JACOB'S LADDER • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Jacob's ladder

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/dʒˈeɪkəbz lˈædər/ Listen

noun

Jacob n. A Hebrew patriarch (son of Isaac, and ancestor of the Jews), who in a vision saw a ladder reaching up to heaven (); also called Israel. "And Jacob said... with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands." "Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel."

Jacob's ladder.

(a)

(Bot.) A perennial herb of the genus Polemonium (Polemonium coeruleum), having corymbs of drooping flowers, usually blue. Gray.

(b)

(Naut.) A rope ladder, with wooden steps, for going aloft.

(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.)

(b)

(Surveying) See under Staff.

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Etymology of 'Jacob's ladder'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Jacob's ladder" Quotes from Famous Books

... from the wood shelved along a green hillside, where bracken and golden spurge clothed the little hollows, while wild wall-flower, Jacob's Ladder, and a large purple cranes-bill brightened the slopes where happy cattle, but lately released from their winter's imprisonment, were feeding greedily on the young ...

— A Holiday in the Happy Valley with Pen and Pencil • T. R. Swinburne

... a strong tea of the low herb called heart's ease, and drink freely. 2. Make of Jacob's ladder a strong tea, and drink freely. 3. Make of bean leaves a ...

— Burroughs' Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, 1889 • Barkham Burroughs

... relief he yielded to the alluring thought. Up flew his arms above his head—and he felt so warm and cheerful! Something struck his outstretched hand and the fingers closed upon it. For a minute they gripped the swinging piece of rope. Then he opened his eyes to find he was hanging to a flimsy Jacob's ladder, suspended from the stern. With a new strength born of hope he flung up his feet, shooting them through the hempen rungs; and there he stayed for a while—it seemed almost an eternity. Then laboriously climbing the ladder, he made ...

— Dan Merrithew • Lawrence Perry

... men left the cabin: and hey! for the main top. The men let the officer lead them as far as Jacob's ladder, and then hurrah for the lee yard-arm! That was where all wanted to be, and but one could be. Grey was as anxious as the rest; but officers of his rank seldom go aloft, and soon fall out of their catlike habits. ...

— Hard Cash • Charles Reade

... smiled as they ascended to Saturn, Dante would have perished as did Semele, from excess of light. In Saturn dwelt the spirits of the contemplative, the monks and hermits, and here was Jacob's ladder, up and down whose bars of gold sparkled the spirits of the saints, silent for the same reason that Beatrice smiled not. By divine election, Saint Peter Damian descended and spoke with Dante, accusing the churchmen of the time of worldliness and luxury. "Cephas and our Lord came on earth ...

— National Epics • Kate Milner Rabb

... Mr. Billings' craft, drew alongside the blistering side of the burning ship, a Jacob's ladder came snaking down from the stern. At almost the same moment Jack, who had been looking upward, uttered ...

— The Ocean Wireless Boys And The Naval Code • John Henry Goldfrap, AKA Captain Wilbur Lawton