elysian

1. not comparableAlternative letter-case form of Elysian.

   O who of man the ſtory will unfold, / Ere victory and empire wrought annoy, / In that elyſian age (miſnamed of gold) / The age of love, and innocence and joy, […]

   1774, James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the Second, London: […] Edward and Charles Dilly, […]; Edinburgh: William Creech, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXVI, page 19

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   Departed spirits do not however make a joyful and immediate entrance into these elysian fields, but must first slide for the space of five days, or, according to others, for a still longer period, down a rough rock, which the Greenlanders, by a strange contradiction, represent to be quite bloody.

   1826, John Frederick Dennett, “The Second Voyage of Captain Parry”, in The Voyages and Travels of Captains Parry, Franklin, Ross, and Mr. Belzoni; Forming an Interesting History of the Manners, Customs, and Characters of Various Nations, Visited by Enterprising Travellers, London: Published by J. Jacques and W. Wright, 13, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 246

1. Greekhuman sciencesElysium (“the home of the blessed after death”).

alternative elysian

1. not comparableOf or pertaining to Elysian or Elysium, the location.

   But everyone that has lived a wicked life on earth, committed murder in his own nation, or been guilty of suicide, must pass by a different route to the Elysian fields. He has a steep precipice to climb, which gives him much pain and trouble; […]

   1897, Alexander Henry, David Thompson, “Ethnography of Fort Vermilion”, in Elliott Coues, editor, New Light on the Early History of the Greater Northwest: The Manuscript Journals of Alexander Henry, Fur Trader of the Northwest Company and of David Thompson, Official Geographer of the Same Company 1799–1814: Exploration and Adventure among the Indians on the Red, Saskatchewan, Missouri and Columbia Rivers … In Three Volumes, volume II, New York, N.Y.: Francis P. Harper, →OCLC, part II (The Saskatchewan and Columbia Rivers), page 529

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   Departed spirits do not however make a joyful and immediate entrance into these elysian fields, but must first slide for the space of five days, or, according to others, for a still longer period, down a rough rock, which the Greenlanders, by a strange contradiction, represent to be quite bloody.

   1826, John Frederick Dennett, “The Second Voyage of Captain Parry”, in The Voyages and Travels of Captains Parry, Franklin, Ross, and Mr. Belzoni; Forming an Interesting History of the Manners, Customs, and Characters of Various Nations, Visited by Enterprising Travellers, London: Published by J. Jacques and W. Wright, 13, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 246

2. not comparableBlissful, happy, heavenly

   Winchester College has an Elysian quality, doubtless appreciated by the classical masters who supplied its educational staple for most of its six-century history.

   2015, David Turner, “Embracing the Examination Incubus 1945–1979”, in The Old Boys: The Decline and Rise of the Public School, New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 193

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   O vvho of man the ſtory vvill unfold, / Ere victory and empire vvrought annoy, / In that elyſian age (miſnamed of gold) / The age of love, and innocence and joy, […]

   1774, James Beattie, The Minstrel; or, The Progress of Genius. A Poem. Book the Second, London: […] Edward and Charles Dilly, […]; Edinburgh: William Creech, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXVI, page 19

   Unlike Raphael's "Galatea" and his "Three Graces", examples of Elysian happiness in a race in the state of innocence, Giulio [Romano]'s decorations resemble saturnalia of lubricity itself.

   1909, Louis Gillet, “Giulio Romano”, in Charles G[eorge] Herbermann et al., editors, The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church [...] In Fifteen Volumes, volumes VI (Fathers–Gregory), New York, N.Y.: Robert Appleton Company, →OCLC, pages 572, column 2 – 573, column 1

   Mystic waves of beauty blended / With the gorgeous golden rays / Phantasies of bliss descended / In a myrrh'd Elysian haze. / In the lyre-born chords extended / Harmonies of Lydian lays.

   2007 spring, H[oward] P[hillips] Lovecraft, “Astrophobos”, in John Gregory Betancourt, editor, Adventure Tales, volume 1, number 4, Rockville, Md.: Wildside Press, →ISBN, page 117

   Synonyms: air-headed, blissed out, blissful, enrapt, rapt, cock-a-hoop, delighted, ecstatic

plural Elysians

1. An inhabitant of the mythological Elysium.