firmament

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: fir=ma=ment

CIDE DICTIONARY

firmament, n. [L. firmamentum, fr. firmare to make firm: cf. F. firmament. See Firm, v. & a.].

•  Fixed foundation; established basis.  [1913 Webster]

  "Custom is the . . . firmament of the law."  [1913 Webster]
•  The region of the air; the sky or heavens.  [1913 Webster]

  " In Scripture, the word denotes an expanse, a wide extent; the great arch or expanse over out heads, in which are placed the atmosphere and the clouds, and in which the stars appear to be placed, and are really seen."  [1913 Webster]

  "And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."  [1913 Webster]

  "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament."  [1913 Webster]
•  The orb of the fixed stars; the most rmote of the celestial spheres.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

firmament, n. literary the sky regarded as a vault or arch.

Derivative

firmamental adj.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L firmamentum f. firmare (as FIRM(2))

THESAURUS

firmament

Caelus, air, azure, blue sky, caelum, canopy, canopy of heaven, cerulean, cope, empyrean, ether, heaven, heavens, hyaline, lift, lifts, sky, starry heaven, the blue, the blue serene, vault, vault of heaven, welkin

ROGET THESAURUS

firmament

World

N world, creation, nature, universe, earth, globe, wide world, cosmos, kosmos, terraqueous globe, sphere, macrocosm, megacosm, music of the spheres, heavens, sky, welkin, empyrean, starry cope, starry heaven, starry host, firmament, Midgard, supersensible regions, varuna, vault of heaven, canopy of heaven, celestial spaces, heavenly bodies, stars, asteroids, nebulae, galaxy, milky way, galactic circle, via lactea, ame no kawa, sun, orb of day, Apollo, Phoebus, photosphere, chromosphere, solar system, planet, planetoid, comet, satellite, moon, orb of night, Diana, silver-footed queen, aerolite, meteor, planetary ring, falling star, shooting star, meteorite, uranolite, constellation, zodiac, signs of the zodiac, Charles's wain, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Great Bear, Southern Cross, Orion's belt, Cassiopea's chair, Pleiades, colures, equator, ecliptic, orbit, astronomy, uranography, uranology, cosmology, cosmography, cosmogony, eidouranion, orrery, geodesy, star gazing, star gazer, astronomer, observatory, planetarium, cosmic, cosmical, mundane, terrestrial, terrestrious, terraqueous, terrene, terreous, telluric, earthly, geotic, under the sun, sublunary, subastral, solar, heliacal, lunar, celestial, heavenly, sphery, starry, stellar, sidereal, sideral, astral, nebular, uranic, in all creation, on the face of the globe, here below, under the sun, die Weltgeschichte ist das Weltergesicht, earth is but the frozen echo of the silent voice o, green calm below, blue quietness above, hanging in a golden chain this pendant World, nothing in nature is unbeautiful, silently as a dream the fabric rose, some touch of nature's genial glow, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, through knowledge we behold the World's creation.