castle in the air

Language: en

Meaning: (idiomatic)Adesire,idea, orplanthat is unlikely to ever berealized; avisionaryprojectorscheme; adaydream, anidlefancy, anearimpossibility.[from mid 16th c.]Synonyms:air castle,castles in Spain,castle in the skies,eggs in moonshine,jam tomorrow,pie in the sky,pipe dream1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym;Robert Burton], “Of the Force of Imagination”, inThe Anatomy of Melancholy:[…], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire:[…]John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps,→OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 2,page81:Many times ſuch men when they come to themſelves, tell ſtrange things of Heauen and Hell, what viſions they haue ſeene;[…]The like effects almost are to bee ſeene in ſuch as are awake: How many Chimæras, Anticks, golden mountaines, andCaſtles in the Airedoe they build vnto themſelves?1696,John Vanbrugh,The Relapse; or, Virtue in Danger.[…](Bell’s British Theatre; XXVI), London: Printed for the proprietors, under the Direction ofJohn Bell,[…], published1795,→OCLC, act III, scene ii,page72:Look you, Amanda, you may buildcastles in the air, "and fume, and fret, and grow thin and lean, and pale and ugly, if you please." But I tell you, no man worth having is true to his wife, or can be true to his wife, or ever was, or will be so.1822, [Walter Scott], chapter III, inPeveril of the Peak.[…], volume III, Edinburgh:[…]Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co.,→OCLC,page70:Her unlimited devotion for "the family," readily induced the old lady to acquiesce in his proposal, though not without a gentle sigh over the ruins of acastle in the air, which was founded on the well-saved purse of Mistress Deborah Debbitch.1847January –1848July,William Makepeace Thackeray, “Rebecca is in Presence of the Enemy”, inVanity Fair[…], London:Bradbury and Evans[…], published1848,→OCLC,page18:She had a vivid imagination;[…]and it is a fact, that while she was dressing for dinner, and after she had asked Amelia whether her brother was very rich, she had built for herself a most magnificentcastle in the air, of which she was mistress, with a husband somewhere in the background (she had not seen him as yet, and his figure would not therefore be very distinct);[…]1854August 9,Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Conclusion”, inWalden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.:Ticknor and Fields,→OCLC,page346:If you have builtcastles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.2013December 18, Kenneth Khulekani Khoza,Castles in the Air,[Bloomington, Ind.]:Xlibris,→ISBN, act I, scene i,page21:We used to buildcastles in the air. We had big dreams. I'm not sure if you still have those dreams, but I still have dreams.

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