Search

the name of the first man: husband of Eve and progenitor of the human race. Gen. 2:7; 5:1–5.
Adolphe Charles
[a-dawlf sharl] /aˈdɔlf ʃarl/ (Show IPA), 1803–56, French composer of comic opera and ballet music.
James, 1730–94, and his brother Robert, 1728–92, English architects and furniture designers.
Lambert Sigisbert
[lahn-ber see-zheez-ber] /lɑ̃ˈbɛr si ʒizˈbɛr/ (Show IPA), 1700–59, and his brother Nicholas Sébastien
[nee-kaw-lah sey-bahs-tyan] /ni kɔˈlɑ seɪ bɑsˈtyɛ̃/ (Show IPA) 1705–78, French sculptors.
a male given name.
of or relating to the style of architecture, decoration, or furnishings associated with Robert and James Adam, characterized by free adaptation of ancient Roman forms and interiors treated with delicate ornament generally painted in light, vivid colors.
not know from Adam, to be unacquainted with:
He says hello to us every morning, but we don’t know him from Adam.
the old Adam, the natural tendency toward sin:
He attributed his wild outburst to the old Adam in him.
Contemporary Examples

She was standing beside Adam Darr, a 23-year-old Macaulay Culkin clone.
The Weirdest Pro-Hillary Party Yet David Freedlander March 21, 2014

Unable to come to an agreement over alimony, God intervenes to help Adam and Eve divvy up their marital belongings.
Johnny Carson’s Greatest Moments From Carnac to a Python Grapple Brittany Jones-Cooper May 6, 2012

Me: So what do you guys think, bearing in mind that if you insult the book, Uncle Adam will never get to go on Colbert’s show?
‘Go the F–k to Sleep’ Author Mansbach on Colbert’s Children’s Book Adam Mansbach May 7, 2012

Adam had few, if any, activities outside his home and no friends.
The Trials of Nancy Lanza Diane Dimond January 6, 2013

Adam Fox, director of strategic communications for CCHI, defends the ads, saying they have multiple educational messages.
Inside the Controversial ‘Brosurance’ Obamacare Ads Ben Jacobs November 12, 2013

Historical Examples

Adam, who had been helping in the latter stages, squinted at the ceiling of the box.
The Enormous Room Horace Leonard Gold

Why, there wasn’t any drama in the world ’til Adam and Eve fell!
The Foolish Lovers St. John G. Ervine

“You’re surprised to see me at this hour o’ the day,” said Adam.
Adam Bede George Eliot

Adam might have been created immutable by a necessity of nature.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. I Francis Augustus Cox

The general condition of things produced by the fall of Adam could not be used as an argument against matrimony generally.
John Caldigate Anthony Trollope

noun
(Old Testament) the first man, created by God: the progenitor of the human race (Genesis 2–3)
not know someone from Adam, to have no knowledge of or acquaintance with someone
the old Adam, the evil supposedly inherent in human nature
noun
(French) (adɑ̃). Adolphe. 1803–56, French composer, best known for his romantic ballet Giselle (1841)
(ˈædəm). Robert. 1728–92, Scottish architect and furniture designer. Assisted by his brother, James, 1730–94, he emulated the harmony of classical and Italian Renaissance architecture
adjective
in the neoclassical style made popular by Robert Adam

masc. proper name, Biblical name of the first man, from Hebrew adam “man,” literally “(the one formed from the) ground” (Hebrew adamah “ground”); cf. Latin homo “man,” humanus “human,” humus “earth, ground, soil.” To not know (someone) from Adam “not know him at all” is first recorded 1784.

Related Terms

not know someone from adam

A Data Management system
Animated Dissection of Anatomy for Medicine

red, a Babylonian word, the generic name for man, having the same meaning in the Hebrew and the Assyrian languages. It was the name given to the first man, whose creation, fall, and subsequent history and that of his descendants are detailed in the first book of Moses (Gen. 1:27-ch. 5). “God created man [Heb., Adam] in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Adam was absolutely the first man whom God created. He was formed out of the dust of the earth (and hence his name), and God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and gave him dominion over all the lower creatures (Gen. 1:26; 2:7). He was placed after his creation in the Garden of Eden, to cultivate it, and to enjoy its fruits under this one prohibition: “Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” The first recorded act of Adam was his giving names to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, which God brought to him for this end. Thereafter the Lord caused a deep sleep to fall upon him, and while in an unconscious state took one of his ribs, and closed up his flesh again; and of this rib he made a woman, whom he presented to him when he awoke. Adam received her as his wife, and said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” He called her Eve, because she was the mother of all living. Being induced by the tempter in the form of a serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, Eve persuaded Adam, and he also did eat. Thus man fell, and brought upon himself and his posterity all the sad consequences of his transgression. The narrative of the Fall comprehends in it the great promise of a Deliverer (Gen. 3:15), the “first gospel” message to man. They were expelled from Eden, and at the east of the garden God placed a flame, which turned every way, to prevent access to the tree of life (Gen. 3). How long they were in Paradise is matter of mere conjecture. Shortly after their expulsion Eve brought forth her first-born, and called him Cain. Although we have the names of only three of Adam’s sons, viz., Cain, Abel, and Seth, yet it is obvious that he had several sons and daughters (Gen. 5:4). He died aged 930 years. Adam and Eve were the progenitors of the whole human race. Evidences of varied kinds are abundant in proving the unity of the human race. The investigations of science, altogether independent of historical evidence, lead to the conclusion that God “hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26. Comp. Rom. 5:12-12; 1 Cor. 15:22-49).

see: not know from Adam