Pharaoh
(ˈfɛərəʊ)
Forms: 1 Pharaon, 4 Pharaone, Pharaoe, Farao, 4–7 Pharao, 7 Pharoh, 8 Pharoah, 7– Pharaoh.
[orig. ad. L. Pharaō, Pharaōn-em (whence F. Pharaon), a. Gr. ϕαραώ, a. Heb. parﻋōh, ad. Egypt. pr-ﻋo great house. The later Eng. spelling takes the final h from Heb.]
1. The generic appellation of the ancient Egyptian kings; an Egyptian king, esp. that one under whom Joseph flourished, and those in whose time the oppression and Exodus of Israel took place.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. iv. §2 Hiora þeaw wære þæt hi ealle hiora cyningas hetan Pharaon. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. viii. 150 Hit fel as þe Fader seide In Pharaones tyme. 1382 Wyclif Gen. xli. 1 After two ȝeer Pharao [1388 Farao] sawe a sweuen. a 1555 Latimer Serm. & Rem. (Parker Soc.) 177 After that he came at the Red sea, Pharao with his power followed at his back. 1614 Selden Titles Hon. 73 The Egyptian Kings in holy writ vntill Salomons time are all calld Pharaoh's. It was no proper name, but a title which euery one of them had. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile xiv. 385 Rameses the Second..remains to this day the representative Pharaoh of a line of monarchs whose history covers a space of fifty centuries. |
b. fig. Used as a name for any tyrant or task-master.
| c 1630 Sanderson Serm. Prov. xix. 21 §34 Scattering such proud Pharaohs in the imagination of their hearts. 1846 Mrs. Gore Sk. Eng. Char. (1852) 69 The Sundays..by permission of his Pharaoh of the mill, were usually spent in wandering with his sisters about the green lanes by Gadesbridge, or Gaddesden. |
† 2. (Also
Pharaon,
Pharoan,
Pharo.) A gambling game played with cards:
= faro1.
Obs.| 1717 Gay To Pulteney 79 Nannette last night at tricking Pharaon play'd. 1739, 1748 [see faro1 1]. 1782 [T. Vaughan] Fashionable Follies II. cclxii. 212 She..spent whole days, and even nights, at whist and pharoan. 1792 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Odes Import., Resignation xii, Behold, a hundred coaches at her door, Where Pharo triumphs in his mad career. |
| attrib. 1721 S. Centlivre Artifice 1, He belongs to a Pharaoh-table, I us'd to see him tally sometimes. 1729 Gay Polly 11, For some time I kept a Pharaon bank with success. 1796 Colquhoun Police of Metropolis p. x, [Houses] where Pharo Banks are kept. a 1843 Southey Comm.-pl. Bk. (1849) IV. 416 A party were at the pharo-table. |
† 3. A kind of strong ale or beer; also known as ‘Old Pharaoh’, ‘Stout Pharaoh’.
Cf. faro2.
Obs. or
dial.| 1683 G. Meriton Praise Yorks. Ale (1685) 3 Lac'd Coffee, Twist, Old Pharoh, and Old Hoc, Juniper, Brandy and Wine de Langue-Dock. 1702 T. Brown Lett. fr. Dead Wks. 1760 II. 286 A morning's draught of three-threads and old Pharoah. 1839 W. H. Ainsworth J. Sheppard ii. v, Don't muddle your brains with any more of that Pharaoh. |
4. In names of animals, plants, etc.; as
Pharaoh hound, a short-coated, tan-coloured hunting dog with large, pointed ears, belonging to the breed so called;
Pharaoh's ant, the little red ant (
Monomorium pharaonis);
Pharoah's beans, nummulites found in the rock of the pyramids, etc.;
Pharaoh's chicken, the Egyptian vulture (
Neophron percnopterus);
Pharaoh's corn,
Triticum compositum, the grains of which have been found in mummy-cases; mummy-wheat;
Pharaoh's fig,
† (
a) some species of the genus
Musa; (
b)
Sycomorus antiquorum;
Pharaoh's hen = Pharaoh's chicken;
Pharaoh's mouse, or
rat, the ichneumon;
Pharaoh's pence = Pharaoh's beans;
Pharaoh's serpent [
cf. Exod. vii. 9], a chemical toy composed of sulpho-cyanide of mercury, which fuses in a serpentine form;
Pharaoh's worm = guinea-worm.
