English Dictionary: Jacob's ladder | by the DICT Development Group |
2 results for Jacob's ladder | |
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]: | |
| |
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: | |
Jacob \Ja"cob\, n. [Cf. F. Jacob. See 2d {Jack}.] A Hebrew patriarch (son of Isaac, and ancestor of the Jews), who in a vision saw a ladder reaching up to heaven (--Gen. xxviii. 12); -- also called {Israel}. And Jacob said . . . with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. --Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. --Gen. xxxii. 28. {Jacob's ladder}. (a) (Bot.) A perennial herb of the genus {Polemonium} ({P. c[d2]ruleum), having corymbs of drooping flowers, usually blue. Gray}. (b) (Naut.) A rope ladder, with wooden steps, for going aloft. --R. H. Dana, Jr. (c) (Naut.) A succession of short cracks in a defective spar. {Jacob's membrane}. See {Retina}. {Jacob's staff}. (a) A name given to many forms of staff or weapon, especially in the Middle Ages; a pilgrim's staff. [Obs.] --Spenser. (b) (Surveying) See under {Staff}. |