Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The Garden of Eden.
  • noun In various religious traditions, the Edenic or heavenly abode of righteous souls after death.
  • noun According to some forms of Christian belief, an intermediate resting place for righteous souls awaiting the Resurrection.
  • noun A place of great beauty or happiness.
  • noun A state of delight or happiness.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To make a paradise of.
  • To put into paradise; fill with supreme felicity.
  • noun A park or pleasure-ground connected with the residence of an Oriental prince; a garden.
  • noun The garden of Eden.
  • noun In theology: That part of the place of departed spirits where the souls of the righteous are by some believed to await the resurrection.
  • noun Sometimes, heaven, or the final abode of the blessed.
  • noun Hence A place of extreme beauty or delight; a region of supreme felicity or bliss.
  • noun In medieval architecture: A small private apartment or study.
  • noun A court or inclosed area in front of a church.
  • noun The upper gallery in a play-house; the place of the “gallery gods.”
  • noun In horticulture, a dwarf apple-tree, used as a stock on which to graft other varieties for the purpose of keeping the tree small in size. There are several forms or varieties of paradise apple, most of them of unknown and early origin. They are small-stature forms of the common apple, Pyrus Malus.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb rare To affect or exalt with visions of felicity; to entrance; to bewitch.
  • noun The garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed after their creation.
  • noun The abode of sanctified souls after death.
  • noun A place of bliss; a region of supreme felicity or delight; hence, a state of happiness.
  • noun (Arch.) An open space within a monastery or adjoining a church, as the space within a cloister, the open court before a basilica, etc.
  • noun obsolete A churchyard or cemetery.
  • noun See under Fool, and Limbo.
  • noun (Bot.) See Melequeta pepper, under Pepper.
  • noun (Zoöl.) Same as Bird of paradise. Among the most beautiful species are the superb (Lophorina superba); the magnificent (Diphyllodes magnifica); and the six-shafted paradise bird (Parotia sefilata). The long-billed paradise birds (Epimachinæ) also include some highly ornamental species, as the twelve-wired paradise bird (Seleucides alba), which is black, yellow, and white, with six long breast feathers on each side, ending in long, slender filaments. See Bird of paradise in the Vocabulary.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a beautiful fresh-water Asiatic fish (Macropodus viridiauratus) having very large fins. It is often kept alive as an ornamental fish.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any flycatcher of the genus Terpsiphone, having the middle tail feathers extremely elongated. The adult male of Terpsiphone paradisi is white, with the head glossy dark green, and crested.
  • noun (Zoöl.) a very beautiful bird of New Guinea, of the genus Astrapia, having dark velvety plumage with brilliant metallic tints.
  • noun (Bot.), [Local, U. S.] the sapucaia nut. See Sapucaia nut.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See Whidah.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Heaven.
  • noun figuratively A very pleasant place.
  • noun figuratively A very positive experience.
  • verb To affect or exalt with visions of felicity; to entrance; to bewitch.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (Christianity) the abode of righteous souls after death
  • noun any place of complete bliss and delight and peace

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English paradis, from Old French, from Late Latin paradīsus, from Greek paradeisos, garden, enclosed park, paradise, from Avestan pairidaēza-, enclosure, park : pairi-, around; see per in Indo-European roots + daēza-, wall; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Middle English, from Old French, from Latin paradīsus, from Ancient Greek παράδεισος (paradeisos), from Avestan 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬸𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀 (pairi.daēza, "walled enclusure, encompassing"), from 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌 (pairi, "around") and 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀 (daēza, "wall"). 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬰𐬀 (daēza, "wall") may be from Proto-Indo-European *dheigʷ (“to stick, set up”).

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Examples

  • * Pater, dimitte illis; quia nesciunt, quid faciunt – “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23: 34) * Hodie mecum eris in paradise – “Verily, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise”

    Epinions Recent Content for Home 2008

  • * Pater, dimitte illis; quia nesciunt, quid faciunt – “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23: 34) * Hodie mecum eris in paradise – “Verily, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise”

    Epinions Recent Content for Home 2008

  • * Pater, dimitte illis; quia nesciunt, quid faciunt – “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23: 34) * Hodie mecum eris in paradise – “Verily, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise”

    Epinions Recent Content for Home 2008

  • * Pater, dimitte illis; quia nesciunt, quid faciunt – “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23: 34) * Hodie mecum eris in paradise – “Verily, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise”

    Epinions Recent Content for Home 2008

  • The term paradise itself derives from the Persian language of Avestan.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

  • The term paradise itself derives from the Persian language of Avestan.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

  • The term paradise itself derives from the Persian language of Avestan.

    The Fruit Hunters Adam Leith Gollner 2008

  • “I am unfamiliar with everything that the term paradise implies,” Data said.

    TO STORM HEAVEN ESTHER FRIESNER 1990

  • But his paradise is almost lost without characters and dialogue as imaginative as their setting.

    Weak script? No one will care when 'Avatar' looks so good 2009

  • Most residents are anxious to get back to what they call their paradise and rebuild their lives -- Kelly.

    CNN Transcript Jan 14, 2005 2005

Comments

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  • "mud wall around" perhaps literally

    February 18, 2007

  • city in Kansas

    October 23, 2008

  • Also a town in Pennsylvania. :-)

    October 23, 2008

  • A valley in Montana.

    October 23, 2008

  • A park in Jena, Germany.

    October 23, 2008

  • "And daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenberg County

    Down by the Green River where Paradise lay

    Well, I'm sorry my son, but you're too late in asking

    Mister Peabody's coal train has hauled it away"

       —John Prine

    October 23, 2008

  • You stole my comment Effigy.

    October 24, 2008

  • Also a street in Liverpool.

    October 24, 2008

  • Also a "rock club" in Boston.

    October 24, 2008