Heaven

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See also: heaven

English

Etymology

See heaven.

Proper noun

Heaven

  1. (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
  2. (religion) Providence, the will of God or the gods, when considered as a personal entity or specific aspect of the divine; Fate
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, line 212:
      ...but that the will
      And high permission of all-ruling Heaven
      Left him at large to his own dark designs,
    • 1793, Henry Boyd, Poems, II iv 270:
      Heaven commands thine arm
      To lift the sure-destroying sword!
    • 1886 May 8, The Pall Mall Gazette, 1 1:
      ...executing the just judgment of offended Heaven upon cattle-houghers, traitors, and assassins.
    • 2011, Lillian Tseng, Picturing Heaven in Early China, section 3:
      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.
  3. (uncommon) Other extended senses of heaven as a specific place similar to the abode of God, the gods, or the blessed departed
    • 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.
  4. (obsolete) The sky, particularly its distant aspect as the abode of the sun, moon, and stars
    • 1581, Stefano Guazzo, translated by George Pettie, Ciuile Conuersation, I 26:
      Everie...Countrie, by the nature of the place, the climate of the Heaven, and the influence of the starres hath certaine vertues.
    • 1625, Nathanæl Carpenter, Geography delineated forth in two bookes, I iv 77:
      The Heauens...are carried in 24 houres from East to West.
  5. (Chinese mythology, semantic translation of 天 (tiān)) The supreme God or Nature which controls the universe.
    Synonym: Tian
    • 1893, James Legge, transl., The Doctrine of the Mean‎:
      What Heaven has conferred is called the Nature...
    • 2000, Yao Xinzhong, An Introduction to Confucianism, page 142:
      ...‘Heaven’ as we use it throughout the book is only a convenient but inaccurate translation of the Chinese character tian. Heaven in Chinese religions as well as in the Confucian tradition has multidimensional implications... In its metaphysical and physical connotation, Heaven... refers to... Nature. Applied in the spiritual realm, it signifies an anthropomorphic Lord or a Supreme Being who presides in Heaven, and rules over or governs directly the spiritual and material worlds.
    • 2018, Zhuo Xinping, Religious Faith of the Chinese, page 58:
      It was not just the sky, but a god with wills and intentions, seen as sovereign of all... In fact, "Tian" was another reverent term to address the supreme god: "Heaven, for the help of the inferior people, made for them rulers, and made for them instructors" ("Great Declaration I" in the Book of History)...
  6. (uncommon) A surname originating as a patronymic derived from Evan
  7. (rare) A female given name from English of modern usage from the noun heaven.

Derived terms

Translations

All meanings — see heaven

See also

Further reading

Anagrams

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