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Balaam definition

bāləm
(bible, person, proper) A prophet hired to curse the Israelites: when he beat his donkey, the animal rebuked him: Num. 22-24
noun
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A diviner in the Torah.
pronoun
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(slang, archaic, journalism) A paragraph describing something wonderful, used to fill out a newspaper column.
noun
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
balaam
Plural:
balaams

Origin of balaam

  • The journalism sense is an allusion to the miracle of Balaam's ass speaking; see talk out one's ass.

    From Wiktionary

Balaam Sentence Examples

  • The ass had been introduced into the ritual of the church in the 9th century, representing either Balaam's ass, that which stood with the ox beside the manger at Bethlehem, that which carried the Holy Family into Egypt, or that on which Christ rode in triumph into Jerusalem.

  • The service opened with a procession of Old Testament characters, prophets, patriarchs and kings, together with heathen prophets, including Virgil, the chief figure being Balaam on his ass.

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Words near balaam in the Dictionary