heaven-sentadj.
/ˈhɛvnˌsɛnt/, U.S. /ˈhɛv(ə)nˌsɛnt/ Sent by God or a god; providential; very opportune. Cf. heaven-send n. at heaven n. Compounds 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > advantage > [adjective] > as sent from heaven
heaven-sent1612
the world > the supernatural > deity > heaven > [adjective] > heaven-sent
heaven-sent1612
1612 H. Peacham Minerua Britanna i. 15 The number of thy Heaven-sent Lillies, three, Is concord's ground.
a1649 W. Drummond Poems (1656) 151 If you your Heaven-sent-Good could duly prize.
1739 D. Mallet Mustapha iv. ii. 73 Fancy alarm'd sees in each accident A heaven-sent omen.
1777 R. Potter tr. Æschylus Tragedies 40 How relate the heav'n-sent tempest That burst upon my head?
1831 M. W. Shelley Frankenstein (rev. ed.) i. 21 The moulding of her face so expressive of sensibility and sweetness, that none could behold her without looking on her as..a being heaven-sent.
1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 341 He is their heaven-sent friend.
1917 K. Burke Let. 18 Sept. in Sel. Corr. K. Burke & M. Cowley (1988) 53 I can continue on in the same disdainful obscurity that I lived in last year, with the one heaven-sent difference that I know now where the people are I want to meet.
1970 Daily Tel. 1 June 13 This summer's dresses are heaven-sent for this event.
2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 15 Jan. a29/1 Evidence..would await us, providing a heaven-sent opportunity to compare two bio-systems and learn how life emerges from non-life.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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