| 1. | a ladder seen by Jacob in a dream, reaching from the earth to heaven. Gen. 28:12. |
| 2. | Nautical.
|
[jey-kuh
bz-lad-er] 
| any of various plants belonging to the genus Polemonium, of the phlox family, esp. P. caeruleum (or P. van-bruntiae), having blue, cup-shaped flowers and paired leaflets in a ladderlike arrangement. |
| Ja·cob's ladder (jā'kəbz) n.
[From the ladder seen by the biblical patriarch Jacob in a dream (Genesis 28:12).] |
A ladder that Jacob saw in a dream. After he had obtained his brother Esau's birthright and received his father's blessing, he had a vision of the angels of God ascending and descending a ladder that extended from Earth to heaven. God, who stood at the top of the ladder, promised to bless Jacob and his offspring and to bring his descendants into the Promised Land. (See Jacob and Esau.)
Jacob's ladder
any of about 25 species of the genus Polemonium of the family Polemoniaceae, native to temperate areas in North and South America and Eurasia. Many are valued as garden flowers and wildflowers. They have loose, spikelike clusters of drooping blue, violet, or white, funnel-shaped, five-petaled flowers and alternate, pinnately (featherlike) compound leaves.
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