Jacob
name, noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 A breed of multihorned sheep.
- 2 (Old Testament) son of Isaac; brother of Esau; father of the twelve patriarchs of Israel; Jacob wrestled with God and forced God to bless him, so God gave Jacob the new name of Israel (meaning ‘one who has been strong against God’) wordnet
- 3 A ladder. UK, obsolete, slang
"Where's the Jacob? — the what, sir? — the Jacob! the ladder ye fool!"
- 1 A male given name from Hebrew.
""Georgette. How are you called?" "Jacob." "That's a Flemish name." "American too." "You're not a Flamand?" "No, American." "Good, I detest Flamands." - - - Brett smiled at him. "I've promised to dance this with Jacob," she laughed. "You've a hell of a biblical name, Jake.""
- 2 A male given name from Hebrew.; One of the sons of Isaac and Rebecca, and twin brother of Esau; father of the Israelites (Jews and Samaritans) by 12 sons by 4 consorts, most famously Judah and Joseph who fathered Manasseh.
"And the boyes grew; and Eſau was a cunning hunter, a man of the fielde: and Iacob was a plaine man, dwelling in tents."
- 3 A male given name from Hebrew.; The fifth son of Lehi and one of the younger brothers of Nephi, author of one of the books in the Book of Mormon. Mormonism
Example
More examples"It looks like Jacob has been bitten by the love bug."
Etymology
From Middle English Iacob, from Late Latin Iācōbus, from Ancient Greek Ἰάκωβος (Iákōbos), from Biblical Hebrew יַעֲקֹב (yaʿăqōḇ, literally “he will/shall heel”), from עָקֵב (ʿāqēḇ, “heel”). Doublet of James.
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.