John
WordNet
noun
(1) A room or building equipped with one or more toilets
(2) The last of the four Gospels in the New Testament
(3) A prostitute's customer
(4) (New Testament) disciple of Jesus; traditionally said to be the author of the 4th Gospel and three epistles and the book of Revelation
(5) Youngest son of Henry II; King of England from 1199 to 1216; succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother Richard I; lost his French possessions; in 1215 John was compelled by the barons to sign the Magna Carta (1167-1216)
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Johannes, New Testament Greek (Iōánnēs), contraction from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Jōħānān, Johanan perhaps from a former Jəhôħānān), meaning "God is gracious".
Proper noun
- very popular since the Middle Ages.
- Two persons of great importance to early Christianity: John the Baptist and John the Apostle, identified with John the Evangelist.
- The Gospel of St. John, a book of the New Testament of the Bible. Traditionally the fourth of the four gospels.
- One of the books in the New Testament of the Bible, the epistles of John (1 John, 2 John and 3 John).
- Used frequently to form an idea personified John Bull, John Barleycorn (see derivations below).
- A name used to address a man whose actual name is not known: John Doe.
Quotations
:-
- There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
- 1852 D. H. Jacques, A Chapter on Names, The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, Volume XL, August 1852, page 114:
- John is a most excellent name, and Smith is a surname which is worthy of respect and honor, but wo to the man on whom they are conjoined! For John Smith to aspire to senatorial dignities or to the laurel of a poet is simply ridiculous. Who is John Smith? He is lost in the multitude of John Smiths, and individual fame is impossible.
- 1920 John Collings Squire: Life and Letters: Essays. Hodder & Stoughton 1920. pages 233-235("Initials"):
- The name I refer to is John. It has been borne by many illustrious men and an innumerable multitude of the obscure. - - - It is as fixed as the English landscape and the procession of seasons. It never becomes wearisome or tarnished. Nothing affects it; nothing can bring it into contempt; it stands like a rock amid the turbulent waves of human history, as fine and noble a thing now as it was when it first took shape on human lips. It is a name to live up to; but if one who bears it sinks into disrepute it falls not with him, but rather stays in the firmament above him, shining down upon him like a reproachful star.
- 1852 D. H. Jacques, A Chapter on Names, The Knickerbocker, or, New-York Monthly Magazine, Volume XL, August 1852, page 114:
- There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
See also
Related English names
Synonyms
name used to address a man whose actual name is not known sir boy , bro , gov or guv , guvnor , Mac , man , mate , mister, son
Proper noun
John
- borrowed from English in the eighteenth century, quite popular in Sweden.