jonah

n. a person who people believe brings bad luck to a group or a ship.

n. a person or object regarded as a jinx or a source of misfortune for those around them. Often used in nautical contexts to describe a crew member blamed for a streak of ill luck.

“The sailors started to think the new cook was a jonah after the engine failed twice.”

“The veteran captain dismissed the crew's grumbling that the new navigator was a jonah, attributing their recent misfortunes to poor weather rather than superstition.”

Slang · Informal

n. a man in the Bible who was swallowed by a large fish and lived to tell the story.

n. a prophet in the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament who was swallowed by a great fish after attempting to flee from God's command.

“The children learned the story of Jonah and the whale in their Sunday school class.”

“The Book of Jonah is unique among the prophetic books for its narrative focus on the prophet's own reluctance rather than his oracles.”