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• cloud-cuckoo-land
  cloud-cuckoo-land

  noun

  an idealized, illusory domain of imagination; cloudland.
• cloud-cuckoo land
  cloud-cuckoo land

  An idealized mythical domain, as in That idea about flying cars is straight out of cloud-cuckoo land. This expression originated as a translation from the Greek of Aristophanes' play The Birds, where it signifies the realm built by the birds to separate the gods from humankind. It came into use in the 1820s. During the 19th century it began to be used for a place of wildly fanciful dreams, unrealistic expectations, or the like, and it also acquired the connotation of “crazy” (from cuckoo, slang for “crazy” since about 1900). Also see la-la land; never-never land.

cloud-cuckoo-land

American  

[kloud-koo-koo-land, -kook-oo-] / ˈklaʊdˌku kuˌlænd, -ˌkʊk u- /

noun

1. an idealized, illusory domain of imagination; cloudland.

   the cloud-cuckoo-land of technicolor cartoon whimsy.

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cloud-cuckoo-land British  

/ ˈklaʊdˌlænd /

noun

1. a realm of fantasy, dreams, or impractical notions

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cloud-cuckoo land Idioms  

1. An idealized mythical domain, as in That idea about flying cars is straight out of cloud-cuckoo land. This expression originated as a translation from the Greek of Aristophanes' play The Birds, where it signifies the realm built by the birds to separate the gods from humankind. It came into use in the 1820s. During the 19th century it began to be used for a place of wildly fanciful dreams, unrealistic expectations, or the like, and it also acquired the connotation of “crazy” (from cuckoo, slang for “crazy” since about 1900). Also see la-la land; never-never land.

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Etymology

Origin of cloud-cuckoo-land

First recorded in 1815–25; translation of Greek Nephelokokkȳgía, the realm which separates the gods from mortals in Aristophanes' The Birds

Example Sentences

"Gradually, almost imperceptibly, over the years the funeral men have constructed their own grotesque cloud-cuckoo-land where the trappings of Gracious Living are transformed, as in a nightmare, into the trappings of Gracious Dying," she wrote.

From The Verge • Jun. 15, 2015

Canterbury came down from the "cloud-cuckoo-land" in which Selwyn twitted her with dwelling.

From A History of the English Church in New Zealand by Purchas, H. T. (Henry Thomas)