castle in the air

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑːs(ə)l ɪn ðiː ˈɛə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkæs(ə)l ɪn ði ˈɛəɹ/

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• Hyphenation: cas‧tle in the air

castle in the air (plural castles in the air)

1. (idiomatic) A desire, idea, or plan that is unlikely to ever be realized; a visionary project or scheme; a daydream, an idle fancy, a near impossibility. [from mid 16th c.]

   Synonyms: air castle, castles in Spain, castle in the skies, eggs in moonshine, jam tomorrow, pie in the sky, pipe dream

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Of the Force of Imagination”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 2, page 81:

     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, and Caſtles in the Aire doe 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 of John Bell, […], published 1795, →OCLC, act III, scene ii, page 72:

     Look you, Amanda, you may build castles 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, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 70:

     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 a castle in the air, which was founded on the well-saved purse of Mistress Deborah Debbitch.

   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, “Rebecca is in Presence of the Enemy”, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 18:

     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 magnificent castle 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); […]

   • 1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Conclusion”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 346:

     If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

   • 2013 December 18, Kenneth Khulekani Khoza, Castles in the Air, [Bloomington, Ind.]: Xlibris, →ISBN, act I, scene i, page 21:

     We used to build castles in the air. We had big dreams. I'm not sure if you still have those dreams, but I still have dreams.

Completing the metaphor, one is said to form or build a castle in the air.

• build air castles
• build castles in the air

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “castle in the air”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

• Castle in the Air (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia