

[par-uh-dahys, -dahyz] Pronunciation Key | 1. | heaven, as the final abode of the righteous. |
| 2. | an intermediate place for the departed souls of the righteous awaiting resurrection. |
| 3. | (often initial capital letter ) Eden (def. 1). |
| 4. | a place of extreme beauty, delight, or happiness. |
| 5. | a state of supreme happiness; bliss. |
| 6. | Architecture.
|
| 7. | (initial capital letter, italics ) Italian, Pa·ra·di·so
[pah-rah-dee-zaw] Pronunciation Key. the third and concluding part of Dante's Divine Comedy, depicting heaven, through which he is guided by Beatrice. Compare inferno (def. 3), purgatory (def. 2). |
] Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
| par·a·dise
(pār'ə-dīs', -dīz') Pronunciation Key
n.
[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 per1 in Indo-European roots + daēzō, wall; see dheigh- in Indo-European roots.] par'a·di·si'a·cal (-dĭ-sī'ə-kəl, -zī'-), par'a·di·si'ac (-āk), par'a·di·sa'i·cal (-dĭ-sā'ĭ-kəl, -zā'-), par'a·di·sa'ic (-ĭk), par'a·dis'al (-dī'səl, -zəl) adj., par'a·di·si'a·cal·ly, par'a·di·sa'i·cal·ly, par'a·dis'al·ly adv. Word History: The history of paradise is an extreme example of amelioration, the process by which a word comes to refer to something better than what it used to refer to. The old Iranian language Avestan had a noun pairidaēza-, "a wall enclosing a garden or orchard," which is composed of pairi-, "around," and daēza- "wall." The adverb and preposition pairi is related to the equivalent Greek form peri, as in perimeter. Daēza- comes from the Indo-European root *dheigh-, "to mold, form, shape." Zoroastrian religion encouraged maintaining arbors, orchards, and gardens, and even the kings of austere Sparta were edified by seeing the Great King of Persia planting and maintaining his own trees in his own garden. Xenophon, a Greek mercenary soldier who spent some time in the Persian army and later wrote histories, recorded the pairidaēza- surrounding the orchard as paradeisos, using it not to refer to the wall itself but to the huge parks that Persian nobles loved to build and hunt in. This Greek word was used in the Septuagint translation of Genesis to refer to the Garden of Eden, whence Old English eventually borrowed it around 1200. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
paradise
| paradise | |
noun | |
| 1. | any place of complete bliss and delight and peace [syn: Eden] |
| 2. | (Christianity) the abode of righteous souls after death |
paradise
see fool's paradise.
Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
paradise
A place or state of pure happiness. Christians have identified paradise both with the Garden of Eden and with heaven.
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Paradise
Paradise is a subsystem (a set of packages) developed to implement inter-processes, inter-tasks and inter-machine communication for Ada programs under Unix. This subsystem gives the user full access to files, pipes, sockets (both Unix and Internet) and pseudo-devices.
Paradise has been ported to Sun, DEC, Sony MIPS, Verdex compiler, DEC compiler, Alsys/Systeam compiler.
Version 2.0 of the library. E-mail:
(1992-09-30)
Paradise Valley, AZ (town, FIPS 52930) Location: 33.53927 N, 111.95462 W
Population (1990): 11671 (4750 housing units)
Area: 39.5 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 85253
Paradise Valley, NV Zip code(s): 89426
Paradise Hill, OK (town, FIPS 57150) Location: 35.61030 N, 95.07136 W
Population (1990): 88 (138 housing units)
Area: 1.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Paradise Hills, NM (CDP, FIPS 55270) Location: 35.19651 N, 106.69429 W
Population (1990): 5513 (1962 housing units)
Area: 3.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Hawaiian Paradise Park, HI (CDP, FIPS 12600) Location: 19.59326 N, 154.97313 W
Population (1990): 3389 (1342 housing units)
Area: 58.2 sq km (land), 1.2 sq km (water)
Paradise, TX Zip code(s): 76073
Paradise, PA (CDP, FIPS 57840) Location: 40.00677 N, 76.12230 W
Population (1990): 1043 (374 housing units)
Area: 2.9 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 17562
Paradise, MI Zip code(s): 49768
Paradise, KS (city, FIPS 54325) Location: 39.11455 N, 98.91756 W
Population (1990): 66 (36 housing units)
Area: 0.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 67658
Paradise, CA (town, FIPS 55520) Location: 39.75641 N, 121.60433 W
Population (1990): 25408 (11633 housing units)
Area: 48.3 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 95969
Paradise, UT (town, FIPS 57850) Location: 41.56761 N, 111.83321 W
Population (1990): 561 (173 housing units)
Area: 2.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 84328
Paradise, NV (CDP, FIPS 54600) Location: 36.08082 N, 115.13360 W
Population (1990): 124682 (63924 housing units)
Area: 123.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Paradise
Par"a*dise\, n. [OE. & F. paradis, L. paradisus, fr. Gr. para`deisos park, paradise, fr. Zend pairida[=e]za an inclosure; pairi around (akin to Gr. ?) + diz to throw up, pile up; cf. Skr. dih to smear, and E. dough. Cf. Parvis.]1. The garden of Eden, in which Adam and Eve were placed after their creation. 2. The abode of sanctified souls after death. To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. --Luke xxiii. 43. It sounds to him like her mother's voice, Singing in Paradise. --Longfellow. 3. A place of bliss; a region of supreme felicity or delight; hence, a state of happiness. The earth Shall be all paradise. --Milton. Wrapt in the very paradise of some creative vision. --Beaconsfield. 4. (Arch.) An open space within a monastery or adjoining a church, as the space within a cloister, the open court before a basilica, etc. 5. A churchyard or cemetery. [Obs.] --Oxf. Gloss. Fool's paradise. See under Fool, and Limbo. Grains of paradise. (Bot.) See Melequeta pepper, under Pepper. Paradise bird. (Zo["o]l.) 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 (Epimachin[ae]) 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. Paradise fish (Zo["o]l.), a beautiful fresh-water Asiatic fish (Macropodus viridiauratus) having very large fins. It is often kept alive as an ornamental fish. Paradise flycatcher (Zo["o]l.), any flycatcher of the genus Terpsiphone, having the middle tail feathers extremely elongated. The adult male of T. paradisi is white, with the head glossy dark green, and crested. Paradise grackle (Zo["o]l.), a very beautiful bird of New Guinea, of the genus Astrapia, having dark velvety plumage with brilliant metallic tints. Paradise nut (Bot.), the sapucaia nut. See Sapucaia nut. [Local, U. S.] Paradise whidah bird. (Zo["o]l.) See Whidah.Paradise
Par"a*dise\, v. t. To affect or exalt with visions of felicity; to entrance; to bewitch. [R.] --Marston.Paradise
a Persian word (pardes), properly meaning a "pleasure-ground" or "park" or "king's garden." (See EDEN.) It came in course of time to be used as a name for the world of happiness and rest hereafter (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor. 12:4; Rev. 2:7). For "garden" in Gen. 2:8 the LXX. has "paradise."
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