, hewin (“heaven, sky”), Old Saxon heƀan (“heaven, sky”), Low German Heven (“heaven, sky”), and possibly the rare Icelandic and Old Norse hifinn (“heaven, sky”), which are probably dissimilated forms of the Germanic root which appears in Old Norse himinn (“heaven, sky”), Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌼𐌹𐌽𐍃 (himins, “heaven, sky”), Old Swedish himin, Old Danish himæn and probably also (in another variant form) Old Saxon himil, Old Dutch himil (modern Dutch hemel), and Old High German himil (German Himmel).[1]
Accepting these as cognates, some scholars propose a further derivation from Proto-Germanic *himinaz (“cover, heaven, sky”).[2][1]
PronunciationEdit
- enPR: hĕvʹən, IPA(key): /ˈhɛvən/, /hɛvn/[1]
Audio (US) (file) Audio (UK) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛvən
- Hyphenation: heav‧en
NounEdit
heaven (countable and uncountable, plural heavens)
- The sky, specifically:
- (dated, now usually plural) The distant sky in which the sun, moon, and stars appear or move; the firmament; the celestial spheres.
- 1535, Coverdale Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1:
- All that is vnder the heauen.
- 1585, Thomas Washington translating Nicholas de Nicolay, The nauigations, peregrinations and voyages, made into Turkie by Nicholas Nicholay, I vi 4:
- The ordinaunce...made such a great noyse and thunderyng that it seemed the heaven would have fallen.
- 1594, Thomas Blundeville, M. Blundeuile his Exercises, act I scene 3:
- In ascending orderly vpwardes...The first is the Spheare of the Moone...The seuenth the Spheare of Saturne, The eight the Spheare of the fixed Starres, commonly called the firmament. The ninth is called the second moueable or Christall heauen, The tenth is called the first moueable, and the eleuenth is called the Emperiall heauen, where God and his Angels are said to dwell.
- c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Comedie of Errors, act I scene 1:
- What obscured light the heauens did grant.
- 1625, Nathanæl Carpenter, Geography delineated forth in two bookes, volume I chapter 4 p77:
- The Heauens...are carried in 24 houres from East to West.
- 1656, Thomas Stanley, The History of Philosophy, II v 74:
- Stars and constellations; some fixed for the Ornament of Heaven
- 1930 March, Nature, 179 2:
- The moon's path lies in that belt of the heavens known as the zodiac.
- 1981, E.R. Harrison, Cosmology, XII 250:
- In an infinite...universe the stars would collectively outshine the Sun and flood the heavens with light far more intense than is observed.
- 2006, Peter Carroll translating a maxim of the Southern Song dynasty in Between Heaven and Modernity: Reconstructing Suzhou, 1895–1937:
- 1535, Coverdale Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1:
- (obsolete) The near sky in which weather, flying animals, etc. appear; (obsolete) the atmosphere; the climate.
- c. 1382, Wycliffe's Bible, Job 35:11:
- 1581, George Pettie translating Stefano Guazzo, Ciuile Conuersation, I 26:
- c. 1597, William Shakespeare, The comicall Historie of the Merchant of Venice, IV i:
- 1660, George Mackenzie, Religio Stoici, II 44:
- Fellow-believers...fed the birds of heaven with the carcases of pious and reverend Church-men.
- (obsolete) A model displaying the movement of the celestial bodies, an orrery.
- (dated, now usually plural) The distant sky in which the sun, moon, and stars appear or move; the firmament; the celestial spheres.
- (religion) The abode of God or the gods, traditionally conceived as beyond the sky; especially:
- (Christianity, usually capitalized) The abode of God and of the angels and saints in His presence.
- 1560, Geneva Bible, Revelation 12:7–8:
- 1644, Samuel Rutherford, Lex, Rex: The Law and the Prince, V 16:
- Conſider firſt that the excommunicated Prelate ſaith... Kings are not immediatly from God, as by any ſpeciall Ordinance ſent from Heaven by the miniſtery of Angels and Prophets, there were but ſome few ſuch, as Moſes, Saul, David, etc.
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, I 263:
- Better to reign in Hell, then serve in Heav'n.
- 1906 July 30, Washington Post, 12 4:
- Christ's coming from the heavens has entered into the life of humanity as the Founder of the world to come.
