Heaven

heaven
    n 1: any place of complete bliss and delight and peace [syn:
         {Eden}, {paradise}, {nirvana}, {heaven}, {promised land},
         {Shangri-la}]
    2: the abode of God and the angels [ant: {Hell}, {Inferno},
       {infernal region}, {nether region}, {perdition}, {pit}]
    

Heaven \Heav"en\ (h[e^]v"'n), n. [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[=o]n to put on, clothe one's self, G. hemd shirt, and
   perh. E. chemise.]
   1. 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.
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            I never saw the heavens so dim by day. --Shak.
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            When my eyes shall be turned to behold for the last
            time the sun in heaven.               --D. Webster.
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   2. The dwelling place of the Deity; the abode of bliss; the
      place or state of the blessed after death.
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            Unto the God of love, high heaven's King. --Spenser.
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            It is a knell
            That summons thee to heaven or to hell. --Shak.
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            New thoughts of God, new hopes of Heaven. --Keble.
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   Note: In this general sense heaven and its corresponding
         words in other languages have as various definite
         interpretations as there are phases of religious
         belief.
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   3. The sovereign of heaven; God; also, the assembly of the
      blessed, collectively; -- used variously in this sense, as
      in No. 2.; as, heaven helps those who help themselves.
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            Her prayers, whom Heaven delights to hear. --Shak.
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            The will
            And high permission of all-ruling Heaven. --Milton.
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   4. Any place of supreme happiness or great comfort; perfect
      felicity; bliss; a sublime or exalted condition; as, a
      heaven of delight. "A heaven of beauty." --Shak. "The
      brightest heaven of invention." --Shak.
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            O bed! bed! delicious bed!
            That heaven upon earth to the weary head! --Hood.
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   Note: Heaven is very often used, esp. with participles, in
         forming compound words, most of which need no special
         explanation; as, heaven-appeasing, heaven-aspiring,
         heaven-begot, heaven-born, heaven-bred,
         heaven-conducted, heaven-descended, heaven-directed,
         heaven-exalted, heaven-given, heaven-guided,
         heaven-inflicted, heaven-inspired, heaven-instructed,
         heaven-kissing, heaven-loved, heaven-moving,
         heaven-protected, heaven-taught, heaven-warring, and
         the like.
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Heaven \Heav"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Heavened} (h[e^]v"'nd);
   p. pr. & vb. n. {Heavening}.]
   To place in happiness or bliss, as if in heaven; to beatify.
   [R.]
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         We are happy as the bird whose nest
         Is heavened in the hush of purple hills. --G. Massey.
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HEAVEN, n.  A place where the wicked cease from troubling you with
talk of their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention
while you expound your own.
    

Heaven
(1.) Definitions. The phrase "heaven and earth" is used to
indicate the whole universe (Gen. 1:1; Jer. 23:24; Acts 17:24).
According to the Jewish notion there were three heavens,

  (a) The firmament, as "fowls of the heaven" (Gen. 2:19; 7:3,
23; Ps. 8:8, etc.), "the eagles of heaven" (Lam. 4:19), etc.

  (b) The starry heavens (Deut. 17:3; Jer. 8:2; Matt. 24:29).

  (c) "The heaven of heavens," or "the third heaven" (Deut.
10:14; 1 Kings 8:27; Ps. 115:16; 148:4; 2 Cor. 12:2).

  (2.) Meaning of words in the original,

  (a) The usual Hebrew word for "heavens" is _shamayim_, a
plural form meaning "heights," "elevations" (Gen. 1:1; 2:1).

  (b) The Hebrew word _marom_ is also used (Ps. 68:18; 93:4;
102:19, etc.) as equivalent to _shamayim_, "high places,"
"heights."

  (c) Heb. galgal, literally a "wheel," is rendered "heaven" in
Ps. 77:18 (R.V., "whirlwind").

  (d) Heb. shahak, rendered "sky" (Deut. 33:26; Job 37:18; Ps.
18:11), plural "clouds" (Job 35:5; 36:28; Ps. 68:34, marg.
"heavens"), means probably the firmament.

  (e) Heb. rakia is closely connected with (d), and is rendered
"firmamentum" in the Vulgate, whence our "firmament" (Gen. 1:6;
Deut. 33:26, etc.), regarded as a solid expanse.

  (3.) Metaphorical meaning of term. Isa. 14:13, 14; "doors of
heaven" (Ps. 78:23); heaven "shut" (1 Kings 8:35); "opened"
(Ezek. 1:1). (See 1 Chr. 21:16.)

  (4.) Spiritual meaning. The place of the everlasting
blessedness of the righteous; the abode of departed spirits.

  (a) Christ calls it his "Father's house" (John 14:2).

  (b) It is called "paradise" (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev.
2:7).

  (c) "The heavenly Jerusalem" (Gal. 4: 26; Heb. 12:22; Rev.
3:12).

