Word
samuel
Phoneticssamuel
/ˈsæmjuɫ/
Definitions
01male given name
n. a common first name for a man.
n. a masculine given name of Hebrew origin, meaning 'God has heard'.
“Samuel was the first person to arrive at the party last night.”
“Samuel Johnson, the famous English writer, is best known for his influential dictionary published in 1755.”
Synonyms
02biblical books
n. two books in the Old Testament of the Bible.
n. either of two books in the Old Testament (1 Samuel and 2 Samuel) that detail the history of early Israel.
“The Sunday school teacher asked the children to open their Bibles to the book of Samuel.”
“The narrative in the first book of Samuel describes the transition of Israel from a collection of tribes to a unified kingdom.”
03surname
n. a family name or last name.
n. a surname derived from the given name.
“The author of the new book is a woman named Sarah Samuel.”
“The legal documents were signed by Mr. Samuel, the lead attorney for the defense.”
Etymology
From Latin Samuēl, from Ancient Greek Σαμουήλ (Samouḗl), from Biblical Hebrew שְׁמוּאֵל (šəmûʾēl, literally “'God has set' or 'God has placed'”). Taken to mean a contraction of popular folk etymology שְׁאִלְתִּיו מֵאֵל (“I have asked/borrowed him from God”) (Modern: Šəʾīltīv mēʾĒl, Tiberian: Šĭʾīltīw mēʾĒl) by way of שָׁאוּל מֵאֵל (“asked/borrowed from God”) from 1 Samuel 1:20.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.