Jacob

[ jey-kuhb for 1, 3; French zha-kawb for 2 ]

noun
  1. the second son of Isaac, the twin brother of Esau, and father of the 12 patriarchs. Genesis 25:24–34.

  2. Fran·çois [frahn-swa], /frɑ̃ˈswa/, 1920–2013, French geneticist: Nobel Prize in Medicine 1965.

  1. a male given name: from a Hebrew word meaning “supplanter.”

Words Nearby Jacob

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How to use Jacob in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for Jacob

Jacob

/ (ˈdʒeɪkəb) /


noun
  1. Old Testament the son of Isaac, twin brother of Esau, and father of the twelve patriarchs of Israel

  2. Also called: Jacob sheep any of an ancient breed of sheep having a fleece with dark brown patches and two or four horns

Origin of Jacob

1
sense 2 in allusion to Genesis 30:40

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for Jacob

Jacob

[ zhä-kôb ]


  1. French geneticist who studied how genes control cellular activity by directing the synthesis of proteins. With Jacques Monod, he theorized that there are genes that regulate the activity of other, neighboring genes. They also proposed the existence of messenger RNA.

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