[1] : The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48

joseph \jo"seph\, n.
   an outer garment worn in the 18th century; esp., a woman's
   riding habit, buttoned down the front. --fairholt.
   1913 webster

[2] : WordNet (r) 2.0

joseph
     n 1: leader of the nez perce in their retreat from united states
          troops 1840-1904 syn: chief joseph
     2: old testament the 11th son of jacob and one of the 12
        patriarchs of israel; jacob gave joseph a coat of many
        colors, which made his brothers jealous and they sold him
        into slavery in egypt
     3: new testament husband of mary and in christian belief
        the foster father of jesus
see also:
chief joseph 

[3] : Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary

joseph
   remover or increaser. 1. the elder of the two sons of jacob by
   rachel gen. 30:23, 24, who, on the occasion of his birth,
   said, "god hath taken away heb. 'asaph my reproach." "the lord
   shall add heb. yoseph to me another son" gen. 30:24. he was
   a child of probably six years of age when his father returned
   from haran to canaan and took up his residence in the old
   patriarchal town of hebron. "now israel loved joseph more than
   all his children, because he was the son of his old age," and he
   "made him a long garment with sleeves" gen. 37:3, r.v. marg.,
   i.e., a garment long and full, such as was worn by the children
   of nobles. this seems to be the correct rendering of the words.
   the phrase, however, may also be rendered, "a coat of many
   pieces", i.e., a patchwork of many small pieces of divers
   colours.
   
     when he was about seventeen years old joseph incurred the
   jealous hatred of his brothers gen. 37:4. they "hated him, and
   could not speak peaceably unto him." their anger was increased
   when he told them his dreams 37:11.
   
     jacob desiring to hear tidings of his sons, who had gone to
   shechem with their flocks, some 60 miles from hebron, sent
   joseph as his messenger to make inquiry regarding them. joseph
   found that they had left shechem for dothan, whither he followed
   them. as soon as they saw him coming they began to plot against
   him, and would have killed him had not reuben interposed. they
   ultimately sold him to a company of ishmaelite merchants for
   twenty pieces shekels of silver about $2, 10s., ten pieces
   less than the current value of a slave, for "they cared little
   what they had for him, if so be they were rid of him." these
   merchants were going down with a varied assortment of
   merchandise to the egyptian market, and thither they conveyed
   him, and ultimately sold him as a slave to potiphar, an "officer
   of pharaoh's, and captain of the guard" gen. 37:36. "the lord
   blessed the egyptian's house for joseph's sake," and potiphar
   made him overseer over his house. at length a false charge
   having been brought against him by potiphar's wife, he was at
   once cast into the state prison 39; 40, where he remained for
   at least two years. after a while the "chief of the cupbearers"
   and the "chief of the bakers" of pharaoh's household were cast
   into the same prison 40:2. each of these new prisoners dreamed
   a dream in the same night, which joseph interpreted, the event
   occurring as he had said.
   
     this led to joseph's being remembered subsequently by the
   chief butler when pharaoh also dreamed. at his suggestion joseph
   was brought from prison to interpret the king's dreams. pharaoh
   was well pleased with joseph's wisdom in interpreting his
   dreams, and with his counsel with reference to the events then
   predicted; and he set him over all the land of egypt gen.
   41:46, and gave him the name of zaphnath-paaneah. he was
   married to asenath, the daughter of the priest of on, and thus
   became a member of the priestly class. joseph was now about
   thirty years of age.
   
     as joseph had interpreted, seven years of plenty came, during
   which he stored up great abundance of corn in granaries built
   for the purpose. these years were followed by seven years of
   famine "over all the face of the earth," when "all countries
   came into egypt to joseph to buy corn" gen. 41:56, 57; 47:13,
   14. thus "joseph gathered up all the money that was in the land
   of egypt, and in the land of canaan, for the corn which they
   bought." afterwards all the cattle and all the land, and at last
   the egyptians themselves, became the property of pharaoh.
   
     during this period of famine joseph's brethren also came down
   to egypt to buy corn. the history of his dealings with them, and
   of the manner in which he at length made himself known to them,
   is one of the most interesting narratives that can be read gen.
   42-45. joseph directed his brethren to return and bring jacob
   and his family to the land of egypt, saying, "i will give you
   the good of the land of egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the
   land. regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land is
   yours." accordingly jacob and his family, to the number of
   threescore and ten souls, together with "all that they had,"
   went down to egypt. they were settled in the land of goshen,
   where joseph met his father, and "fell on his neck, and wept on
   his neck a good while" gen. 46:29.
   
     the excavations of dr. naville have shown the land of goshen
   to be the wady tumilat, between ismailia and zagazig. in goshen
   egyptian qosem they had pasture for their flocks, were near
   the asiatic frontier of egypt, and were out of the way of the
   egyptian people. an inscription speaks of it as a district given
   up to the wandering shepherds of asia.
   
     jacob at length died, and in fulfilment of a promise which he
   had exacted, joseph went up to canaan to bury his father in "the
   field of ephron the hittite" gen. 47:29-31; 50:1-14. this was
   the last recorded act of joseph, who again returned to egypt.
   
