| a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes. |
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| Jacob's ladder | |
| —n | |
| 1. | Old Testament the ladder reaching up to heaven that Jacob saw in a dream (Genesis 28:12--17) |
| 2. | Also called: jack ladder a ladder made of wooden or metal steps supported by ropes or chains |
| 3. | a North American polemoniaceous plant, Polemonium caeruleum, with blue flowers and a ladder-like arrangement of leaves |
| 4. | any of several similar or related plants |
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.)