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Ahab

Ahab

16 9.1
A male name known for a king in the Bible and a ship captain in Moby-Dick
  • proper noun
  • /ˈeɪhæb/
: Ahab
  • In one monologue, Ahab challenges Moby Dick in Shakespearean style.
  • Captain Ahab
  • Ahab pursues Moby
  • Ahab and Starbuck

And it was the battle between Ahab with his wooden peg leg and the white whale.

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Examples

  • Herman Melville knew this, and his ungodly, wicked, but tragic Captain Ahab is surely the most rhetorically capable figure in American literature.

    Academic text (1997)
  • Yes, I have, Captain Ahab.

  • And you think Ahab is responsible?

  • But to hunt together with Ahab ... you must answer to God.

  • -Back in the old day, we used to call you Captain Ahab.

  • And I exist only to tell the story of Ahab, who fought the black whale.

    Fiction book (1991)
  • And it was the battle between Ahab with his wooden peg leg and the white whale.

  • You probably have all read that and Captain Ahab was hunting for a sperm whale.

  • In the course of the book, the pirate Ahab encounters many hardships.

  • The lifelike mural in the school's library shows Captain Ahab's final battle with the aging, barnacle-covered white whale.

Surface Forms

Ahab main

Etymology

Ahab comes from ancient Hebrew and is probably made from ach 'brother' and av 'father'. So Ahab is a man's name that often reminds people of the biblical king or of Captain Ahab in Moby-Dick, which is why it brings those famous stories to mind.