welkin

noun

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”).

1. The sky which appears to an observer on the Earth as a dome in which celestial bodies are visible; the firmament.

   “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.”

2. The upper atmosphere occupied by clouds, flying birds, etc.

   “[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.”

3. The place above the Earth where God or other deities live; heaven.

   “[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?”