apocalypse
(əˈpɒkəlɪps)
Forms: 3–7 apocalips(e, 4 appocalyppce, -lipse, 4–5 apocolyps, -lips, (5 pocalyps), 5–7 apocalyps, 6 -lippis, appocalypse, 6– apocalypse.
[ad. L. apocalypsis, a. Gr. ἀποκάλυψις, n. of action f. ἀποκαλύπτειν to uncover, disclose, f. ἀπό off + καλύπτειν to cover.]
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.
| [c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 81 Herof seid Seint Johan þe ewangeliste in apocalipsi.] c 1230 Ancr. R. 94 ‘Hit is a derne halewi,’ seið sein Johan ewangeliste in þe Apocalipse. c 1400 Rom. Rose 7395 That sallow horse of hewe, That in the Apocalips is shewed. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 1437 The Pocalyps of Ion. 1581 Walker in Confer. iv. (1584) Z iiij b, The Laodicean Councill omitteth Lukes Gospel & the Apocalyps. 1667 Milton P.L. iv. 2 That warning voice which he who saw Th' Apocalyps, heard cry in Heaven aloud. 1870 Disraeli Lothair xliv. 230 The long-controverted point whether Rome in the great Apocalypse was signified by Babylon. |
2. By extension: Any revelation or disclosure.
| 1382 Wyclif 1 Cor. xiv. 26 He hath techinge, he hath apocalips, or reuelacioun, he hath tunge. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. 677 (L.) Interpret apocalypses, and those hidden mysteries to private persons. 1704 Swift T. Tub i. (1750) 31 The Revelation or rather the Apocalypse of all State⁓arcana. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. v, The new apocalypse of Nature unrolled to him. |
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▸ a. Christian Church. The events described in the revelation of St John; the Second Coming of Christ and ultimate destruction of the world.
| 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.
| 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. |