Belshazzar

[ bel-shaz-er ]

noun

1. a prince of Babylon, son of Nabonidus and co-regent with him, referred to in the Bible as a king of Babylon and son of Nebuchadnezzar.

Belshazzar

/ bɛlˈʃæzə /

noun

1. 6th century bc , the son of Nabonidus, coregent of Babylon with his father for eight years: referred to as king and son of Nebuchadnezzar in the Old Testament (Daniel 5:1, 17; 8:1); described as having received a divine message of doom written on a wall at a banquet ( Belshazzar's Feast )

Word History and Origins

Origin of Belshazzar¹

From Hebrew Belshaṣṣar, from Akkadian Bēl-shar-uṣur “may Bel guard the king”

Example Sentences

The passage was about King Belshazzar of ancient Babylon, who was feasting when mysterious fingers of a hand wrote on the wall of his imminent destruction.

From New York Times

In the Book of Daniel, King Belshazzar is found wanting and condemned to death.

From Seattle Times

In that sense, the interview Danny Rose gave in the summer was like the finger writing on the wall at Belshazzar’s feast.

From The Guardian

The conclusion was William Walton’s “Belshazzar’s Feast,” amiably bombastic, with the baritone Igor Vieira holding his own, though slightly anticlimactic in the big vocal and instrumental swirlings surrounding the story of a blasphemous biblical ruler.

From Washington Post

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seeing the handwriting on the wall as clearly as Babylonian King Belshazzar in the Book of Daniel, has hurried to Washington to make an eleventh-hour appeal to Congress.

From Washington Times