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Definition of 'leviathan'

noun

The largest or most massive thing of its kind; "it was a leviathan among redwoods"; "they were assigned the leviathan of textbooks"

noun

Monstrous sea creature symbolizing evil in the Old Testament

From: GCIDE

Leviathan \Le*vi"a*than\ (l[-e]*v[imac]"[.a]*than), n. [Heb. livy[=a]th[=a]n.] [1913 Webster]
1. An aquatic animal, described in the book of Job, ch. xli., and mentioned in other passages of Scripture. [1913 Webster]
Note: It is not certainly known what animal is intended, whether the crocodile, the whale, or some sort of serpent. [1913 Webster]
2. The whale, or a great whale. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Leviathan a transliterated Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning "twisted," "coiled." In Job 3:8, Revised Version, and marg. of Authorized Version, it denotes the dragon which, according to Eastern tradition, is an enemy of light; in 41:1 the crocodile is meant; in Ps. 104:26 it "denotes any large animal that moves by writhing or wriggling the body, the whale, the monsters of the deep." This word is also used figuratively for a cruel enemy, as some think "the Egyptian host, crushed by the divine power, and cast on the shores of the Red Sea" (Ps. 74:14). As used in Isa. 27:1, "leviathan the piercing [R.V. 'swift'] serpent, even leviathan that crooked [R.V. marg. 'winding'] serpent," the word may probably denote the two empires, the Assyrian and the Babylonian.