The Collaborative International Dictionary
Jacob \Ja"cob\, n. [Cf. F. Jacob. See 2d Jack.] A Hebrew patriarch (son of Isaac, and ancestor of the Jews), who in a vision saw a ladder reaching up to heaven (--Gen. xxviii. 12); -- also called Israel. And Jacob said . . . with my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I am become two bands. --Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. --Gen. xxxii. 28. Jacob's ladder.
(Bot.) A perennial herb of the genus Polemonium ( Polemonium c[oe]ruleum), having corymbs of drooping flowers, usually blue. Gray.
(Naut.) A rope ladder, with wooden steps, for going aloft.
--R. H. Dana, Jr.-
(Naut.) A succession of short cracks in a defective spar. Jacob's membrane. See Retina. Jacob's staff.
A name given to many forms of staff or weapon, especially in the Middle Ages; a pilgrim's staff. [Obs.]
--Spenser.(Surveying) See under Staff.
Wiktionary
n. 1 A flowering plant of the genus ''Polemonium''. 2 (context nautical English) A vertical ladder from the ratline to the upper masts. 3 A toy consisting of blocks of wood, held together by strings or ribbons, that appear to cascade downward as they flip over. 4 A pocketknife consisting of two handle segments joined by a pivot, with a blade connected by a second pivot to the end of one handle segment. 5 (context mathematics English) A noncompact surface resembling a ladder made of handlebody.
Wikipedia
Jacob's Ladder is a 1990 American psychological horror film directed by Adrian Lyne, written and produced by Bruce Joel Rubin and starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña and Danny Aiello. The Special Edition of the film was released on DVD by Artisan Entertainment in 1998 and on Blu-ray Disc by Lions Gate Entertainment in 2010.
The film's protagonist, Jacob, is a Vietnam veteran whose experiences prior to and during the war result in strange, fragmentary flashbacks and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him. As his ordeal worsens, Jacob desperately attempts to figure out the truth.
Jacob's Ladder was made by Carolco Pictures ten years after being written by Rubin. It drew from several inspirations for its story and effects, including the short film An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and the paintings of Francis Bacon. Though only moderately successful upon release, the film garnered a cult following and became a source of influence for various other works such as the horror franchise Silent Hill. A loose remake of Jacob's Ladder was announced to be in works by LD Entertainment.
Jacob's Ladder is a staircase to heaven from a dream of Jacob described in the Old Testament.
Jacob's Ladder may also refer to:
Jacob's Ladder (Hebrew: Sulam Yaakov סולם יעקב) is the colloquial name for a connection between the earth and heaven that the biblical Patriarch Jacob dreams about during his flight from his brother Esau, as described in the Book of Genesis. The significance of the dream has been somewhat debated, but most interpretations agree that it identified Jacob with the obligations and inheritance of the ethnic people chosen by God, as understood in the Judeo-Christian-Islam panoply. It has since been used as a symbolic reference in various other contexts.
The term Jacob's ladder, used on a ship, applies to two kinds of ladders.
The first is a flexible hanging ladder. It consists of vertical ropes or chains supporting horizontal, historically round and wooden, rungs. Today, flat runged flexible ladders are also called Jacob's ladders. The name is commonly used without the apostrophe (Jacobs ladder).
They are used to allow access over the side of ships and as a result Pilot ladders are often incorrectly referred to as Jacob's ladders. A pilot ladder has specific regulations on step size, spacing and the use of spreaders. It is the use of spreaders in a pilot ladder that distinguishes it from a Jacob's ladder.
Spreaders are long treads that extend well past the vertical ropes to stop the ladder from twisting about its long axis (possible when a ship rolls and the ladder is no longer in contact with the ship's side) with the person possibly becoming trapped between the ship's side and the ladder. When not being used, the ladder is stowed away (usually rolled up) rather than left hanging. On late 19th-century warships this kind of ladder would replace the normal fixed ladders on deck during battle. These and railings would be removed and replaced with Jacob's ladders and ropes while preparing for battle the days before. This was done to prevent them from blocking line of sight or turning into shrapnel when hit by enemy shells.
The second applies to a kind of ladder found on square rigged ships. To climb above the lower mast to the topmast and above, sailors must get around the top, a platform projecting from the mast. Although on many ships the only way round was the overhanging futtock shrouds, modern-day tall ships often provide an easier vertical ladder from the ratlines as well. This is the Jacob's ladder.
