Xanadun.
/ˈzanəduː/, U.S. /ˈzænəˌdu/ A place suggestive of the Xanadu portrayed in Coleridge's poem Kubla Khan, with its dream-like magnificence and luxury.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > perception or cognition > faculty of imagination > faculty of conceiving ideals > ideal place > [noun]
heaveneOE
land of behesta1200
Cockaigne?c1335
Fortunate Islands?a1475
eutopia1553
utopia1601
horny gate (also port)1605
nonsucha1618
Americaa1631
El Dorado1788
other world1804
Cockneyland1817
cloud-cuckoo-land1824
Fiddler's Green1825
dreamland1832
Neverland1892
never-never land1900
Big Rock Candy Mountain1917
brave new world1933
Xanadu1948
Disneyland1956
ecotopia1975
1625 S. Purchas Pilgrimes III. i. iv. 80 Xandu, which the great Chan Cublay..built; erecting..a maruellous..palace of marble.
1816 S. T. Coleridge Kubla Khan in Christabel 55 In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree.]
1948 ‘J. Tey’ Franchise Affair i. 7 To that douce country lawyer..Scotland Yard was as exotic as Xanadu, Hollywood, or parachuting.
1958 M. Kennedy Outlaws on Parnassus xi. 165 Desirable readers..do not expect Xanadu to put them in mind of Yarmouth.
1962 Holiday Aug. 70/1 It was only about half an hour's drive to the Xanadu of le facteur Cheval.
1969 Guardian 12 Nov. 5/7 Bob's double-tiered hideaway..overlooking the fairy-lit battlements of his Xanadu in Mayfair.
1972 K. Bonfiglioli Don't point that Thing at Me viii. 76 The Ambassador was at some Xanadu-like golf-links far away.
1977 Time 25 July 2/1 We have lived in Southern California for twelve years and watched nearly everything encapsulate itself within a plastic bubble; not only giant ‘pop Xanadus’ like Sea World and Universal Studios, but also miniature golf courses, shopping centers and finally the American home.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1948