heaven

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”), Old Saxon heƀan (“heaven, sky”), Low German Heven (“heaven, sky”), Middle High German heben (“sky, heaven”), 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”).

noun

1. The sky, specifically:
   1. (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.
      All that is vnder the heauen. 1535, Coverdale Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1
      The ordinaunce...made such a great noyse and thunderyng that it seemed the heaven would have fallen. 1585, Nicholas de Nicolay, translated by Thomas Washington, The nauigations, peregrinations and voyages, made into Turkie by Nicholas Nicholay, I vi 4
      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. 1594, Thomas Blundeville, M. Blundeuile his Exercises, act I scene 3
      The Heauens...are carried in 24 houres from East to West. 1625, Nathanæl Carpenter, chapter 4, in Geography delineated forth in two bookes, volume I, page 77
      The moon's path lies in that belt of the heavens known as the zodiac. 1930 March, Nature, 179 2
      In an infinite...universe the stars would collectively outshine the Sun and flood the heavens with light far more intense than is observed. 1981, E.R. Harrison, Cosmology, XII 250
      Above is Heaven, Below are Suzhou and Hangzhou 2006, Peter Carroll translating a maxim of the Southern Song dynasty in Between Heaven and Modernity: Reconstructing Suzhou, 1895–1937
   2. (obsolete) The near sky in which weather, flying animals, etc. appear; (obsolete) the atmosphere; the climate.
      Everie...Countrie, by the nature of the place, the climate of the Heaven, and the influence of the starres hath certaine vertues. 1581, Stefano Guazzo, translated by George Pettie, Ciuile Conuersation, I 26
      Fellow-believers...fed the birds of heaven with the carcases of pious and reverend Church-men. 1660, George Mackenzie, Religio Stoici, II 44
   3. (obsolete) A model displaying the movement of the celestial bodies, an orrery.
      Euery man cannot, with Archimedes, make a heauen of brasse. 1600, Thomas Nashe, Summers Last Will
2. (religion) The abode of God or the gods, traditionally conceived as beyond the sky; especially:
   1. (Christianity, usually capitalized) The abode of God and of the angels and saints in His presence.
      And there was a battel in heauen. Michael & his Angels foght againſt the dragon, and the dragon foght & his Angels. But they preuailed not, nether was their place founde anie more in heauen. 1560, Geneva Bible, Revelation 12:7–8
      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. 1644, Samuel Rutherford, Lex, Rex: The Law and the Prince, V 16
      Christ's coming from the heavens has entered into the life of humanity as the Founder of the world to come. July 30 1906, Washington Post, 12 4
   2. (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.
      As he [Muhammad] was returning, in the fourth Heaven, Moses advised him to goe back to God. 1649, Alexander Ross translating the Sieur Du Ryer, The Alcoran Of Mahomet, Translated out of the Arabique into French... newly Englished, 406
      Like the Buddhas, they [the Jains] believe that there is a plurality of heavens and hells. 1832, Charles Coleman, The Mythology of the Hindus, XIII 220
      The heaven of Siva is in the midst of the eternal snows and glaciers of Keilás, one of the highest and deepest groups of the stupendous summits of Hémaláya. 1841, Mountstuart Elphinstone, The History of India, I ii iv 169
      To grasp the Chinese's notion of Heaven, we must look at the contexts in which tian is used... In the Book of Odes (Shi jing 詩經), which includes poems dated between the eleventh and seventh centuries BCE, tian is a place where the Heavenly Thearch resides. 2011, Lillian Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, section 2
   3. (by extension, usually capitalized) Providence, the will of God or the council of the gods; fate.
      Heaven commands thine arm To lift the sure-destroying sword! 1793, Henry Boyd, Poems, II iv 270
      ...executing the just judgment of offended Heaven upon cattle-houghers, traitors, and assassins. May 8 1886, The Pall Mall Gazette, 1 1
      There's nothing we can do but pray to heaven for good luck. 1992, E. Yoshikawa, translated by W.S. Wilson, Taiko, II 186
      Cosmologists regarded Heaven as a force—composed of qi 氣, which was divided into yin 陰 and yang 陽 aspects—that kept the cosmos moving. 2011, Lillian Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, section 3
