le⋅vi⋅a⋅than
[li-vahy-uh-thuh
n]
| 1. | (often initial capital letter ) Bible. a sea monster. |
| 2. | any huge marine animal, as the whale. |
| 3. | anything of immense size and power, as a huge, oceangoing ship. |
| 4. | (initial capital letter, italics ) a philosophical work (1651) by Thomas Hobbes dealing with the political organization of society. |
1350–1400; ME levyathan < LL leviathan ≪ Heb liwyāthān

Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Leviathan
Le*vi"a*than\ (l[-e]*v[imac]"[.a]*than), n. [Heb. livy[=a]th[=a]n.]1. An aquatic animal, described in the book of Job, ch. xli., and mentioned in other passages of Scripture. Note: It is not certainly known what animal is intended, whether the crocodile, the whale, or some sort of serpent. 2. The whale, or a great whale. --Milton.Cite This Source
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
leviathan
Cite This Source
Leviathan
a transliterated Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning "twisted," "coiled." In Job 3:8, Revised Version, and marg. of Authorized Version, it denotes the dragon which, according to Eastern tradition, is an enemy of light; in 41:1 the crocodile is meant; in Ps. 104:26 it "denotes any large animal that moves by writhing or wriggling the body, the whale, the monsters of the deep." This word is also used figuratively for a cruel enemy, as some think "the Egyptian host, crushed by the divine power, and cast on the shores of the Red Sea" (Ps. 74:14). As used in Isa. 27:1, "leviathan the piercing [R.V. 'swift'] serpent, even leviathan that crooked [R.V. marg. 'winding'] serpent," the word may probably denote the two empires, the Assyrian and the Babylonian.
Cite This Source
Copyright © 2009, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.

