OE Blickling Homilies 223 Efne heofonlice blisse & gefean mon mihte a on his [sc. St Martin's] mode & on his andwleotan ongytan.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 5483 Þe firrste ȝife iss witt. & skill Inn hefennlike þingess.

c1225 (?c1200) Sawles Warde (Bodl.) (1938) 32 (MED) Þe libbinde i flesche ouergað flesches lahe ant ouercumeð cunde þe leadeð heouenlich lif in eorðe.

1447 O. Bokenham Lives of Saints (Arun.) (1938) 295 She was so enflawmyd wyth heuenely hete.

c1480 (a1400) St. Machor 1101 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 32 Lang sermonyng of haly lyf & hewinlik thing.

1554 Bp. T. Watson Twoo Notable Serm. sig. Ci^v God open theyr eyes to see, and folowe hys heauenly wisdome.

1598 W. Shakespeare Love's Labour's Lost v. ii. 356 A breaking..Of heauenly Othes vowed with integritie. View more context for this quotation

1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. ix. 192 Instructing them by his heavenly preaching.

1682 J. Howe Self-ded. 47 A divine and heavenly love.

1703 S. Centlivre Stolen Heiress ii. i. 19 So brightly shines that Heavenly Love.

1799 R. Lawrence tr. J. W. von Goethe Gortz of Berligen v. 122 Diffuse hope—heavenly hope over his fainting soul!

1814 R. Southey Roderick xxv. 312 Never man enjoyed a heavenlier peace.

1879 R. K. Douglas Confucianism iii. 72 The Sage..pursues the heavenly way without the slightest deflection.

1903 G. B. Shaw Man & Superman iii. 101 I don't admire the heavenly temperament..but it takes all sorts to make a universe.

1951 ‘J. Wyndham’ Day of Triffids xv. 274 They've [sc. comets] been portents and symbols of heavenly wrath and warnings that the end is at hand.

2003 R. Taylor How to read Church 179 Seven Heavenly Virtues were acknowledged. These were broken down into the four cardinal virtues..and the three theological virtues.

OE Ælfric Hexameron (Hatton 115) 44 Ðæt lyft is swa heah swa swa ða heofonlican wolcnu and eac ealswa brad swa swa þære eorðan bradnyss.

c1175 ( Homily (Bodl. 343) in S. Irvine Old Eng. Homilies (1993) 201 Þa heaȝæ muntæs and dunæ..beoð mid heofenlice fure [OE Corpus Cambr. 421 heofenfyre] iþread and iþreste, and mid liȝe toslaȝene.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 271 (MED) Þe ouer party þerof hatte Celica, þat is, heuenliche and hiȝe, for hiȝe mountaignes þat beeþ þerynne.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. 918 (MED) Lo, ferst the hevenly figures, The Sonne and Mone eclipsen bothe.

1508 W. Dunbar Goldyn Targe (Chepman & Myllar) in Poems (1998) I. 184 The rosis..powderit brycht with hevinly beriall droppis.

a1525 (c1448) R. Holland Bk. Howlat l. 431 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1925) II. 108 The colour of asure ane hevinliche hewe.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Jer. viii. 2 The Sonne, the Moone and all the heauenly hooste.

a1676 M. Hale Primitive Originat. Mankind (1677) ii. iii. 145, 372 Astronomical miles, or 25 Heavenly degrees.

1776 W. J. Mickle tr. L. de Camoens Lusiad v. 195 Fewer stars inspire the heavenly plain.

1855 P. J. Bailey Mystic 100 Grim-tuskéd boar..Whom ancient myths in the heavenly north instarred.

1887 Harper's Mag. Apr. 714 Her own soft tears fell down like heavenly dew.

1928 E. Ferber They brought their Women (1933) 128 One of the few taxi men to whom the engine of a car was not as mysterious and unexplored as the heavenly constellations.

OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: John iii. 12 Si terrena dixi uobis et non creditis quomodo si dixero uobis caelestia credetis : gif ða eorðlico ic cueð iuh..& ne gelefes gee huu gif ic cueðo uel ic sægo iuh ða heofunlico [OE West Saxon Gospels: Corpus Cambr. heofonlicæ þing] ge gelefeð.

OE Vercelli Homilies (1992) x. 212 For þam iorðlicum ic sylle þa heofonlican, for þyssum willendlicum [i.e. hwilendlicum] þa ecan, for þyssum lænan life þæt unlæne.

1616 W. Gouge Πανοπλια του Θεου 93 In the originall places are not exprest, but indefinitely the Apostle saith, in heauenlies. Now when an adiectiue is so set alone, most vsually the substantiue vnderstood, is thing or things.

1698 J. Howe Serm. preach'd Late Day of Thanksgiving 15 That He would Bless us with Spiritual Blessings in the Heavenlies.

a1721 J. Skepp Divine Energy (1722) 6 [God] set him at his own right Hand in the Heavenlies.

a1769 R. Riccaltoun Notes Galatians in Wks. (1772) III. 337 These heavenlies, or heavenly places, which those who are quickened and raised up with Christ, are made to sit in.

1844 E. B. Barrett Drama of Exile in Poems I. 102 Thy speech is of the Heavenlies.

1875 E. White Life in Christ ii. xii. 138 Against spirits of wickedness in the heavenlies, or aerial regions.

1940 Jrnl. Philos. 37 153 He breaks completely with the Platonic view that values are timeless, dwelling in the serenity of the heavenlies, where no clock ever ticks.

1961 C. E. Padwick Muslim Devotions v. 65 For both religions [sc. Islam and Christianity] tasbīḥ soars into the heavenlies, carrying worship into realms where omnia exeunt in mysterium.

2002 R. Webber Younger Evangelicals ii. iii. 63 Cathedrals were visual images of the heavenlies, their spires pointing to the heavens.

