"Balaam" meaning in English

See Balaam in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proper name

IPA: /ˈbeɪləm/
Etymology: From Hebrew ⁧בִּלְעָם⁩ (bil'am). Etymology templates: {{l|he|בִּלְעָם|tr=bil'am}} ⁧בִּלְעָם⁩ (bil'am) Head templates: {{en-proper noun}} Balaam
  1. A diviner in the Torah. Categories (topical): Biblical characters, Individuals
    Sense id: en-Balaam-en-name-Se3L2Thw Disambiguation of Biblical characters: 68 12 20 Disambiguation of Individuals: 49 20 31
  2. A surname.
    Sense id: en-Balaam-en-name-EMUC1F3L Categories (other): English surnames
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: Balaamite
Etymology number: 1

Noun

IPA: /ˈbeɪləm/ Forms: Balaams [plural]
Etymology: The Biblical miracle of Balaam's ass speaking; see talk out one's ass. Head templates: {{en-noun}} Balaam (plural Balaams)
  1. (slang, archaic, journalism) A paragraph describing something wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column. Tags: archaic, slang Categories (topical): Mass media Derived forms: Balaam basket, Balaam box
    Sense id: en-Balaam-en-noun-EoOpf5xd Topics: journalism, media
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Inflected forms

Download JSON data for Balaam meaning in English (2.9kB)

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0",
      "word": "Balaamite"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "he",
        "2": "בִּלְעָם",
        "tr": "bil'am"
      },
      "expansion": "⁧בִּלְעָם⁩ (bil'am)",
      "name": "l"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Hebrew ⁧בִּלְעָם⁩ (bil'am).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Balaam",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "68 12 20",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Biblical characters",
          "orig": "en:Biblical characters",
          "parents": [
            "Bible",
            "Books",
            "Christianity",
            "Judaism",
            "Literature",
            "Mass media",
            "Abrahamism",
            "Culture",
            "Entertainment",
            "Writing",
            "Media",
            "Religion",
            "Society",
            "Human behaviour",
            "Language",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Human",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "49 20 31",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Individuals",
          "orig": "en:Individuals",
          "parents": [
            "People",
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2017-12-19, LaMar Smith, Poetic Scripture: Genesis to Ruth Stories of the Bible in Poetic Form, WestBow Press, →OCLC",
          "text": "Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey. God said, “They summoned you, but you listen to me.” Balaam riding his donkey and his two servants with him, The angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him, The angel with a […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A diviner in the Torah."
      ],
      "id": "en-Balaam-en-name-Se3L2Thw",
      "links": [
        [
          "diviner",
          "diviner"
        ],
        [
          "Torah",
          "Torah"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English surnames",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A surname."
      ],
      "id": "en-Balaam-en-name-EMUC1F3L",
      "links": [
        [
          "surname",
          "surname"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbeɪləm/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Balaam"
}

{
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [],
  "etymology_text": "The Biblical miracle of Balaam's ass speaking; see talk out one's ass.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Balaams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Balaam (plural Balaams)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Mass media",
          "orig": "en:Mass media",
          "parents": [
            "Culture",
            "Media",
            "Society",
            "Communication",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "derived": [
        {
          "word": "Balaam basket"
        },
        {
          "word": "Balaam box"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A paragraph describing something wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column."
      ],
      "id": "en-Balaam-en-noun-EoOpf5xd",
      "links": [
        [
          "journalism",
          "journalism"
        ],
        [
          "paragraph",
          "paragraph"
        ],
        [
          "wonderful",
          "wonderful"
        ],
        [
          "newspaper",
          "newspaper"
        ],
        [
          "column",
          "column"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, archaic, journalism) A paragraph describing something wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "journalism",
        "media"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbeɪləm/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Balaam"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "en:Biblical characters",
    "en:Individuals"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "Balaamite"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 1,
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "he",
        "2": "בִּלְעָם",
        "tr": "bil'am"
      },
      "expansion": "⁧בִּלְעָם⁩ (bil'am)",
      "name": "l"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Hebrew ⁧בִּלְעָם⁩ (bil'am).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Balaam",
      "name": "en-proper noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "name",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2017-12-19, LaMar Smith, Poetic Scripture: Genesis to Ruth Stories of the Bible in Poetic Form, WestBow Press, →OCLC",
          "text": "Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey. God said, “They summoned you, but you listen to me.” Balaam riding his donkey and his two servants with him, The angel of the Lord stood in the road to oppose him, The angel with a […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A diviner in the Torah."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "diviner",
          "diviner"
        ],
        [
          "Torah",
          "Torah"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English surnames"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A surname."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "surname",
          "surname"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbeɪləm/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Balaam"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "en:Biblical characters",
    "en:Individuals"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "Balaam basket"
    },
    {
      "word": "Balaam box"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": 2,
  "etymology_templates": [],
  "etymology_text": "The Biblical miracle of Balaam's ass speaking; see talk out one's ass.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Balaams",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Balaam (plural Balaams)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English slang",
        "English terms with archaic senses",
        "en:Mass media"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A paragraph describing something wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "journalism",
          "journalism"
        ],
        [
          "paragraph",
          "paragraph"
        ],
        [
          "wonderful",
          "wonderful"
        ],
        [
          "newspaper",
          "newspaper"
        ],
        [
          "column",
          "column"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, archaic, journalism) A paragraph describing something wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "archaic",
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "journalism",
        "media"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈbeɪləm/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "Balaam"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-03-12 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-03-01 using wiktextract (68773ab and 5f6ddbb). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.