Wandering Jew

American  

noun

1. a legendary character condemned to roam without rest because he struck Christ on the day of the Crucifixion.

2. Also called inch plant.  Also wandering Jew, Wandering-jew any of various trailing or creeping plants, as Zebrina pendula or Tradescantia fluminensis, having green or variegated leaves: a popular houseplant.

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wandering Jew ¹ British  

noun

1. any of several related creeping or trailing plants of tropical America, esp Tradescantia fluminensis and Zebrina pendula: family Commelinaceae

2. a similar creeping plant of the genus Commelina

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Wandering Jew ² British  

noun

1. (in medieval legend) a character condemned to roam the world eternally because he mocked Christ on the day of the Crucifixion

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Etymology

Origin of Wandering Jew

First recorded in 1625–35

Example Sentences

Pim had read one of Roth’s works years before — a book called “The Wandering Jews,” in which Roth returns to his Galician homeland to describe the “wonder-rabbis” and the Jewish believers who flocked to them.

From New York Times

But when we encounter this man in folklore, he’s known by another, more familiar name: the Wandering Jew.

From New York Times

The visage of philanthropist George Soros, made into the durable caricature of the Wandering Jew of old, was plastered around Hungary.

From Washington Post

The Wandering Jew ring that belonged to my husband, Carl, is very important to me.

From The Guardian

His 2007 book “The Barn Owl’s Wondrous Capers,” for instance, chronicles an unnamed narrator’s search for an eighteenth-century book of scandals, written by an Indian version of the “Wandering Jew” of medieval Christian mythology.

From The New Yorker