Ja·cob /ˈʤekəb/
 男人名,雅各
 Ja·cob n.  A Hebrew patriarch (son of Isaac, and ancestor of the Jews), who in a vision saw a ladder reaching up to heaven (--Gen. xxviii. 12); -- also called Israel.
    And Jacob said . . . with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands.   --Gen. xxxii. 9, 10.
    Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel.   --Gen. xxxii. 28.
 Jacob's ladder. (a) Bot. A perennial herb of the genus Polemonium (Polemonium cœruleum), having corymbs of drooping flowers, usually blue. Gray. (b) Naut. A rope ladder, with wooden steps, for going aloft. --R. H. Dana, Jr. (c) Naut. A succession of short cracks in a defective spar.
 Jacob's membrane. See Retina.
 Jacob's staff. (a) A name given to many forms of staff or weapon, especially in the Middle Ages; a pilgrim's staff. [Obs.] --Spenser. (b) Surveying See under Staff.
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 Jacob
      n 1: French biochemist who (with Jacques Monod) studied
           regulatory processes in cells (born in 1920) [syn: Francois
           Jacob]
      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')
 Jacob
    one who follows on another's heels; supplanter, (Gen. 25:26;
    27:36; Hos. 12:2-4), the second born of the twin sons of Isaac
    by Rebekah. He was born probably at Lahai-roi, when his father
    was fifty-nine and Abraham one hundred and fifty-nine years old.
    Like his father, he was of a quiet and gentle disposition, and
    when he grew up followed the life of a shepherd, while his
    brother Esau became an enterprising hunter. His dealing with
    Esau, however, showed much mean selfishness and cunning (Gen.
    25:29-34).
      When Isaac was about 160 years of age, Jacob and his mother
    conspired to deceive the aged patriarch (Gen. 27), with the view
    of procuring the transfer of the birthright to himself. The
    birthright secured to him who possessed it (1) superior rank in
    his family (Gen. 49:3); (2) a double portion of the paternal
    inheritance (Deut. 21:17); (3) the priestly office in the family
    (Num. 8:17-19); and (4) the promise of the Seed in which all
    nations of the earth were to be blessed (Gen. 22:18).
      Soon after his acquisition of his father's blessing (Gen. 27),
    Jacob became conscious of his guilt; and afraid of the anger of
    Esau, at the suggestion of Rebekah Isaac sent him away to Haran,
    400 miles or more, to find a wife among his cousins, the family
    of Laban, the Syrian (28). There he met with Rachel (29). Laban
    would not consent to give him his daughter in marriage till he
    had served seven years; but to Jacob these years "seemed but a
    few days, for the love he had to her." But when the seven years
    were expired, Laban craftily deceived Jacob, and gave him his
    daughter Leah. Other seven years of service had to be completed
    probably before he obtained the beloved Rachel. But "life-long
    sorrow, disgrace, and trials, in the retributive providence of
    God, followed as a consequence of this double union."
      At the close of the fourteen years of service, Jacob desired
    to return to his parents, but at the entreaty of Laban he
    tarried yet six years with him, tending his flocks (31:41). He
    then set out with his family and property "to go to Isaac his
    father in the land of Canaan" (Gen. 31). Laban was angry when he
    heard that Jacob had set out on his journey, and pursued after
    him, overtaking him in seven days. The meeting was of a painful
    kind. After much recrimination and reproach directed against
    Jacob, Laban is at length pacified, and taking an affectionate
    farewell of his daughters, returns to his home in Padanaram. And
    now all connection of the Israelites with Mesopotamia is at an
    end.
      Soon after parting with Laban he is met by a company of
    angels, as if to greet him on his return and welcome him back to
    the Land of Promise (32:1, 2). He called the name of the place
    Mahanaim, i.e., "the double camp," probably his own camp and
    that of the angels. The vision of angels was the counterpart of
    that he had formerly seen at Bethel, when, twenty years before,
    the weary, solitary traveller, on his way to Padan-aram, saw the
    angels of God ascending and descending on the ladder whose top
    reached to heaven (28:12).
      He now hears with dismay of the approach of his brother Esau
    with a band of 400 men to meet him. In great agony of mind he
    prepares for the worst. He feels that he must now depend only on
    God, and he betakes himself to him in earnest prayer, and sends
    on before him a munificent present to Esau, "a present to my
    lord Esau from thy servant Jacob." Jacob's family were then
    transported across the Jabbok; but he himself remained behind,
    spending the night in communion with God. While thus engaged,
    there appeared one in the form of a man who wrestled with him.
    In this mysterious contest Jacob prevailed, and as a memorial of
    it his name was changed to Israel (wrestler with God); and the
    place where this occured he called Peniel, "for", said he, "I
    have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved"
    (32:25-31).
      After this anxious night, Jacob went on his way, halting,
    mysteriously weakened by the conflict, but strong in the
    assurance of the divine favour. Esau came forth and met him; but
    his spirit of revenge was appeased, and the brothers met as
    friends, and during the remainder of their lives they maintained
    friendly relations. After a brief sojourn at Succoth, Jacob
    moved forward and pitched his tent near Shechem (q.v.), 33:18;
    but at length, under divine directions, he moved to Bethel,
    where he made an altar unto God (35:6,7), and where God appeared
    to him and renewed the Abrahamic covenant. While journeying from
    Bethel to Ephrath (the Canaanitish name of Bethlehem), Rachel
    died in giving birth to her second son Benjamin (35:16-20),
    fifteen or sixteen years after the birth of Joseph. He then
    reached the old family residence at Mamre, to wait on the dying
    bed of his father Isaac. The complete reconciliation between
    Esau and Jacob was shown by their uniting in the burial of the
    patriarch (35:27-29).
      Jacob was soon after this deeply grieved by the loss of his
    beloved son Joseph through the jealousy of his brothers (37:33).
    Then follows the story of the famine, and the successive goings
    down into Egypt to buy corn (42), which led to the discovery of
    the long-lost Joseph, and the patriarch's going down with all
    his household, numbering about seventy souls (Ex. 1:5; Deut.
    10:22; Acts 7:14), to sojourn in the land of Goshen. Here Jacob,
    "after being strangely tossed about on a very rough ocean, found
    at last a tranquil harbour, where all the best affections of his
    nature were gently exercised and largely unfolded" (Gen. 48). At
    length the end of his checkered course draws nigh, and he
    summons his sons to his bedside that he may bless them. Among
    his last words he repeats the story of Rachel's death, although
    forty years had passed away since that event took place, as
    tenderly as if it had happened only yesterday; and when "he had
    made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into
    the bed, and yielded up the ghost" (49:33). His body was
    embalmed and carried with great pomp into the land of Canaan,
    and buried beside his wife Leah in the cave of Machpelah,
    according to his dying charge. There, probably, his embalmed
    body remains to this day (50:1-13). (See HEBRON.)
      The history of Jacob is referred to by the prophets Hosea
    (12:3, 4, 12) and Malachi (1:2). In Micah 1:5 the name is a
    poetic synonym for Israel, the kingdom of the ten tribes. There
    are, besides the mention of his name along with those of the
    other patriarchs, distinct references to events of his life in
    Paul's epistles (Rom. 9:11-13; Heb. 12:16; 11:21). See
    references to his vision at Bethel and his possession of land at
    Shechem in John 1:51; 4:5, 12; also to the famine which was the
    occasion of his going down into Egypt in Acts 7:12 (See LUZ
    �T0002335; BETHEL.)
 Jacob, that supplants, undermines; the heel