- (religion, by extension, often capitalized) The abode of the Abrahamic God; similar abodes of the gods in other religions and traditions, such as Mount Olympus.
- c. 1379,, Geoffrey Chaucer, The House of Fame, 164:
- c. 1382, Wycliffe's Bible, Jeremiah 7:18:
- 1594, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, act IV scene 3:
- With Ioue in heauen, or some where else.
- 1649, Alexander Ross translating the Sieur Du Ryer, The Alcoran Of Mahomet, Translated out of the Arabique into French... newly Englished, 406:
- As he [Muhammad] was returning, in the fourth Heaven, Moses advised him to goe back to God.
- 1832, Charles Coleman, The Mythology of the Hindus, XIII 220:
- Like the Buddhas, they [the Jains] believe that there is a plurality of heavens and hells.
- 1841, Mountstuart Elphinstone, The History of India, I ii iv 169:
- 2011, Lillian Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, 2:
- (by extension, usually capitalized) Providence, the will of God or the council of the gods; fate.
- c. 1604, William Shakespeare, All's Well, that Ends Well, III iv:
- 1611, King James Bible, Daniel 4:26:
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, I 212:
- ...The will
And high permission of all-ruling Heaven.
- ...The will
- 1793, Henry Boyd, Poems, II iv 270:
- Heaven commands thine arm
To lift the sure-destroying sword!
- Heaven commands thine arm
- 1886 May 8, The Pall Mall Gazette, 1 1:
- ...executing the just judgment of offended Heaven upon cattle-houghers, traitors, and assassins.
- 1992, W.S. Wilson translating E. Yoshikawa, Taiko, II 186:
- There's nothing we can do but pray to heaven for good luck.
- 2011, Lillian Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, 3:
- (Christianity, usually capitalized) The abode of God and of the angels and saints in His presence.
- (religion) The afterlife of the blessed dead, traditionally conceived as opposed to an afterlife of the wicked and unjust (compare hell); specifically:
- (Christianity, Islam) The afterlife of the souls who are not sent to a place of punishment or purification such as hell, purgatory, or limbo; the state or condition of being in the presence of God after death.
- 1544, Richard Tracy, A supplycacion to our moste soueraigne lorde Kynge henry the eyght Kynge of England of Fraunce and of Irelande, C:
- 1597, William Shakespeare, The tragedie of King Richard the second, act I scene 1:
- 1611, King James Bible, Hebrews 4:14:
- (religion, by extension, often capitalized) The afterlife of the blessed dead in other religions and traditions, such as the Pure Land or Elysium.
- 2011, Lillian Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, 3:
- The belief in ascending to Heaven after death became widespread in the Han dynasty.
- 2011, Lillian Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, 3:
- (Christianity, Islam) The afterlife of the souls who are not sent to a place of punishment or purification such as hell, purgatory, or limbo; the state or condition of being in the presence of God after death.
- (by extension) Any paradise; any blissful place or experience.
- c. 1378, William Langland, Piers Plowman, B x 300:
- 1600, William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame, act II scene 1:
- Ile follow thee and make a heauen of hell.
- 1660 November 14, a speech in the House of Commons in W. Cobbett, Parl. Hist. (1808), IV 145:
- England, that was formerly the heaven, would be now the hell for women.
- 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, I 254–255:
- The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n.
- The mind is its own place, and in it self
- 1782, F. Burney, Cecilia, I iii iv 51:
- Such a shop as that...would be quite a heaven upon earth to me.
- 1940, H.G. Wells, Babes in Darkling Wood, II iii 198:
- They thought strikes and hunger marches the quintessence of politics and Soviet Russia heaven on earth.
- (by extension) A state of bliss; a peaceful ecstasy.
- c. 1385, Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, II l 826:
- 1550, J. Heywood, Dialogue Prov. Eng. Tongue, II vii:
- 1809 October 26, William Wordsworth, Friend, 163:
- Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven!
- 2002, DJ Sammy; Yanou; Frank Reinert; Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance; Bob Clearmountain. (lyrics and music), “Heaven”, in Heaven, performed by Yanou, Do (singer), Title track:
- We're in heaven.