     "the 'story of the two brothers,' an egyptian romance written
   for the son of the pharaoh of the oppression, contains an
   episode very similar to the biblical account of joseph's
   treatment by potiphar's wife. potiphar and potipherah are the
   egyptian pa-tu-pa-ra, 'the gift of the sun-god.' the name given
   to joseph, zaphnath-paaneah, is probably the egyptian
   zaf-nti-pa-ankh, 'nourisher of the living one,' i.e., of the
   pharaoh. there are many instances in the inscriptions of
   foreigners in egypt receiving egyptian names, and rising to the
   highest offices of state."
   
     by his wife asenath, joseph had two sons, manasseh and ephraim
   gen. 41:50. joseph having obtained a promise from his brethren
   that when the time should come that god would "bring them unto
   the land which he sware to abraham, to isaac, and to jacob,"
   they would carry up his bones out of egypt, at length died, at
   the age of one hundred and ten years; and "they embalmed him,
   and he was put in a coffin" gen. 50:26. this promise was
   faithfully observed. their descendants, long after, when the
   exodus came, carried the body about with them during their forty
   years' wanderings, and at length buried it in shechem, in the
   parcel of ground which jacob bought from the sons of hamor
   josh. 24:32; comp. gen. 33:19. with the death of joseph the
   patriarchal age of the history of israel came to a close.
   
     the pharaoh of joseph's elevation was probably apepi, or
   apopis, the last of the hyksos kings. some, however, think that
   joseph came to egypt in the reign of thothmes iii. see pharaoh
   ¯t0002923, long after the expulsion of the hyksos.
   
     the name joseph denotes the two tribes of ephraim and manasseh
   in deut. 33:13-17; the kingdom of israel in ezek. 37:16, 19,
   amos 5:6; and the whole covenant people of israel in ps. 81:4.
   
     2. one of the sons of asaph, head of the first division of
   sacred musicians 1 chr. 25:2, 9.
   
     3. the son of judah, and father of semei luke 3:26. other
   two of the same name in the ancestry of christ are also
   mentioned 3:24, 30.
   
     4. the foster-father of our lord matt. 1:16; luke 3:23. he
   lived at nazareth in galilee luke 2:4. he is called a "just
   man." he was by trade a carpenter matt. 13:55. he is last
   mentioned in connection with the journey to jerusalem, when
   jesus was twelve years old. it is probable that he died before
   jesus entered on his public ministry. this is concluded from the
   fact that mary only was present at the marriage feast in cana of
   galilee. his name does not appear in connection with the scenes
   of the crucifixion along with that of mary q.v., john 19:25.
   
     5. a native of arimathea, probably the ramah of the old
   testament 1 sam. 1:19, a man of wealth, and a member of the
   sanhedrim matt. 27:57; luke 23:50, an "honourable counsellor,
   who waited for the kingdom of god." as soon as he heard the
   tidings of christ's death, he "went in boldly" lit. "having
   summoned courage, he went" "unto pilate, and craved the body of
   jesus." pilate having ascertained from the centurion that the
   death had really taken place, granted joseph's request, who
   immediately, having purchased fine linen mark 15:46, proceeded
   to golgotha to take the body down from the cross. there,
   assisted by nicodemus, he took down the body and wrapped it in
   the fine linen, sprinkling it with the myrrh and aloes which
   nicodemus had brought john 19:39, and then conveyed the body
   to the new tomb hewn by joseph himself out of a rock in his
   garden hard by. there they laid it, in the presence of mary
   magdalene, mary the mother of joses, and other women, and rolled
   a great stone to the entrance, and departed luke 23:53, 55.
   this was done in haste, "for the sabbath was drawing on" comp.
   isa. 53:9.
   
     6. surnamed barsabas acts 1:23; also called justus. he was
   one of those who "companied with the apostles all the time that
   the lord jesus went out and in among them" acts 1:21, and was
   one of the candidates for the place of judas.
   

[4] : Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's)

joseph, increase; addition

[5] : U.S. Gazetteer (1990)

joseph, or city, fips 37900
  location: 45.35202 n, 117.22788 w
  population 1990: 1073 501 housing units
  area: 1.9 sq km land, 0.0 sq km water
  zip codes: 97846
joseph, ut town, fips 39370
  location: 38.62507 n, 112.21873 w
  population 1990: 198 83 housing units
  area: 2.3 sq km land, 0.0 sq km water
  zip codes: 84739

[6] : U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000)

joseph, or -- u.s. city in oregon
   population 2000:    1054
   housing units 2000: 543
   land area 2000:     0.853569 sq. miles 2.210734 sq. km
   water area 2000:    0.000000 sq. miles 0.000000 sq. km
   total area 2000:    0.853569 sq. miles 2.210734 sq. km
   fips code:            37900
   located within:       oregon or, fips 41
   location:             45.350874 n, 117.230231 w
   zip codes 1990:     97846
   note: some zip codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   headwords:
    joseph, or
    joseph

[7] : U.S. Gazetteer Places (2000)

joseph, ut -- u.s. town in utah
   population 2000:    269
   housing units 2000: 109
   land area 2000:     0.891551 sq. miles 2.309107 sq. km
   water area 2000:    0.000000 sq. miles 0.000000 sq. km
   total area 2000:    0.891551 sq. miles 2.309107 sq. km
   fips code:            39370
   located within:       utah ut, fips 49
   location:             38.626797 n, 112.217185 w
   zip codes 1990:     84739
   note: some zip codes may be omitted esp. for suburbs.
   headwords:
    joseph, ut
    joseph

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