jacob's ladder : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: jacob's ladder	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for jacob's ladder
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
Jacob's ladder n pinnate-leaved European perennial having bright blue or white flowers Synonym(s): Jacob's ladder, Greek valerian, charity, Polemonium caeruleum, Polemonium van- bruntiae, Polymonium caeruleum van-bruntiae (nautical) a hanging ladder of ropes or chains supporting wooden or metal rungs or steps Synonym(s): Jacob's ladder, jack ladder, pilot ladder
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}.