golden calf

1. In the Bible, a golden image of a calf fashioned by Aaron and worshiped by the Israelites while Moses was on Mount Sinai.

a. Money as an object of worship; mammon.

b. The subject of intense veneration: "We create a golden calf ... every time we take something of the earth and declare it exempt from the laws of history" (James Carroll).

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

golden calf

1. (Bible) Old Testament

a. an idol made by Aaron and set up for the Israelites to worship (Exodus 32)

b. either of two similar idols set up by Jeroboam I at Dan and Bethel in the northern kingdom (I Kings 12:28–30)

2. informal the pursuit or idolization of material wealth

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

gold′en calf′

1. a golden idol set up by Aaron. Ex. 32.

2. either of the two similar idols set up by Jeroboam. I Kings 12:28, 29.

3. money or material goods.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

golden calf - (Old Testament) an idol made by Aaron for the Israelites to worship; destroyed by Moses; it is now used to refer to anything worshipped undeservedly

graven image, idol, god - a material effigy that is worshipped; "thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image"; "money was his god"

Old Testament - the collection of books comprising the sacred scripture of the Hebrews and recording their history as the chosen people; the first half of the Christian Bible

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Jeroboam set up a golden calf here to fascinate his people and keep them from making dangerous trips to Jerusalem to worship, which might result in a return to their rightful allegiance.

View in context

The golden calf they worship at Boston is a pigmy compared with the giant effigies set up in other parts of that vast counting-house which lies beyond the Atlantic; and the almighty dollar sinks into something comparatively insignificant, amidst a whole Pantheon of better gods.

View in context

They had delayed too long for the impatient people, who had demanded of Moses'brother Aaron that he make a fertility god.When he created the Golden Calf Aaron declared:"These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt"(Exodus 32.4).This instinct to worship the fertility gods was deep-rooted in the soul of Israel.

MOSES TRUSTED GOD'S PROMISE

He stood athwart the ambitions of pro-abortion Democrats which included its anti-life golden calf: federal funding of abortion.

President George H.W. Bush: A great man who will be missed

When Moses descended Mount Sinai holding the two stone tablets with the Ten Commandments engraved on them, he saw the Israelites worshiping the golden calf. In his anger, he smashed the tablets at the foot of the mountain (Exodus 32:19).

Encouraging leaders

| WHO...made the golden calf? | WHAT...condition is also called word blindness?

TIME OUT EXTRA

In the Old Testament who made the Golden Calf which was destroyed when his brother Moses returned from Mount Sinai?

General Knowledge Quiz

"Waldstille" won the Golden Calf Award at the Nederland's Film Festival.

Dutch drama 'Waldstille' to show at PEFF

The ninth chapter of Deuteronomy begins with a short hortatory passage (verses 1-6), and then transitions to a longer narrative passage, which recounts the events of the golden calf (beginning with verse 8).

CONSIDERING THE GENRE AND AUDIENCE OF DEUTERONOMY 9:7

Suddenly we were discussing Judaism's laws and their intent, which brought us to the Golden Calf. "It's after that incident that the Jews get all their rigorous rules," he said, between bites of pasta.

Sha Na Na Tova: Happy New Year From Alan Cooper, Doo-Wopper and Bible Scholar

The first half closed with the two men dueting The Golden Calf from Gounod's Faust, just one of the roles he has made his own at the Royal Opera House.

Bryn Terfel; ERYL CRUMP REVIEW