Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Jacob
Ja′cob
,Noun.
[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
(Polemonium cœruleum), 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
.