Aaron's rod

English

Etymology

A reference to Numbers 17:8, the Authorized / KJV translation of which is "And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds."

Pronunciation

Noun

Aaron's rod (countable and uncountable, plural Aaron's rods)

  1. Any of various plants with a tall flowering stem, especially:
    1. Verbascum thapsus, the great mullein, common mullein, or hag-taper. [First attested in the mid 18th century.][1]
    2. Goldenrod, the Solidago genus of North American plants with yellow flowers.
    3. Hylotelephium telephium (syn. Sedum telephium), orpine, livelong, or live-forever.
  2. (architecture) A rod-shaped molding decorated with an entwined snake, and sometimes leaves, vines, and/or scrolls.
  3. (archaic) A rod with one serpent twined around it, as used by Aaron (differing from the caduceus of Mercury, which has two serpents).

Translations
mullein — see mullein
goldenrod — see goldenrod
orpine — see orpine
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

References
  1. “Aaron's rod” in Lesley Brown, editor, The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 5th edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 2.
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