1871 F. P.Smith Contrib. Towards Materia Medica & Nat. Hist. China 210 The Chinese did not originally derive the substance from India, but a mistake arose from the fact that the T'ien-chuh, or ‘heavenly bamboo’, a name now given to an Exogenous plant with red berries, of a very different kind, was the variety in the south of China which most frequently secreted his much prized drug.

1940 H. E. Gibson et al. Nature in Chinese Art vii. 129 The heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica), with its attractive foliage and bunches of red berries, is another favorite shrub of Chinese painters.

2006 Phoenix Home & Garden Feb. 154 She found that heavenly bamboo and Indian hawthorn thrived, while hibiscus and ruellia withered.

a1475 (?a1430) J. Lydgate tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Life Man (Vitell.) l. 3123 (MED) Off hevenly bodyes cyrculer, He [sc. God] stant no thyng in ther daunger.

c1475 (c1445) R. Pecock Donet (1921) 87 His [sc. God's] ȝift into oure seruice of heuenli bodies, as ben planetis and sterris wiþ her large speeris.

1539 R. Taverner Garden of Wysdom sig. B.v He [sc. Socrates] disputed..neuer of the planetes and heuenly bodyes, as the other philosophers were accustomed.

1612 F. Bacon Ess. (new ed.) 55 Princes are like the heavenly bodies, which cause good, or evill times, and which have much veneration, but no rest.

1704 J. Dennis Grounds of Crit. in Poetry iv. 45 The Heavens and Heavenly Bodies, the Sun, the Moon, the Stars.

1807 T. Young Course Lect. Nat. Philos. I. xlv. 541 For ascertaining..the position of any of the heavenly bodies, it is usual to determine its meridian altitude by quadrants, and the time of its passing the meridian by transit instruments.

1938 P. V. H. Weems Air Navigation (ed. 2) xvi. 263 The geographical position of a heavenly body is the point on the earth's surface that has the body in its zenith; in other words the substellar, subsolar, or sublunar point.

1994 Homiletic & Pastoral Rev. June 23/1 The Ptolemaic Theory was constructed to explain the apparent motions of the heavenly bodies around the earth.

1829 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Plants 870 Diospyros. From Διος πυρος, the fruit of Jove, or heavenly fruit. It has been fancied that the European species of this plant produced that famous fruit, which, according to ancient romancers, caused oblivion.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Luke ii. 26 And straight waye there was by the angell a multitude of heauenly hoostes, which praysed God.

1685 M. Barne Authority Church-guides (ed. 2) 10 If Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, fall from his Allegiance, whole Legions of the Heavenly Host are involv'd in the Rebellion.

1721 J. Hargrave Riches Rightly Improved 9 He is now reaping the Fruits and Rewards of all his good Deeds, among the Heavenly Host.

1851 H. W. Longfellow Golden Legend Nativity 139 The Angel of the uttermost Of all the shining, heavenly host.

2007 Hartford (Connecticut) Courant (Nexis) 14 Aug. b5 The laughter that has left our hearts has ascended with her to join a heavenly host of her loved ones.

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 239 Caelitus, heofonlice.

a1425 J. Wyclif Sel. Eng. Wks. (1871) III. 343 Joon lovede Crist more hevenliche.

c1450 tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage Lyfe Manhode (Cambr.) (1869) 121 Þat j be a brid hye raueshed heuenlich contemplatyf.

a1513 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen in Poems (1998) I. 41 Vnder ane holyn hewinlie grein hewit.

1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. Proem iv. sig. A2^v O Goddesse heauenly bright.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) v. ii. 144 O she was heauenly true. View more context for this quotation

1645 J. Milton On Time in Poems 20 Our heav'nly-guided soul.

1676 N. Lee Sophonisba ii. i. 16 How you came to be thus Heavenly fair.

1717 A. Pope Eloisa to Abelard in Wks. 417 Where heav'nly-pensive, contemplation dwells.

1799 W. Godwin St. Leon IV. xii. 269 Pandora was so heavenly fair, so sweetly delicate.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam lxxxv. 127 In azure orbits heavenly -wise. View more context for this quotation

1855 Harper's Mag. June 105/2 It was a November day—November, yet so mild, so sunshiny, so heavenly calm.

1868 Ld. Houghton Sel. from Wks. 213 To seem So heavenly-happy in my dream.

1935 H. Walpole Inquisitor iii. vii. 546 The escape..now seemed so heavenly desirable that it must therefore be unrealizable.

1957 Woman's Day (N.Y.) July 17/1 (advt.) Our mix makes angel food that's heavenly-high.

1997 Herald (Rock Hill, S. Carolina) (Nexis) 7 Jan. 1 b Panthers linebacker Kevin Greene said the Panthers have been heavenly blessed.

2000 Chatham (Ont.) Daily News (Nexis) 11 Dec. 8 The taste is worth it..heavenly delicious on a cold winter day!

a1586 Sir P. Sidney Arcadia (1590) i. iii. f. 12^v Her haire like Craple-stone; her mouth O heauenly wyde.

1673 H. Hickman Hist. Quinq-articularis 411 But indeed his Opinion and the Remonstrants Opinion, seem to be heavenly wide.

1711 W. Forbes Farthingale Revived 2 Oh Garment, heavenly wide! thy spacious Round Do's my astonish'd Thoughts almost confound!

a1889 G. M. Hopkins Voice from World in Poems (1948) 121 You are gone so heavenly far You hear nor care of love and pain.

1889 Harper's Mag. May 984/2 The forgiveness of the wronged man is heavenly far above the patrician pride of the gentleman who disgraced him.

1986 H. Dunmore Short Days, Long Nights (1991) 116 Heavenly wide canopies bring down stolid chaps.