Deborah

See also: Déborah

English

Alternative forms

• (as a given name): Debra, Debora

Etymology

From Hebrew דְבוֹרָה (dvorá), meaning bee.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɛb(ə)ɹə/

Proper noun

Deborah (plural Deborahs)

1. A judge of Israel; a nurse of Rebecca.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Judges 4:4:
     :

     And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.

2. A female given name from Hebrew, popular from the 1940s to the 1970s, first in the USA, then in the UK.
   • 1851, James Brayshay, The Protector of Houghall, Or the Lily and the Rose, Groombridge and Sons, act I:

     Rapier. Heigho! Deborah! it's an ugly name, a damnable name - the name I mean! - it sounds like Gomorrah! Deb! Debby! - worse still - sounded sharp now I rather like it! - Deborah! Deborah! Deborah!

   • 1995, Carl Hiaasen, Stormy Weather, Alfred A.Knopf,Inc., →ISBN, page 256:

     He hadn't known, for example, that her middle name was Deborah. It was a name he liked: plucky, Midwestern and reliable-sounding. He was willing to bet that if you went through every women's prison in America, you wouldn't find a half-dozen Deborahs.

Related terms

• Deb
• Debs
• Debbie
• Debby

Translations

biblical character

• Dutch: Debora (nl) f
• Finnish: Debora
• French: Débora (fr)
• Hawaiian: Debora
• Hebrew: דְבוֹרָה (he) (dvorá)
• Italian: Debora (it)
• Latin: Debora
• Maore Comorian: Debora
• Portuguese: Débora (pt) f
• Russian: Дево́ра f (Devóra), Дебо́ра (ru) f (Debóra), Дево́рра f (Devórra)
• Spanish: Débora (es)

female given name

• French: Déborah (fr)
• Greenlandic: Tippu
• Hawaiian: Kepola
• Hebrew: דְבוֹרָה (he) (dvorá)
• Hungarian: Debóra (hu)
• Irish: Gobnait
• Italian: Debora (it)
• Portuguese: Débora (pt) f
• Russian: Дебо́ра (ru) f (Debóra), Дево́ра f (Devóra)
• Spanish: Débora (es)

Cebuano

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: De‧bo‧rah

Noun

Deborah

1. a female given name
2. (biblical) Deborah