  (d) The "kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 25:1; James 2:5).

  (e) The "eternal kingdom" (2 Pet. 1:11).

  (f) The "eternal inheritance" (1 Pet. 1:4; Heb. 9:15).

  (g) The "better country" (Heb. 11:14, 16).

  (h) The blessed are said to "sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob," and to be "in Abraham's bosom" (Luke 16:22; Matt. 8:11);
to "reign with Christ" (2 Tim. 2:12); and to enjoy "rest" (Heb.
4:10, 11).

  In heaven the blessedness of the righteous consists in the
possession of "life everlasting," "an eternal weight of glory"
(2 Cor. 4:17), an exemption from all sufferings for ever, a
deliverance from all evils (2 Cor. 5:1, 2) and from the society
of the wicked (2 Tim. 4:18), bliss without termination, the
"fulness of joy" for ever (Luke 20:36; 2 Cor. 4:16, 18; 1 Pet.
1:4; 5:10; 1 John 3:2). The believer's heaven is not only a
state of everlasting blessedness, but also a "place", a place
"prepared" for them (John 14:2).
    

180 Moby Thesaurus words for "heaven":
      Agapemone, Arcadia, Avalon, Big Rock-Candy Mountain, Caelus,
      Canaan, Civitas Dei, Cloudcuckooland, Cockaigne, Eden, Eldorado,
      Erewhon, Garden of Eden, Goshen, Happy Valley, Land of Youth,
      Laputa, Never-Never-land, Neverland, New Atlantis,
      Olympian heights, Pandemonium, Quivira, Saturnia regna,
      Saturnian age, Shangri-la, Utopia, Valhalla, Zion, acme,
      aerial heights, age of Aquarius, air, apex, apogee, azure,
      beatification, beatitude, bewitchment, blessedness, bliss,
      blissfulness, blue sky, brow, caelum, canopy, canopy of heaven,
      cap, cerulean, cheer, cheerfulness, climax, cloud nine, cloudland,
      contentment, cope, crest, crown, culmen, culmination, delectation,
      delight, dizzy heights, dreamland, dystopia, ecstasy, ecstatics,
      edge, elation, elevation, elysium, eminence, empyrean, enchantment,
      era of prosperity, ether, exaltation, exhilaration, extreme limit,
      extremity, exuberance, faerie, fair weather, fairyland, felicity,
      firmament, gaiety, gladness, glee, golden age, golden era,
      golden time, good times, halcyon days, happiness,
      happy hunting ground, heavens, height, heights, hereafter, heyday,
      high noon, high spirits, highest pitch, highest point, hyaline,
      intoxication, joy, joyance, joyfulness, kakotopia, kingdom,
      kingdom come, land of dreams, land of enchantment, land of faerie,
      land of plenty, land of promise, lift, lifts, limit, lotus land,
      maximum, meridian, millennium, mountaintop, ne plus ultra, nirvana,
      no place higher, noon, overhappiness, overjoyfulness, palmy days,
      paradise, peak, pinnacle, piping times, pitch, point, pole,
      promised land, prosperity, raise, rapture, ravishment,
      reign of Saturn, ridge, rise, rising ground, rosy era,
      seventh heaven, sky, spire, starry heaven, steep, stratosphere,
      summit, sunshine, the blue, the blue serene, tip, tip-top, top,
      transport, unalloyed happiness, upmost, upper extremity, uppermost,
      uprise, utmost, utopia, vantage ground, vantage point, vault,
      vault of heaven, vertex, very top, welkin, wonderland, zenith

    

86 Moby Thesaurus words for "Heaven":
      Acheron, Almighty God, Alpha and Omega, Atropos, Clotho,
      Dame Fortune, Decuma, Demiourgos, Demiurge, Fata, Fates, Fortuna,
      God, God Almighty, Hell, I Am, Jehovah, Jordan, King of Kings,
      Lachesis, Lord, Lord of Lords, Lord of hosts, Moirai, Morta, Nona,
      Norns, Omnipotence, Omniscience, Paradise, Parcae, Providence,
      Skuld, Stygian shore, Styx, Tyche, Urdur, Verthandi, Weird Sisters,
      Weirds, a better place, afterlife, afterworld, destiny,
      eternal home, fate, future state, home, life after death,
      life to come, next world, otherworld, postexistence,
      river of death, the Absolute, the Absolute Being, the All-holy,
      the All-knowing, the All-merciful, the All-powerful, the All-wise,
      the Almighty, the Creator, the Deity, the Divinity, the Eternal,
      the Eternal Being, the First Cause, the Infinite,
      the Infinite Spirit, the Maker, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient,
      the Preserver, the Supreme Being, the Supreme Soul, the beyond,
      the good hereafter, the grave, the great beyond,
      the great hereafter, the hereafter, the unknown, what bodes,
      what is fated, world to come