Nehushtan

English

Etymology

Hebrew: the name given in the Bible to a brass serpent prepared by Moses to cure the Israelites of venomous snake bites in the desert. It was later worshipped for an idol, and subsequently destroyed by King Hezekiah.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /nəˈhʊʃtən/

Noun

Nehushtan (plural Nehushtans)

1. Any false idol.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “Nehushtan”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)