Jacob
[jey-kuh b for 1, 3; French zha-kawb for 2]
- the second son of Isaac, the twin brother of Esau, and father of the 12 patriarchs. Gen. 25:24–34.
- Fran·çois [frahn-swa] /frɑ̃ˈswa/, 1920–2013, French geneticist: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1965.
- a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “supplanter.”
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for jacob
Contemporary Examples
Jacob Cordova, 27, is the latest activist to be jailed for their activities.
First, the ghost of his departed partner, Jacob Marley, comes calling, his face emerging from the doorknob.
He paid his own way, joining older brother Jacob who had escaped to the Windy City earlier that year.
“It could not do much when it was in survival mode, but if did survive,” says Princeton Professor Jacob Shapiro.
Why ISIS Keeps Running Circles Around Us, Just Like Al Qaeda Did Before 9/11Christopher Dickey
September 11, 2014
Jacob: As a woman, you have to do your job a hundred times better.
Historical Examples
A few words with her captain, Jacob Smith, told them the worst.
Fair MargaretH. Rider Haggard
So Jacob said; but he was a man of tepid words, and perhaps he remembered the message too coldly.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
Jacob set down his milk pail, and followed her into the Veaseys' kitchen.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
Jacob followed her into the sick-room, and Adam weakly shuffled in behind.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
Jacob was tall and snuff-colored, a widower of three years' standing.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
Jacob
- Old Testament the son of Isaac, twin brother of Esau, and father of the twelve patriarchs of Israel
- Also called: Jacob sheep any of an ancient breed of sheep having a fleece with dark brown patches and two or four horns
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Word Origin
sense 2 in allusion to Genesis 30:40
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for jacob
Jacob
masc. proper name, name of Old Testament patriarch, son of Isaac and Rebecca and father of the founders of the twelve tribes, from Late Latin Iacobus, from Greek Iakobos, from Hebrew Ya'aqobh, literally "one that takes by the heel" (Gen. xxviii:12), a derivative of 'aqebh "heel." The most popular name for boys born in the U.S. from 1999 through 2008. Jacob's ladder, in various transferred uses from 1733, is from Gen. xxviii:12.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Jacob
(zhä-kôb′)François Born 1920- French geneticist. He shared a 1965 Nobel Prize for the study of regulatory activity in body cells.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Jacob
[zhä-kôb′]
- French geneticist who studied how genes control cellular activity by directing the synthesis of proteins. With Jacques Monod, he theorized that there are genes that regulate the activity of other, neighboring genes. They also proposed the existence of messenger RNA.
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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.