heaven
/ˈhɛvən/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms heavens heavening heavened heav'n
- noun (dated or poetic, now usually in the plural) The distant sky in which the sun, moon, and stars appear or move; the firmament; the celestial spheres.
- noun (obsolete) The near sky in which weather, flying animals, etc. appear; (obsolete) the atmosphere; the climate.
- noun (obsolete) A model displaying the movement of the celestial bodies, an orrery.
- noun (Christianity, usually capitalized) The abode of God and of the angels and saints in His presence.
- noun (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.
- noun (by extension, usually capitalized) Providence, the will of God or the council of the gods; fate.
- noun (religion) The afterlife of the blessed dead, traditionally conceived as opposed to an afterlife of the wicked and unjust (compare hell); specifically:
- noun (Christianity, Islam) Paradise, 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.
- verb (obsolete) To transport to the abode of God, the gods, or the blessed.
- verb (obsolete) To beatify, enchant, or please greatly.
- verb (obsolete) To beautify, to make into a paradise.
- adjective (obsolete) Being heavenly.
- proper noun (religion) The abode of God or the gods, when considered as a specific location; the abode of the blessed departed who reside in the presence of God or the gods
- proper noun (religion) Providence, the will of God or the gods, when considered as a personal entity or specific aspect of the divine; Fate
- proper noun (uncommon) Other extended senses of heaven as a specific place similar to the abode of God, the gods, or the blessed departed
- proper noun (obsolete) The sky, particularly its distant aspect as the abode of the sun, moon, and stars
- proper noun (Chinese mythology, semantic translation of 天 (tiān)) The supreme God or Nature which controls the universe.
- proper noun (uncommon) A surname originating as a patronymic derived from Evan
- proper noun (rare) A female given name from English of modern usage from the noun heaven.
Synonyms
pearly gates paradise kingdom come Xanadu Promised Land delight dream firmament sky welkin Tian Eden nirvana Shangri-la
Antonyms
Etymology
From a wide variety of Middle English forms including hevene, heven, hevin, and hewin (“heaven, sky”), from Old English heofon, heofone (“heaven, sky”), from Proto-West Germanic *hebn (“heaven, sky”), of uncertain origin.
Cognate with Scots heiven, hewin (“heaven, sky”), Middle Dutch heven (“sky, heaven”), Low German Heven (“heaven, sky”), and possibly the rare Icelandic and Old Norse hifinn (“heaven, sky”), which are all 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).
Accepting these as cognates, some scholars propose a further derivation from Proto-Germanic *himinaz (“cover, cloud cover, firmament, sky, heaven”).
See heaven.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The expanse of space surrounding the earth; esp., that which seems to be over the earth like a great arch or dome; the firmament; the sky; the place where the sun, moon, and stars appear; --often used in the plural in this sense.
- noun The dwelling place of the Deity; the abode of bliss; the place or state of the blessed after death.
- verb To place in happiness or bliss, as if in heaven; to beatify.
Etymology [OE. heven, hefen, heofen, AS. heofon; akin to OS. hevan, LG. heben, heven, Icel. hifinn; of uncertain origin, cf. D. hemel, G. himmel, Icel. himmin, Goth. himins; perh. akin to, or influenced by, the root of E. heave, or from a root signifying to cover, cf. Goth. gaham to put on, clothe one's self, G. hemd shirt, and perh. E. chemise.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “heaven”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details