Reference > Brewer’s Dictionary > Jacob’s Staff.

 Jacob’s Ladder.Jacob’s Stone. 
CONTENTS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
 
Jacob’s Staff.
 
An instrument for taking heights and distances.   1
       
“Reach then a soaring quill, that I may write
As with a Jacoh’s staff to take her height.”
       
Cleveland: The Hecatomb to his Mistress.
   The Apostle James is usually represented with a staff.   2
       
“As he had travelled many a summer’s day
Through boiling sands of Arabie and Ynd;
And in his hand a Jacob’s staff to stay
His weary limbs upon.”
       
Spenser: Faërie Queene, book i. can to vi. 32–35.
 


 Jacob’s Ladder.Jacob’s Stone. 

 
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