Leviathan

Definitions: Leviathan

Leviathan

Noun

1. The largest or most massive thing of its kind; "it was a leviathan among redwoods"; "they were assigned the leviathan of textbooks".

2. Monstrous sea creature symbolizing evil in the Old Testament.

Date "leviathan" was first used: sometime in the mid-14th century. (references)

Specialty Definitions: Leviathan

Domain	Definitions
Satire	LEVIATHAN, n. An enormous aquatic animal mentioned by Job. Some suppose it to have been the whale, but that distinguished ichthyologer, Dr. Jordan, of Stanford University, maintains with considerable heat that it was a species of gigantic Tadpole (Thaddeus Polandensis) or Polliwig -- Maria pseudo-hirsuta. For an exhaustive description and history of the Tadpole consult the famous monograph of Jane Potter, Thaddeus of Warsaw. Source: Devil's Dictionary.
Bible	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. Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Leviathan

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

an engraving by Gustav Dore

Leviathan (from Hebrew liwjatan, roughly meaning "twisted" or "coiled") was a Biblical multi-headed sea monster, referred to in passing in the Old Testament (Psalms 74:13-14; Job 41; Isaiah 27:1), probably referring to crocodile or whale. The word leviathan has become synonymous with any large monster or creature.

The Biblical leviathan is often considered to be a demon associated with Satan or the Devil, and held by some to be the same monster as Rahab (Isaiah 51:9). The Biblical references to leviathan appear to have evolved from a Canaanite legend involving a confrontation between Baal and a seven headed sea monster which Baal defeats with the aid of Mot, and they also resemble a Babylonian myth in which the storm god Marduk slays the sea monster Tiamat and creates the earth and sky from the two halves of her corpse.

Legend has it that in the banquet after Armageddon, the carcass of the leviathan will be served as a meal, along with the behemoth and the ziz. Leviathan may also be interpreted as the sea itself, with its counterparts behemoth being the land and ziz being the air and aerospace.

Certain Jewish legends consider leviathan as an androgynous dragon that seduced Eve in his male form, and Adam in his female form.

In demonology a leviathan is every aquatic demon. They are great liars. Leviathans can also possess persons, being very difficult to exorcise; they try to possess every person, but especially women.

During sea-faring's Golden Age, European sailors saw Leviathan as gigantic whale-like sea monster that devoured whole ships by swimming around the vessles so quickly as to create a whirlpool.

The word has been reused (not only in literature) over and again:

in the 1660 book Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes
in the Illuminatus trilogy
in Moby-Dick as a reference to the whale
in the Final Fantasy games
in the Farscape science fiction series (living spaceship)
in the 1989 film Leviathan
in the card game Magic: The Gathering as a summoning card
in Disney's "Atlantis" as a guardian construct of the Atlanteans.

In Hebrew, leviathan also means a device for washing raw wool.

Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Leviathan."

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Synonyms within Context: Leviathan

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Size	Giant, Brobdingnagian, Antaeus, Goliath, Gog and Magog, Gargantua, monster, mammoth, Cyclops; cachalot, whale, porpoise, behemoth, leviathan, elephant, hippopotamus; colossus; tun, cord, lump, bulk, block, loaf, mass, swad, clod, nugget, bushel, thumper, whooper, spanker, strapper; "Triton among the minnows".
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Leviathan

Specialty definitions using "leviathan": leviathan. (references)

Non-English Usage: "Leviathan" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

Dutch (leviathan), German (leviathan), Manx (leviathan).

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Modern Usage: Leviathan

Domain	Usage
Movie/TV Titles	Leviathan (1999)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Leviathan

Domain	Title
Books	LEVIATHAN (reference) Leviathan (Contemporary American Fiction) (reference) Leviathan (Oxford World's Classics) (reference) Leviathan Three (reference) Leviathan With a Hook (reference) (more book examples)

Periodicals	Revaiasan = Leviathan = Leviathan (reference) (more periodical examples)

Theater & Movies	Leviathan (reference) (more DVD examples; more video examples)

Music	Becoming Leviathan (reference) (more classical music examples; more popular music examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Photo Album: Leviathan

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Like spiders on a web--navy yard painters give S.S. Leviathan annual spring painting at South Boston drydock.Credit: Library of Congress.		John Bull, the leviathan of the ocean; or, the French fleet sailing into the mouth of the Nile!.Credit: Library of Congress.
	New York City. New York showing Leviathan and Empire State Building I.Credit: Library of Congress.		New York City. New York showing Leviathan and Empire State Building II.Credit: Library of Congress.
	Boats. Painting of Leviathan.Credit: Library of Congress.		Portrait photographs. Photograph of captain of Leviathan holding lifesaver.Credit: Library of Congress.
	General Pershing and officers of composite regiment aboard U.S. transport Leviathan, Sept. 4, 1919.Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Historic Usage: Leviathan