3. (religion) The afterlife of the blessed dead, traditionally conceived as opposed to an afterlife of the wicked and unjust (compare hell">hell); specifically:
   1. (Christianity, Islam) Paradise, the afterlife of the souls who are not sent to a place of punishment or purification such as hell">hell, purgatory, or limbo; the state or condition of being in the presence of God after death.
      Teache the people to gett heuen with fastynge. 1544, Richard Tracy, A supplycacion to our moste soueraigne lorde Kynge henry the eyght Kynge of England of Fraunce and of Irelande, section C
   2. (religion, by extension, often capitalized) The afterlife of the blessed dead in other religions and traditions, such as the Pure Land or Elysium.
      The belief in ascending to Heaven after death became widespread in the Han dynasty. 2011, Lillian Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, section 3
4. (by extension) Any paradise; any blissful place or experience.
   England, that was formerly the heaven, would be now the hell for women. 1660 November 14, a speech in the House of Commons in W. Cobbett, Parl. Hist. (1808), IV 145
   Such a shop as that...would be quite a heaven upon earth to me. 1782, F. Burney, Cecilia, I iii iv 51
   They thought strikes and hunger marches the quintessence of politics and Soviet Russia heaven on earth. 1940, H.G. Wells, Babes in the Darkling Wood, II iii 198
   While eating my snack I decided to walk around the house and I saw the hallways change into beautiful valleys and oceans. The television screen appeared on the wall. It was so beautiful that I thought I was in heaven. 2002, Summersill Elementary School, Time Travel, iUniverse, page 16
5. (by extension) A state of bliss; a peaceful ecstasy.
   Husbandes are in heauen...whose wiues scold not. 1550, J. Heywood, Dialogue Prov. Eng. Tongue, II vii
   Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven! October 26 1809, William Wordsworth, “The French Revolution as It Appeared to Enthusiasts at Its Commencement”, in Friend, No. 11, ll. 4-5
   He would just stare at me and say, “You are beautiful, you are so beautiful.” I was in heaven hearing this. 2000, Veronica Brooks, It Could Lead to Dancing, iUniverse, page 18
   We're in heaven. 2002, DJ Sammy, Yanou, Frank Reinert, Bryan Adams, Jim Vallance, Bob Clearmountain (lyrics and music), “Heaven”, in Heaven, performed by Yanou and Do (singer), Title track
   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. 2007, Jackie Collins, Drop Dead Beautiful: A Novel, St. Martin's Publishing Group, page 452
   “Because she was modest and beautiful and he thought he was in heaven when she was around?” “Yes, that's what he said.” 2008, Robert Scott, Driven To Murder, Pinnacle Books, page 163
   I'd turn it up to 10 and it sounded all distorted and I remember feeling like I was in heaven! 2014, Joe Satriani, Jake Brown, Strange Beautiful Music: A Musical Memoir, BenBella Books, page 8
6. (informal, with a modifier) Similarly blissful afterlives, places, or states for particular people, animals, or objects.
   Perhaps it has gone to the dog heaven, and is wagging somewhere in glory. 1867, J.W. De Forest, Miss Ravenel's Conversion, XXVI 368
   His pet name for Easthampton is ‘Goose-heaven’, and he harps upon the idea eternally. 1879 February, J. H. Payne, Scribner's Monthly, 470 2
   One gray beard who found the gates closed shinned up the fifteen foot fence...and dropped into the baseball heaven he was seeking. October 5 1908, Chicago Tribune, 3 1
   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. 1972, M. Sanders, Flash
   The building was once a candy factory, which makes it, Frazier says, mouse heaven. February 3 1986, Newsweek, section 70
   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. August 1 2003, Church Times, 28 3
   Goronwy has gone to goldfish heaven where he is swimming in a beautiful clear blue ocean with all the other fishies. July 17 2004, Western Mail, Cardiff, section 15

verb

1. (obsolete) To transport to the abode of God, the gods, or the blessed.
   He heauens himselfe on earth, & for a litle pelfe cousens himselfe of blisse. 1614, Thomas Adams, The divells banket described in sixe sermons, II 81
2. (obsolete) To beatify, enchant, or please greatly.
   They Byron's Tales]...enraptured the public and heavened Murray. April 13 1924, Observer, 12 4
3. (obsolete) To beautify, to make into a paradise.