Beheʹmoth (Hebrew).

The hippopotʹamus; once thought to be the rhinoceros. (See Job xl. 15.)

“Behold! in plaited mail,

Beheʹmoth rears his head.”

⁂ The word is generally, but incorrectly, pronounced Beʹhemoth; but Milton, like Thomson, places the accent on the second syllable.

“Scarce from his mold

Behemoth, biggest born of earth, upheaved

His vastness.”

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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