Author	Date	Quotation
John Locke	1690	Such a constitution as this would make the mighty Leviathan of a shorter duration, than the feeblest creatures, and not let it outlast the day it was bom in: which cannot be supposed, till we can think, that rational creatures should desire and constitute societies only to be dissolved: for where the majority cannot conclude the rest, there they cannot act as one body, and consequently will be immediately dissolved again. (Second Treatise of Government)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Leviathan

"Leviathan" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 60.71% of the time. "Leviathan" is used about 28 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Noun (singular)	60.71%	17	85,106
Noun (proper)	39.29%	11	106,044
Total	100.00%	28	N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Leviathan

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Expression	Frequency per Day	Expression	Frequency per Day
leviathan	267	cave leviathan	3
hobbes leviathan	20	leviathan ss	3
hobbes leviathan thomas	19	guild leviathan	3
fox leviathan new orchestra oriental trot	18	leviathan summary	3
foxtrot leviathan new orchestra oriental	16	leviathan stormhammer	3
leviathan spirit	8	band foxtrot leviathan new oriental	3
leviathan new	7	leviathan pic	2
foxtrot leviathan new oriental	7	behemoth leviathan	2
demon leviathan	5	fantasy final leviathan	2
leviathan picture	5	fox leviathan new orchestra trot	2
ever leviathan quest	4	ever guild leviathan quest	2
illuminatus leviathan	4	leviathan record	2
leviathan new oriental	4	define leviathan	2
leviathan movie	4	bible in leviathan	2
bible leviathan	4	archive leviathan	2
leviathan uss	3	belial leviathan lucifer satan	2
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translations: Leviathan

Language		Translations for "leviathan"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		vigan (colossal, enormous, giant, gigantesque, huge, immense, jumbo, mammoth, monster, mountainous, ogre, Samson, swingeing, Titanic, towering), kafshë deti viagne në bibël, anije vigane. (various references)

Arabic		‏سفينة ضخمة, ‏ضخم (astronomic, astronomical, awful, big, bulking, bulky, bull, colossal, colossus, considerable, distend, elephantine, enormous, exaggerate, extend, exuberant, fat, gargantuan, ghastly, giant, gigantic, goodly, grand, great, handsome, heavy, hefty, heroic, huge, hulking, husky, immense, intense, jumbo, large, liberal, mammoth, mass, massive, mighty, monstrous, monumental, mountainous, outsize, oversize, palatial, phenomenal, powerful, prodigious, proud, round, royal, sizable, smart, strapping, strong, stupendous, sublime, swingeing, tall, tidy, titan, titanic, towering, tremendous, vast, voluminous, whacking, whopping), ‏اللوثيان وحش بحري مذكور في التوراة. (various references)

Bulgarian		морско чудовище, левиатан. (various references)

Czech		leviatan. (various references)

Dutch		leviathan. (various references)

French		léviathan, navire géant, géant. (various references)

German		leviathan, meerungeheuer, gigant (colossus, giant, titan). (various references)

Greek		μεγαθήριο (megatherium, monster), λεβιαθάσ, τεράστιο κήτοσ, θαλάσσιο τέρασ. (various references)

Hebrew		לויתן (rorqual, whale). (various references)

Hungarian		leviatán, vízi szörnyeteg, óriáshajó. (various references)

Italian		leviatano. (various references)

Manx		lhong vooar, leviathan. (various references)

Pig Latin		eviathanlay

Portuguese		leviatã, lebre muito nova, navio enorme, grande monstro marinho. (various references)

Romanian		leviatan, vapor uriaş, monstru marin. (various references)

Russian		левиафан. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		levijatan, morsko čudovište, gorostas (walloper). (various references)

Spanish		leviatán. (various references)

Swedish		sjöodjur (sea monster), koloss (colossus, hulk, jumbo). (various references)

Thai		สิ่งที่มีอำนาจมาก. (various references)

Turkish		su canavarı, dev gemi. (various references)

Ukranian		громадище (swinger, whaler, whopper), левіафан. (various references)

Vietnamese		người có t� i sản lớn, người có năng lực lớn. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

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Ancestral Language Translations: Leviathan

Language	Period	Translations
Classical Hebrew	200 BCE-Modern	livyathan. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Bible Trace: Leviathan

Language	Date	Source	Isaiah Chapter 27, Verse 1
Greek (transliterated)	250 BC	Septuagint	Th hmera ekeinh epaxei o qeoV thn macairan thn agian kai thn megalhn kai thn iscuran epi ton drakonta ofin feugonta epi ton drakonta ofin skolion kai anelei ton drakonta
Latin	405	Vulgate	In die illo visitabit Dominus in gladio suo duro et grandi et forti super Leviathan serpentem vectem et super Leviathan serpentem tortuosum et occidet cetum qui in mari est
Middle English	1395	Wyclif	In that dai viseten shal the Lord in his harde swerd, and gret, and strong, vp on leuyathan, an eddere, a leuour, and vp on leuyathan, a crookid wounde serpent; and he shal sle the whal, that is in the se.
Jacobean English	1611	King James	In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Victorian English	1833	Webster	In that day the LORD with his keen and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.
Basic English	1964	Ogden	In that day the Lord, with his great and strong and cruel sword, will send punishment on Leviathan, the quick-moving snake, and on Leviathan, the twisted snake; and he will put to death the dragon which is in the sea.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Matched Bible Translations: Leviathan

