pearly gates

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Jump to navigation Jump to search
See also: Pearly Gates

English

[edit]

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

After the description in Revelation 21:21.[1]

Noun

[edit]

pearly gates pl (plural only)

  1. (biblical) The entrance way to Heaven.
    • 1795, Joseph Bromehead, Jerusalem, My Happy Home:
      When shall these eyes thy heaven-built walls / And pearly gates behold?
    • 1855, Frederick Douglass, chapter 7, in My Bondage and My Freedom. [], New York, Auburn, N.Y.: Miller, Orton & Mulligan [], →OCLC:
      This immense wealth; this gilded splendor; this profusion of luxury; this exemption from toil; this life of ease; this sea of plenty; aye, what of it all? Are the pearly gates of happiness and sweet content flung open to such suitors?
    • 1908, Harold McGraff, chapter 27, in The Lure of the Mask:
      The narrowness of the imagination of the old masters is generally depicted in their canvases. Heaven to them was a serious business of pearly gates, harps, halos, and aërial flights on ambient pale clouds.
    • 1910, Jack London, chapter 20, in Burning Daylight:
      I'd toss for pennies on the front steps of the New Jerusalem or set up a faro layout just outside the Pearly Gates.
    • 1971, John Prine (lyrics and music), “Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore”, in John Prine:
      By the time they got a doctor down / I was already dead / And I'll never understand why the man / Standing in the Pearly Gates said…
    • 2007, “Videotape”, in In Rainbows, performed by Radiohead:
      When I'm at the pearly gates / This'll be on my videotape, my videotape
  2. (by extension) Heaven itself.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ The Holy Bible, [] (King James Version), London: [] Robert Barker, [], 1611, →OCLC, Revelation 21:21:And the twelue gates were twelue pearles, euery seuerall gate was of one pearle, and the streete of the city was pure golde, as it were transparent glasse.

Anagrams

[edit]