apocalypsen.
/əˈpɒkəlɪps/, U.S. /əˈpɑkəˌlɪps/ 1. (With capital initial.) The ‘revelation’ of the future granted to St. John in the isle of Patmos. The book of the New Testament in which this is recorded.
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society > faith > aspects of faith > Bible, Scripture > Testament > New Testament > Revelations > [noun]
apocalypseOE
'pocalypseOE
book of privities?c1225
Book of sights1340
revelationc1384
OE Rule St. Benet (Tiber.) xii. 36 Æfter þysum sy gecweden an ræding of apocalipsin gemyndelice butan bec.
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 81 Herof seid Seint Johan þe ewangeliste in apocalipsi.
?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 74 ‘Hit isan derne halewi seið sein Iohan þe godspeller in þe apocalipsi.
c1400 Rom. Rose 7395 That sallow horse of hewe, That in the Apocalips is shewed.
a1440 Sir Degrev. 1437 The Pocalyps of Ion.
1581 J. Walker in A. Nowell et al. True Rep. Disput. E. Campion (1584) iv. sig. Z iiij b The Laodicean Councill omitteth Lukes Gospel & the Apocalyps.
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 2 That warning voice, which he who saw Th' Apocalyps, heard cry in Heaven aloud. View more context for this quotation
1870 B. Disraeli Lothair (new ed.) xliv. 230 The long-controverted point whether Rome in the great Apocalypse was signified by Babylon.
2. By extension: Any revelation or disclosure.
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the mind > mental capacity > expectation > foresight, foreknowledge > prediction, foretelling > inspired prophecy > [noun] > a revelation, disclosure
apocalypsec1384
c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 1 Cor. xiv. 26 He hath techinge, he hath apocalips, or reuelacioun, he hath tunge.
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy iii. iv. i. iii. 756 Interpret Apocalypses, & those hidden misteries to priuate persons.
1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub i. 48 The Revelation, or rather, the Apocalyps of all State Arcana.
1834 T. Carlyle Sartor Resartus ii. v. 52/2 The new Apocalypse of Nature unrolled to him.
Draft additions March 2008
a. Christian Church. The events described in the revelation of St John; the Second Coming of Christ and ultimate destruction of the world.
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1862 R.I. Schoolmaster (Rhode Island Commissioner Public Schools) 8 22/2 There are those who..think they already behold its fearful apocalypse terminating in darkness and in blood.
1947 N. Frye Fearful Symmetry (1990) iii. 67 The apocalypse will necessarily begin with a slaughter of tyrants, and Christ came, Blake says, to deliver those bound under the knave.
2008 Washington Post (Electronic ed.) 28 Jan. c3 Eddy sends an e-mail to thousands of like-minded Christians announcing: ‘The End Days have arrived. The Apocalypse and the Rapture are at hand.’
b. More generally: a disaster resulting in drastic, irreversible damage to human society or the environment, esp. on a global scale; a cataclysm. Also in weakened use.
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the world > action or operation > adversity > calamity or misfortune > [noun] > misfortune or ill-luck > instance of misfortune or ill-luck > dreadful or severe > to the environment
apocalypse1894
eco-catastrophe1969
ecocide1969
ecodoom1972
1894 J. Swinton Striking for Life 357 Comrades of Chicago!.. In these times there are..prophecies of approaching apocalypse... It will surely come.
1940 Common Sense Mar. 4/2 Washington is preoccupied with the threat of apocalypse across the Atlantic.
1980 Bookseller 26 Jan. 316/2 Although most people are saddened by the enforced abandonment of some titles, no one is prepared to interpret it as the publishers' apocalypse.
1994 Time 24 Oct. 33 While the poor are bewitched by dreams of peace and plenty, the rich are preparing for an apocalypse.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.OE