Language	Isaiah Chapter 27, Verse 1
Cebuano	¶ Niadtong adlawa ni Jehova sa iyang magahi ug daku ug malig-on nga espada ang leviathan ang matulin nga halas, ug ang leviathan ang baliko nga halas; ug iyang pagapatyon ang dragon nga anaa sa dagat.
Croatian	U onaj dan kaznit æe Jahve maèem ljutim, velikim i jakim Levijatana, zmiju hitru, Levijatana, zmiju vijugavu, i ubit æe zmaja morskoga.
Danish	På hin Dag hjemsøger HERREN med sit hårde, vældige, stærke Sværd Livjatan, Den flugtsnare Slange, og ihjelslår Dragen i Havet.
Dutch	Te dien dage zal de HEERE met Zijn hard, en groot, en sterk zwaard bezoeken den Leviathan, de langwemelende slang, ja, den Leviathan, de kromme slomme slang; en Hij zal den draak, die in de zee is, doden.
Finnish	Sinä päivänä Herra kostaa kovalla, suurella ja väkevällä miekallansa Leviatanille, kiitävälle käärmeelle, ja Leviatanille, kiemurtelevalle käärmeelle, ja tappaa lohikäärmeen, joka on meressä.
French	En ce jour, l`Éternel frappera de sa dure, grande et forte épée Le léviathan, serpent fuyard, Le léviathan, serpent tortueux; Et il tuera le monstre qui est dans la mer.
German	Zu der Zeit wird der HERR heimsuchen mit seinem harten, großen und starken Schwert beide, den Leviathan, der eine flüchtige Schlange, und den Leviathan, der eine gewundene Schlange ist, und wird den Drachen im Meer erwürgen.
Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari	Pada waktu itu TUHAN akan memakai pedang-Nya yang kuat dan tajam untuk menghukum Lewiatan, ular yang meliuk-liuk dan melingkar-lingkar itu, dan untuk membunuh naga laut.
Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama	Maka pada hari itu juga Tuhan dengan pedang-Nya yang tegar dan besar dan keras mendatangkan pembalasan atas Lewiatan, yaitu ular mamdud, dan atas Lewiatan, yaitu ular yang melingkar-lingkar, dan ular naga yang di laut itu akan dibunuh-Nya.
Italian	In quel giorno il Signore punir� con la spada dura, grande e forte, il Leviat� n serpente guizzante, il Leviat� n serpente tortuoso e uccider� il drago che sta nel mare.
Maori	¶ I taua ra ka patua e Ihowa ki tana hoari maro, hoari nui, hoari kaha a Rewiatana, te nakahi tere, a Rewiatana, te nakahi korohape; ka tukitukia hoki e ia te tarakona i te moana.
Portuguese	Naquele dia o Senhor castigará com a sua dura espada, grande e forte, o leviatã, a serpente fugitiva, e o leviatã, a serpente tortuosa; e matará o dragão, que está no mar.
Russian	ч ФПФ �"ЕОШ � ПТБЪЙФ зПУ� П�"Ш НЕЮПН уЧПЙН ФСЦЕМЩН, Й �'ПМШЫЙН Й ЛТЕ� ЛЙН, МЕЧЙБЖБОБ, ЪНЕС � ТСНП �'ЕЗХЭЕЗП, Й МЕЧЙБЖБОБ, ЪНЕС ЙЪЗЙ�'БАЭЕЗПУС, Й Х�'ШЕФ ЮХ�"ПЧЙЭЕ НПТУЛПЕ.
Spanish	En aquel día Jehovah castigará con su espada dura, grande y fuerte, al Leviatán, la serpiente furtiva, al Leviatán, la serpiente tortuosa; y matará también al monstruo que está en el mar.
Swedish	Sång om HERRENS vingård. Israels förskingring och inbärgning.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Derivations & Misspellings: Leviathan

Derivations
	Words beginning with "leviathan": leviathans. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Leviathan" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cleithan, laviathan, lefiathan, levaithan, levathan, Levenham, levianthan, leviatan, leviathen, leviathian, leviathon, leviatian, Levitan, levithan. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Rhyming with "Leviathan"

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "leviathan" (pronounced luvī"uthun)
3	-th u n	earthen, lengthen, strengthen.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

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Anagrams: Leviathan

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-e-h-i-l-n-t-v"
	-1 letter: anthelia, aventail.
	-2 letters: valiant, ventail.
	-3 letters: alevin, althea, alvine, aviate, entail, halite, hantle, hiatal, inhale, lanate, levant, native, taenia, tenail, thenal, tineal, vahine, valine, veinal, venial, vineal.
	-4 letters: alane, alant, alate, alien, aline, alive, anile, antae, anvil, avail, avant, avian, elain, elint, entia, halva, halve, haven, inlet, laith, lanai, laten, lathe, lathi, leant, levin.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-e-h-i-l-n-t-v"
	+1 letter: leviathans.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.