| 1967 R. Glyn Champion Dogs of World 191/2 The Ibizan Hound. Also known as the *Pharaoh Hound. 1969 V. Canning Queen's Pawn xiii. 240 Raikes sat..reading an article about the revival of interest in Pharaoh hounds from Malta. 1974 A. G.-I. Browne Hamlyn Guide to Dogs 180 Pharaoh Hound... Although in the opinion of many people they belong to one and the same breed, the FCI [sc. Fédération Cynologique Internationale] recognizes the Pharaoh Hound as well as the Podenco Ibicenco [or Ibizan hound]... It is supposed that the Pharaoh Hound came to Gozo and Malta with the seafaring Phoenicians. |
| 1910 W. M. Wheeler Ants i. 10 Some of them [sc. tropical ants], like *Pharaoh's ant.., have been carried by commerce to all the inhabited regions of the globe. 1939 Metcalf & Flint Destructive & Useful Insects (ed. 2) xxi. 770 Pharaoh's ant, Monomorium pharaonis... This tiny, slender, yellowish-red ant..generally nests in inaccessible places about the foundations and in the walls of buildings, from which it forages indoors the year round in search of food. 1978 Times 24 Apr. 2/2 Ministry of Agriculture scientists have devised a way to get rid of one of the more serious modern hospital pests, the Pharaoh's ant. |
| 1884 Leisure Ho. 236/1 Those round discs..known as Nummulites, and which Strabo was informed were petrified beans—‘*Pharaoh's beans’. |
| 1840 Macgillivray Hist. Brit. Birds III. 166 Neophron percnopterus, the white neophron. Egyptian vulture. *Pharaoh's chicken. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. App., *Pharaoh's Fig,..a genus of plants called by authors musa. 1884 Miller Plant-n., Sycomorus antiquorum, Pharaoh's Fig. |
| 1876 Helps Study Bible, Birds s.v. Eagle, The ‘Egyptian vulture’ or ‘*Pharaoh's hen’, common in Asia and all parts of Africa. |
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1658) 427 The Indian Mouse, or *Pharaohs Mouse (as some learned later Writers do write) is no other then the Ichneumon. 1598, 1886 *Pharaoh's rat [see rat n.1 1 b]. |
| 1865 Pall Mall G. 18 Nov. 5, I have found that one half of a 6d. *Pharaoh's serpent is sufficient to poison a large sized rabbit. |
5. attrib. and
Comb., as
Pharaoh-like adj.| 1647 Fuller Good Th. in Worse T. (1841) 84 That I may seasonably drown this Pharaoh-like procrastination in the sea of repentance. 1899 Westm. Gaz. 23 Nov. 3/1 For a while he shows a Pharaoh stubbornness. |
Hence
† Pharaonian (
fɛəreɪˈəʊnɪən),
Pharaonic (
-ˈɒnɪk),
† Pharaˈonical adjs., of or pertaining to, of the nature or character of, or like Pharaoh.
| 1673 Penn The Chr. a Quaker xviii. 577 *Pharaonian Task-Master. |
| 1853 Kane Grinnell Exp. xlii. (1856) 387 Barriers, grander and more massive than the *Pharaonic rubbish of the Ramesium. 1899 Sayce Early Israel v. 149 The Pharaonic Egyptians are the Egyptians of history. 1958 L. Durrell Mountolive i. 17 Forgotten Pharaonic frescoes of light and darkness. 1972 Nature 14 Apr. 324/1 A travelling exhibition of works of art dating from both Pharaonic and Islamic times. 1976 Sci. Amer. Aug. 38/2 It is interesting to note that in the earliest Pharaonic era, that of the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians showed a lively interest in domesticating local animals. |
| c 1528 Impeachm. Wolsey in Furnivall Ballads fr. MSS. I. 352 Where he dyd well, thowe doste Amys by thy *pharon[i]call mynde. 1632 High Commission Cases (Camden) 266 It was a Pharaonical thing to deny her choice of a midwife. |