welkin
Part of speech: noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: lifestyle
religion
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English welkne (“weather; heavens; (earlier) cloud”), from Old English wolcnu (“sky, heavens”), plural form of wolcn (“cloud”), from Proto-West Germanic *wolkn (“cloud”), from Proto-Germanic *wulkną (“cloud”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *wĺ̥ɡ-no-m, from *welg- (“damp; wet”). Cognate with Dutch wolk (“cloud”), German Wolke (“cloud”).
Inflected forms:
form: welkins
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: The sky which appears to an observer on the Earth as a dome in which celestial bodies are visible; the firmament.
pos: noun
examples: He leaues the vvelkin vvay moſt beaten playne, / And rapt with vvhirling vvheeles, inflames the ſkyen, / With fire not made to burne, but fayrely for to ſhyne.
The ſkye it ſeemes vvould povvre dovvn ſtinking pitch, / But that the Sea, mounting to th' vvelkins cheeke, / Daſhes the fire out.
Come (Sir Page) / Looke on me vvith your VVelkin eye: […]
I knowe more then Apollo, / For oft when hee ly’s sleeping / I see yͤ starrs att bloudie warres / In yͤ wounded welkin weeping, […]
VVhen ſvvallovvs fleet ſoar high and ſport in air, / He told us that the vvelkin vvou'd be clear.
Hark hovv all the VVelkin rings / "Glory to the King of Kings, / "Peace on Earth, and Mercy mild, / "God and Sinners reconcil'd!["]
Black ruptur'd Clouds deform'd the VVelkin’s Face, / And from beneath vvas heard a vvailing Sound, / As of Infernal Sprights in Cavern bound; […]
I've seen the moving stars / Shoot rapidly athwart the sombre sky, / Red fiery meteors in the welkin blaze, / And sheeted lightnings gleam, but ne'er before / Saw I a sight like this.
So wide and so far his ravage they knew, / If a sail but gleam'd white 'gainst the welkin blue, / Trumpet and bugle to arms did call, / Burghers hasten'd to man the wall, […]
Which, by the welkin and its stars, you would not be slow in avenging, Master Christian.
I look out at some early hour of the day, and see a fine, perfect rainbow, bright with promise, gloriously spanning the beclouded welkin of life.
When I look from my window at night, / And the welkin above is all white, / All throbbing and panting with stars, / Among them majestic is standing / Sandalphon the angel, expanding / His pinions in nebulous bars.
To him, the spirit lodged within Billy and looking out from his welkin eyes as from windows, that ineffability which made the dimple in his dyed cheek, suppled his joints, and danced in his yellow curls, made him pre-eminently the Handsome Sailor.
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.
gloss: The upper atmosphere occupied by clouds, flying birds, etc.
pos: noun
examples: [W]ho you are, and vvhat you vvould are out of my vvelkin, I might ſay Element, but the word is ouer-vvorne.
Rhotus was going on when day appear'd, / And with its light the cloudy welkin clear'd.
For trifles only suit an idle hour, / When school is emptied or the welkins pour.
Down washed the rain, deep lowered the welkin; the clouds, ruddy a while ago, had now, through all their blackness, turned deadly pale, as if in terror.
At Saddlers Springs the mules raised the welkin braying for their horse cobbers that had been unsaddled before them.
gloss: The place above the Earth where God or other deities live; heaven.
pos: noun
examples: [T]his villanous Poetry vvill vndoe you, by the VVelkin.
Hovv glittereth novv this place of great requeſt, / Like to the ſeat of heavenly vvelkin hie?
[…] Cassiopœia was taken, / Deep-bosomed wife of the king, whom oft far-seeing Apollo / Watched well-pleased from the welkin, the fairest of Æthiop women: […]
Here we have the sky thrice, three welkins, three lights, three heavens, three earths.
Related words: ethereal
Derived words: make the welkin ring
ring the welkins
Translations: