Friday, July 30, 2010

behemoth

behemoth \bih-HEE-muhth\, noun:

1. noun 巨兽;庞然大物
2. noun [Bible] 河马(巨兽)[约伯记40:15-24]

1. Any creature or thing of monstrous size or power
2. An animal, perhaps the hippopotamus, mentioned in the Book of Job.

All the sportive rollickings of all the animals, from the agile fawn to the unwieldly behemoth, are dances taught them by nature.
-- Ambrose Bierce, They All Dance

And while that's not the case here, the retail behemoth clearly has the captive attention of mainstream America.
-- Dave Herrera, "3OH!3 gets enviable Walmart co-sign, prepares to print its own money," Denver Westword, July, 2010.

Behemoth derives from the Hebrew b'hemoth in the Book of Job, but may be a folk etymology of Egyptian pehemau , "water-ox," the name for the hippopotamus.

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