welkins

Noun

welkin (plural welkins)

1. (also Lancashire) The sky which appears to an observer on the Earth as a dome in which celestial bodies are visible; the firmament.
   • He leaues the vvelkin vvay moſt beaten playne, / And rapt with vvhirling vvheeles, inflames the ſkyen, / With fire not made to burne, but fayrely for to ſhyne.1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 9, page 47

   Synonyms:

   ether, heavens, lift

2. The upper atmosphere occupied by clouds, flying birds, etc.
   • [W]ho you are, and vvhat you vvould are out of my vvelkin, I might ſay Element, but the word is ouer-vvorne.c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
3. The place above the Earth where God or other deities live; heaven.
   • [T]his villanous Poetry vvill vndoe you, by the VVelkin.1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster or The Arraignment: […], London: […] [R. Bradock] for M[atthew] L[ownes] […], published 1602, →OCLC, Act V