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behemoth

 - 4 dictionary results

be⋅he⋅moth

  [bi-hee-muhth, bee-uh-]
Use behemoth in a Sentence
–noun
1. an animal, perhaps the hippopotamus, mentioned in Job 40:15–24.
2. any creature or thing of monstrous size or power: The army's new tank is a behemoth. The cartel is a behemoth small business owners fear.
Origin:
1350–1400; < Heb bəhēmōth, an aug. pl. of bəhēmāh beast; r. ME bemoth
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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be·he·moth   (bĭ-hē'məth, bē'ə-məth)   
n.  

  1. Something enormous in size or power.

  2. often Behemoth A huge animal, possibly the hippopotamus, described in the Bible.


[Middle English behemoth, bemoth, from Hebrew bəhēmôt, pl. of bəhēmâ, beast; see bhm in Semitic roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

behemoth 
1382, huge biblical beast (Job xl.15), from L. behemoth, from Heb. b'hemoth, usually taken as plural of intensity of b'hemah "beast." But the Heb. word is most likely a folk etymology of Egyptian pehemau, lit. "water-ox," the name for the hippopotamus.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Bible Dictionary

Behemoth

(Job 40:15-24). Some have supposed this to be an Egyptian word meaning a "water-ox." The Revised Version has here in the margin "hippopotamus," which is probably the correct rendering of the word. The word occurs frequently in Scripture, but, except here, always as a common name, and translated "beast" or "cattle."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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