Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • In the Bible, King David's father and the progenitor of the line of Jesus.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The name of the father of David and ancestor of Jesus, used in several phrases with reference to Isa. xi. 1: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.”
  • noun By extension and erroneously, any large and showy branched candlestick or chandelier intended for ecclesiastical use.
  • noun A term occurring only in the following phrase:

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A genealogical tree represented in stained glass.
  • noun A candlestick with many branches, each of which bears the name of some one of the descendants of Jesse; -- called also tree of Jesse.
  • noun (Arch.) a window of which the glazing and tracery represent the tree of Jesse.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun biblical The father of king David.
  • proper noun A male given name of biblical origin.
  • proper noun A female given name, a variant of Jessie.
  • noun architecture A representation of the genealogy of Christ, in decorative art, such as a genealogical tree in stained glass or a branched candlestick.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Ancient Greek Ἰεσσαί (Iessai), from Hebrew יִשַׁי (Yishai)

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Examples

  • JESSE GRUND, CASEY ANTHONY ` S EX-FIANCE: We went back over to my apartment to pick up her car and I didn ` t get to tell you this but her dad pulled me aside and said look, I don ` t know what ` s going on between the two of you but you ` re a really good guy, Jesse.

    CNN Transcript Apr 8, 2009 2009

  • DARRYL COHEN, DEFENSE ATTORNEY, JESSE GRUND ` S LAWYER: I don ` t mean to jump in, Nancy, but I think that what Jesse is trying to say is his heart is saying one thing, his head is saying something entirely different.

    CNN Transcript Dec 22, 2008 2008

  • Bob would later obtain copies of several letters written by Howk to family, friends and associates, some of them penned under the name Jesse Lee James or JJ III.

    Shadow of the Sentinel WARREN GETLER 2003

  • The latter, whose legal name was Orvus Lee Howk, also went by the name Jesse Lee James and claimed to have been a grandson of Jesse Woodson James.

    Shadow of the Sentinel WARREN GETLER 2003

  • THE name Jesse James evokes an unambiguous image in the American psyche: a dashing pistol-packing outlaw in a class of his own.

    Shadow of the Sentinel WARREN GETLER 2003

  • So on the day before my second ex–Mother’s Day, I got the word Jesse tattooed on the inside of my wrist, a semiprivate part of my body that I can look at whenever I want.

    Knowing Jesse Marianne Leone 2010

  • So on the day before my second ex–Mother’s Day, I got the word Jesse tattooed on the inside of my wrist, a semiprivate part of my body that I can look at whenever I want.

    Knowing Jesse Marianne Leone 2010

  • Edgar Hoover from the rear of the Director’s house in northwest Washington and this is what people remembered, what I remembered when I first reheard the name Jesse Detwiler.

    Underworld Don Delillo 2008

  • Edgar Hoover from the rear of the Director’s house in northwest Washington and this is what people remembered, what I remembered when I first reheard the name Jesse Detwiler.

    Underworld Don Delillo 2008

  • Edgar Hoover from the rear of the Director’s house in northwest Washington and this is what people remembered, what I remembered when I first reheard the name Jesse Detwiler.

    Underworld Don Delillo 2008

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