Ahab

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Hebrew אַחְאָב (Ach'av, uncle); from אַח (ach, brother) + אָב (av, father). Attested to in Akkadian as 𒀀𒄩𒀊𒁍 (Achabu).

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Ahab

  1. A king of Israel, mentioned in the Bible.
  2. A male given name, very rarely used.

Quotations

  • 1851 Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, Chapter 16:
    Oh! he ain’t Captain Bildad; no, and he ain’t Captain Peleg; he’s Ahab, boy; and Ahab of old, thou knowest, was a crowned king!"
    "And a very vile one. When that wicked king was slain, the dogs, did they not lick his blood?"
    "Come hither to me—hither, hither," said Peleg, with a significance in his eye that almost startled me. "Look ye, lad; never say that on board the Pequod. Never say it anywhere. Captain Ahab did not name himself .'Twas a foolish, ignorant whim of his crazy, widowed mother, who died when he was only a twelvemonth old. And yet the old squaw Tistig, at Gayhead, said that the name would somehow prove prophetic.

Translations

Anagrams

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.