welkin

Etymology

From Middle English welken, welkne, wolkne (“cloud; sky; weather (?); heavens; (astronomy) cosmic elementary, planetary, or celestial sphere; all the spheres beyond the elementary region, including the primum mobile”) [and other forms], from Old English wolcn (“cloud”) [and other forms] (plural wolcnu (“sky; heavens”)), from Proto-West Germanic *wolkn (“cloud”) (Anglo-Frisian Germanic), from Proto-Germanic *wulkaną (“cloud”) [and other forms], from Proto-Indo-European *welg- (“damp; wet”). cognates * Dutch wolk (“cloud”) (plural wolken) * German Wolke (“cloud”) (plural Wolken)

noun

1. (also Lancashire) The sky which appears to an observer on the Earth as a dome in which celestial bodies are visible; the firmament.
   I knowe more then Apollo, / For oft when hee ly’s sleeping / I see yͤ starrs att bloudie warres / In yͤ wounded welkin weeping, […] c. 1620, [anonymous], “Poems from Songbooks and Miscellanies before 1660 Tom o’ Bedlam]”, in R[obert] C[ecil] Bald, editor, Seventeenth-century English Poetry (The Harper English Literature Series; from Giles Earle His Booke, British Museum, Additional MSS. 24,665), New York, N.Y., Evanston, Ill.: Harper & Row, published 1959, →OCLC, page 414
   Mr. [Mario] Lanza has an excellent young tenor voice and he uses it in his many numbers with impressive dramatic power. Likewise, Miss [Dorothy] Kirsten and Miss [Blanche] Thebom are ladies who can rock the welkin, too, and their contributions to the concert maintain it at a musical high. 11 May 1951, Bosley Crowther, “The Screen: ‘Great Caruso’ makes its debut; Mario Lanza plays the famous tenor in Metro movie at Radio City Music Hall”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2018-06-27, page 40, column 2
2. The upper atmosphere occupied by clouds, flying birds, etc.
   Rhotus was going on when day appear'd, / And with its light the cloudy welkin clear'd. 1683, John Chalkhill, “Part I”, in Izaak Walton], editor, Thealma and Clearchus.[…], London: […] Benj[amin] Tooke,[…], →OCLC, page 48
   For trifles only suit an idle hour, / When school is emptied or the welkins pour. 1784, Joseph Budworth, chapter XL, in A Fortnight’s Ramble to the Lakes in Westmoreland, Lancashire, and Cumberland, 3rd edition, London: […] John Nichols and Son,[…]; [a]nd sold by T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies,[…]; and John Upham,[…], published 1810, →OCLC, page 354
3. (religion) The place above the Earth where God or other deities live; heaven.
   Here we have the sky thrice, three welkins, three lights, three heavens, three earths. 1868 March, Max Müller, “Art. VIII.—The Sixth Hymn of the First Book of the Rig Veda.”, in The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, volume III (New Series), London: Trübner and Co.,[…], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 239