- 2007, Jackie Collins, Drop Dead Beautiful: A Novel, St. Martin's Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 452:
- She was in heaven — she'd never seen so many stars gathered in one place. She already had her eye on Charlie Dollar. Oh yes, Charlie Dollar might be ancient, but he was still raging hot in a Jack Nicholson kind of way.
- 2008, Robert Scott, Driven To Murder, Pinnacle Books, →ISBN, page 163:
- “Because she was modest and beautiful and he thought he was in heaven when she was around?” “Yes, that's what he said.”
- (informal, with a modifier) Similarly blissful afterlives, places, or states for particular people, animals, or objects.
- 1867, J.W. De Forest, Miss Ravenel's Conversion, XXVI 368:
- Perhaps it has gone to the dog heaven, and is wagging somewhere in glory.
- 1879 February, J. H. Payne, Scribner's Monthly, 470 2:
- His pet name for Easthampton is ‘Goose-heaven’, and he harps upon the idea eternally.
- 1908 October 5, Chicago Tribune, 3 1:
- One gray beard who found the gates closed shinned up the fifteen foot fence...and dropped into the baseball heaven he was seeking.
- 1972, M. Sanders, Flash:
- The Dave Clark 5 deserve a place in Rock & Roll Heaven right along there beside Question Mark & The Mysterians, the Standells, Count Five, the Troggs, and the Music Machine.
- 1986 February 3, Newsweek, 70:
- The building was once a candy factory, which makes it, Frazier says, mouse heaven.
- 2003 August 1, Church Times, 28 3:
- Ricky bumps it into the garden, and tells me it is going to ‘the cooker heaven’. ‘Where it will be this size,’ adds his wife, her hands making the size of a brick. She means that it is off to the squasher.
- 2004 July 17, Western Mail (Cardiff), 15:
- Goronwy has gone to goldfish heaven where he is swimming in a beautiful clear blue ocean with all the other fishies.
- 1867, J.W. De Forest, Miss Ravenel's Conversion, XXVI 368:
Usage notesEdit
Frequently capitalized as 'Heaven' in all senses when regarded as a proper name.
When used as a synonym for the impersonal sky, the word has typically been plural ("heavens" or "the heavens") since the 17th century, except in poetry.
SynonymsEdit
- (sky): firmament, sky; welkin (obsolete)
- (paradise): paradise, kingdom come, Xanadu
- (entrance to heaven): pearly gates
- (blissful place or experience): delight, dream, paradise
AntonymsEdit
HyponymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
- as high as heaven
- before heaven
- breath of heaven
- by heaven
- cope of heaven
- die and go to heaven
- eye of heaven
- Father of Heaven
- for heaven's sake
- Glory of Heaven
- God in heaven
- heaven-born
- heaven-bound
- heaven-bow
- heaven-bridge
- heaven-burster
- heaven forbid
- heaven forfend
- heavenful
- heaven-gazer
- heaven god
- heaven helps those who help themselves
- heaven-high
- heavenhood
- heavenise, heavenize
- heaven knows, heaven only knows
- heavenless
- heavenlike
- heavenly
- heaveno
- heaven of heaven
- heaven of heavens
- heaven on a stick
- heaven on earth
- heaven-plant
- heavens
- heaven-sent
- heaven tree
- heavenward
- heavenwards
- heaven-wide
- heaven worship
- hog heaven
- in heaven's name
- Kingdom of Heaven
- knocking on heaven's door
- Mandate of Heaven
- manna from heaven
- match made in heaven
- midheaven
- move heaven and earth
- nigger heaven
- pennies from heaven
- rose of heaven
- seven minutes in heaven
- seventh heaven
- Son of Heaven
- stink to high heaven
- Temple of Heaven
- thank heaven
- tree of heaven
- under heaven
- vault of heaven
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
|
|
|
|
VerbEdit
heaven (third-person singular simple present heavens, present participle heavening, simple past and past participle heavened)[3]
- (obsolete) To transport to the abode of God, the gods, or the blessed.
- (obsolete) To beatify, enchant, or please greatly.
- 1924 April 13, Observer, 12 4:
- They [Byron's Tales]...enraptured the public and heavened Murray.
- 1924 April 13, Observer, 12 4:
- (obsolete) To beautify, to make into a paradise.