The "Jacob's ladder" is a type of pocketknife consisting of two handle segments joined by a pivot, with a blade connected by a second pivot to the end of one handle segment.
The design presumably takes its name from the multi-jointed wooden toy also known as a Jacob's ladder, which is itself named after the ladder to heaven witnessed by the biblical patriarch Jacob (Genesis 28:12).
"Jacob's Ladder" is the title of a debut song written by Cal Sweat, Brenda Sweat, and Tony Martin, and recorded by American country music artist Mark Wills. It was released in May 1996 as the first single from his self-titled debut album. It reached a peak of number 6 on both the U.S. Billboard country singles chart and the Canadian RPM Country Tracks chart.
A Jacob's ladder (also magic tablets, Chinese blocks, and klick-klack toy) is a folk toy consisting of blocks of wood held together by strings or ribbons. It is "a toy that does some very weird things." When the ladder is held at one end, blocks appear to cascade down the strings. This effect is a visual illusion which is the result of one block after another flipping over. It may be considered a kinetic illusion, where the blocks appear to change position when they do not. Its name Jacob's Ladder comes from the biblical ladder to heaven, mentioned in Genesis 28:12.
Of unknown origin, the earliest known review of the Jacob's Ladder is an 1889 Scientific American article which tells how it is built and works:
"Jacob's Ladder" is a 1986 song written by Bruce Hornsby and his brother John Hornsby and recorded by Huey Lewis and the News. It became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987, the band's third.
Set in Birmingham, Alabama, the song marries the Biblical image of Jacob's Ladder to someone who rejects proselytizing evangelists, and is instead struggling to get through life one day at a time:
''Step by step, one by one, higher and higher ''Step by step, rung by rung, climbing Jacob's ladder.The song was given by Hornsby to his friend Lewis, and it appeared on the group's September 1986 album Fore!. It was the third single released from the album, and topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a week in March 1987.
A music video was filmed of the band performing the song in a live concert.
Bruce Hornsby later recorded his own rendition of the song for his 1988 album, Scenes from the Southside. It became part of his concert repertoire as well; a live bluegrass-influenced version (very different from the version on Scenes from the Southside) appears on the 2006 album Intersections (1985–2005), which Hornsby performed with his brother John.
"Jacob's Ladder (Not in My Name)" is an anti- Iraq War single from Chumbawamba. This version, different from the one on their album Readymades, is remixed and contains new anti-war lyrics.
It contains two major samples:
- The descending bass line and guitar lick from Davey Graham's song " Anji" (hence the co-writing credit).
- The voice from Harry Cox's song "The Pretty Ploughboy" off his album A Century of Song ("And they sent him down into the war to be slain, be slain... / And they sent him down into the war to be slain.")
The song can be downloaded from the band's website here.
Jacob's Ladder is a 2005 young adult novel by British author Brian Keaney. It follows the protagonist Jacob through his struggles to escape from another world without memories of his past.
Jacob's Ladder is a folk music festival that takes place twice a year in northern Israel.
The festival includes both professional and amateur artists of the genre from Israel and abroad, and is strongly identified with the native English-speaking community of Israel (also known as "Anglos"). Although the festival's official language remains English, over the years more and more non-Anglo Israelis have taken part in the event.
The festival has been nicknamed the "Israeli Woodstock Festival" due to the specific types of musical acts, the easy-going and mellow atmosphere and the particular crowd.
Usage examples of "jacob's ladder".
One was the top of a Jacob's ladder, and she was a little red-faced with effort before she clipped that to the bar nearest the left side of the window.
Just by the bridge on the starb'd side I found a Jacob's ladder heaped up and fixed to the rail.
A Jacob's ladder hung from the rail to another lifeboat already in the water.
By this 'Jacob's Ladder,' as the seamen termed it, a communication was kept up with the beacon while the rock was considerably under water.
That office was a recognised stage on the road that led to the very top: part of the Jacob's Ladder of SIS mythology.
He said he asked nothing better - had seen me fretting, but could not put himself forward for fear of being brought up with a round turn - yet I must not expect too much of the old hooker even if she was manned like Jacob's ladder or the Tower of Babel, because not only was her bottom foul but she had not a mast, no, nor a yard that was not more woolding and fishes than wood, and all her rigging was twice-laid stuff.
The first mate carried me up the Jacob's ladder upside down with my legs locked around his neck and the rest of me over his shoulders.
A Jacob's ladder was dropped and twenty men wearing uniforms of the Italian customs service quickly boarded from the cutter.