firmament
[fur-muh-muh nt]
- the vault of heaven; sky.
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Origin of firmament
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for firmament
Contemporary Examples
The reader leaves with a better sense of the firmament and frontline fights occurring in the current independent movement.
But his disappearance from the Washington firmament does not mean that the work he used to do is being left undone.
Historical Examples
But now came a cloud which swallowed every other in my firmament.
Wilfrid CumbermedeGeorge MacDonald
The troop of the stars was posted in the immeasurable deeps of the firmament.
A Spirit in PrisonRobert Hichens
In the great days, presentiments hover before me in the firmament.
Essays, First SeriesRalph Waldo Emerson
In all the firmament of poetry there was no star to outshine his.
William ShakespeareSamuel Levy Bensusan
The firmament rang with laughter as the other candidates panted up.
Dreamers of the GhettoI. Zangwill
firmament
- the expanse of the sky; heavens
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Word Origin
C13: from Late Latin firmāmentum sky (considered as fixed above the earth), from Latin: prop, support, from firmāre to make firm 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for firmament
n.
mid-13c., from Latin firmamentum "firmament," literally "a support or strengthening," from firmus "firm" (see firm (adj.)), used in Vulgate to translate Greek stereoma "firm or solid structure," which translated Hebrew raqia, a word used of both the vault of the sky and the floor of the earth in the Old Testament, probably literally "expanse," from raqa "to spread out," but in Syriac meaning "to make firm or solid," hence the erroneous translation.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper