heaven [OE] The ultimate origin of heaven is unknown, although parallel forms exist in related languages. Heaven has always referred both to the sky and to the abode of God, regarded as beyond the sky. In Christian theology there is only one heaven, but some Jewish and Muslim people considered there to be seven, of which the seventh was the highest. There souls enjoyed a state of eternal bliss, and so in seventh heaven [ME] came to mean ‘very happy, ecstatic’ in the late 18th century. See also move, paradise.