Empyrean
WordNet
adjective
(1) Inspiring awe
"Well-meaning ineptitude that rises to empyreal absurdity"- M.S.Dworkin
"Empyrean aplomb"- Hamilton Basso
"The sublime beauty of the night"
(2) Of or relating to the sky or heavens
"The empyrean sphere"
noun
(3) The apparent surface of the imaginary sphere on which celestial bodies appear to be projected
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From , from , from + .
Noun
- The region of pure light and fire; the highest heaven, where the pure element of fire was supposed by the ancients to exist: the same as the ether, the ninth heaven according to ancient astronomy.
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- So sung they, and the Empyrean rung, / With Halleluiahs:
- 1863, Alfred Tennyson, Experiments in Quantity
- the deep-domed empyrean / Rings to the roar of an angel onset
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- The very empyrean seemed to be a secret.
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Adjective
- of the sky or the heavens; celestially refined
- 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis
- In th’empyrean heaven, the bless’d abode, / The Thrones and the Dominions prostrate lie, / Not daring to behold their angry God.
- 1700, Matthew Prior, Carmen Saeculare
- Yet upward she [the goddess] incessant flies; / Resolv’d to reach the high empyrean Sphere.
- 1818, John Keats, Endymion
- Lispings empyrean will ii sometimes teach / Thine honeyed tongue.
- 1667, John Dryden, Annus Mirabilis