Jacob
(ˈdʒeɪkəb)
[a. Heb. yaﻋăqōb, in Gr. Ἰάκωβος, L. Jacōbus, whence also came Eng. James.]
A personal name and surname; used also in derived and transferred senses, partly referring to Jacob's ladder.
† 1. = Jacobus, the gold coin. Obs.
| 1662 Pepys Diary 23 Nov., A poulterer..hath left {pstlg}800 per annum..and 40,000 Jacobs in gold. |
† 2. slang. a. A housebreaker carrying a ladder.
| 1712–53 Thief-Catcher 25 Rogues called Jacobs; these go with Ladders in the Dead of the Night, and get in at the Windows. |
b. A ladder.
| 1708 Mem. John Hall 21 Jacob, a Ladder. 1796 Grose Dict. Vulgar T., Jacob, a ladder: perhaps from Jacob's dream. 1803 Sporting Mag. XII. 54 A Jacob is a ladder. |
c. A simpleton.
| 1811 Lex. Balatr., Jacob, a soft fellow, a fool. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Jacob,..a simple half-witted person. |
3. The possessive
Jacob's occurs in the following:
Jacob's coat,
membrane (
Anat.), the layer of rods and cones of the retina of the eye (named after Arthur Jacob, an Irish ophthalmic surgeon, died 1874);
Jacob's shell, the scallop-shell
Pecten Jacobæus, the emblem of
St. James the Greater, and worn by pilgrims who had visited his shrine;
Jacob's stone, a name applied to the coronation stone of the Scottish kings at Scone, now in Westminster Abbey, fabled to be the stone of Jacob's pillow (
Gen. xxviii. 11);
Jacob's ulcer, ‘a term for
Lupus or rodent ulcer of the eye’ (from Arthur Jacob, above-named). Also
Jacob's ladder,
Jacob's staff.
| 1842 E. Wilson Anat. Vade M. 453 *Jacob's Membrane..is seen as a flocculent film when the eye is suspended in water. 1879 G. C. Harlan Eyesight ii. 18 This external layer, called Jacob's membrane. |
| 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) III. 212 In the Adriatic are likewise found the species called *Jacob's shells, or Pectines. |
| 1637 Heywood Royal King i. i. Wks. 1874 VI. 7 If I survive Englands Inheritance, Or euer live to sit on *Iacob's Stone. |
4. [
f. Genesis xxx. 40
A.V. ‘Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces of the flocks toward the ring-straked’.] A variety of two- or four-horned piebald sheep, believed to have been introduced from Spain in the eighteenth century, and since used as an ornamental park breed.
| 1913 H. J. Elwes Guide Primitive Breeds of Sheep 30 ‘Spanish’ or Piebald Sheep... These sheep are called by various names—‘Syrian’, ‘Persian’, ‘Zulu’, ‘Barbary’, ‘Jacobs’, and ‘Spotted’. 1970 Observer (Colour Suppl.) 26 Apr. 35/2 The black and white Jacobs..are another rare breed of sheep. 1972 Kent Life July 28/2 Ten years ago the number of Jacob Sheep in Britain could be counted in dozens. Today the National Agricultural Centre calculates that there are more than 3,000 sheep in 132 flocks. 1973 Times 14 Apr. 14/5 Most horned breeds are hill breeds. Exceptions are Dorset..and Jacob. |