Xanadu
proper noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L1248116 on Wikidata ↗Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈzænəduː/
name
Etymology: From Mandarin 上都 (Shàngdū, “Upper Capital”). The first Romanized form comes from Marco Polo's writings in Italian as Shan-Du. In 1617, Purchas his Pilgrimage […] by Samuel Purchas was published in London, containing the phrase “In Xamdu did Cublai Can build a stately Palace” on page 472. This was the inspiration for Coleridge's poem which uses the spelling Xanadu.
- The summer capital of the Yuan dynasty, now an archaeological site in Zhenglan, Xilingol, Inner Mongolia, China.
“In Xanadu did Kubla Khan / A stately pleasure-dome decree: / Where Alph, the sacred river, ran / Through caverns measureless to man / Down to a sunless sea.”
noun
Etymology: From Mandarin 上都 (Shàngdū, “Upper Capital”). The first Romanized form comes from Marco Polo's writings in Italian as Shan-Du. In 1617, Purchas his Pilgrimage […] by Samuel Purchas was published in London, containing the phrase “In Xamdu did Cublai Can build a stately Palace” on page 472. This was the inspiration for Coleridge's poem which uses the spelling Xanadu.
- A place full of beauty, happiness and wonder.
“A place where nobody dared to go The love that we came to know They call it Xanadu And now, open your eyes and see What we have made is real We are in Xanadu”
“That's from the poem of the legend of Kubla Kahn's palace in the lost valley of Xanadu! Alph was the river in the legend! Unca Scrooge, this is the road to Xanadu! You've hit the jackpot! The most wondrous valley on earth! The land of milk and honey!”
- An opulent building or resort that provides entertainment or luxurious living.
““The United States in the twenties was dotted with a thousand Xanadus,” wrote movie-theater historian Ben Hall."”
“The postmodern Xanadus that support this hallucination in the desert offer a particularly attractive paradise of the popular.”