Wĕl'kin, n.

n. [A-S. wolcen, welcn, cloud, air, sky, heaven, O. Sax. wolcan, O. Fries. wolken, ulken, O. H. Ger. wolchan, M. H. Ger. wolken, N. H. Ger. wolke, L. Ger. wulke, Skr. valāhaka, a cloud.] The visible regions of the air; the vault of heaven; the sky. “The fair welkin foully overcast.” Spenser. “When storms the welkin rend.” Wordsworth.

☞ Welkin eye, in Shakespeare, is interpreted by Johnson, a blue eye, from welkin, the sky; by Todd, a rolling eye, from A-S. wealcan, to roll; and by Entick, a languishing eye. See WELK.