over the rainbow

English

Prepositional phrase

over the rainbow

1. Extremely happy; thrilled.
   • 2006, Dorothy Palmer, When Fenelon Falls, →ISBN, page 54:

     So when we landed in Rosedale that Saturday the 28th of June, we weren't in Toronto anymore, but only Grandma was over the rainbow to see us.

   • 2007, Martin H. Greenberg, Jean Rabe, Pandora's Closet, →ISBN:

     It practically called out to me, and when I saw the three dollar price tag, I was over the rainbow for it.

   • 2010, Linda Lecuona, Uri: A Donkey's Tale of the Cross, →ISBN, page 18:

     She was beyond happiness, she was over the rainbow.

2. The afterlife or the path a soul takes to reach the afterlife.
   • 2012, Linda Hussey, Diamond in the Sky, page 56:

     Somewhere over the rainbow
     My son waits for me,
     There in the presence of our Heavenly Father
     He's as happy as can be.

   • 2012, Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen, Chicken Soup for the Soul Children with Special Needs, →ISBN:

     Knowing that these would be my final moments with my son, I told him that if he needed to go, it would be all right. And with my cheek against his, I whispered in his ear, “I'll meet you just over the rainbow, tomorrow.”

   • 2013, Gary Fish, Yes, Men Do Cry: A Journal, →ISBN, page 194:

     One thing for sure, I won't know until I die. And it looks like we don't let the ones left behind know what is over the rainbow.

   • 2015, Walter Mosley, Inside a Silver Box: A Novel, →ISBN, page 229:

     I mean the man I'm based on is dead and gone. His soul rose up over the rainbow and is headed for an existence way beyond what we are.

3. Beyond one's grasp; impossible to reach or achieve.
   • 2010, G.R. Pafumi, Is Our Vision of God Obsolete?, →ISBN:

     Even if it is finished and we have no souls, there may still be some higher order of intelligence out there, somewhere over the rainbow, or in a parallel universe we cannot see.

   • 2012, Bonnie Kaye, Doomed Grooms: Gay and Bisexual Husbands in Straight Marriages, →ISBN:

     Where is the pot of gold over the rainbow here?

   • 2015, Grant D. Fairley, William S Cook Jr., Your Third Act: A Guide to a Great Retirement, →ISBN:

     Some of these dreams have always felt “over the rainbow” while others appeared to almost be in our grasp.