Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BE'HE-MOTH, n. [Heb. בהטות, from בהטה, a beast or brute; from an Arabic verb, which signifies, to shut, to lie hid, to be dumb. In Eth. dumb.]

Authors are divided in opinion as to the animal intended in Scripture by this name; some supposing it to be an ox, others, an elephant; and Bochart labors to prove it the hippopotamus, or river horse. The latter opinion is most probable. [See Hippopotamus.] The original word in Arabic signifies a brute or beast in general, especially a quadruped.