Lexical Definition

‎כֶּלֶב‎ keleb (keh'-leb) dog ^H:N-M
from an unused root means. to yelp, or else to attack

dog.

• a dog
• hence (by euphemism) a male prostitute

1) dog
1a) dog (literal)
1b) contempt or abasement (fig.)
1c) of pagan sacrifice
1d) of male cult prostitute (fig.)

See Greek: κύων

Brown-Driver-Briggs

‎כֶּ֫לֶב‎ noun masculine^{1Sam 24:15*} dog (Late Hebrew id.; Phoenician ‎כלב‎; Aramaic ‎כַּלְבָּא‎, , Arabic ; Ethiopic Assyrian kalbu Dl^{HWB 328}) — absolute ‎׳‎‎כ‎ Judg 7:5 + 16 t., ‎כָּ֑לֶב‎ Ps 59:7*; Ps 59:15* plural ‎כְּלָבִים‎ 1Kgs 14:11 + 12 t.; construct ‎כַּלְבֵי‎ Job 30:1 suffix ‎כְּלָבֶיךָ‎ Ps 68:24* — dog:
a. literal 1Kgs 14:11; 1Kgs 16:4; 1Kgs 21:19 (twice in verse); 1Kgs 21:23; 1Kgs 21:24; 1Kgs 22:38; 2Kgs 9:10; 2Kgs 9:36 (all of fierce, hungry dogs, devouring dead bodies and licking blood); compare Jer 15:3 and (‎לְשׁוֺן כְּלָבֶיךָ‎) Ps 68:24* eating torn flesh, Exod 22:30* (E), ‎כַּלְבֵי צאֹנִי‎ = my sheep-dogs, only Job 30:1 (in both these with implied inferiority); dog-sacrifice was a heathen rite Isa 66:3 (Di and others); see especially RS^{Semitic i, 273} (291), 325 (343); invarious simile Judg 7:5; Prov 26:11; Prov 26:17; Ps 59:7*; Ps 59:15* in proverbial sayings: ‎לֹא‎ ‎לִשֹׁנוֺ‎ ‎׳‎‎יֶחֱרַץכֿ‎ Exod 11:7 (see I. ‎חרץ‎); ‎מֵת טוֺב מִןֿ‎ ‎׳‎‎לְכ‎ ‎הָאַרְיֵה הַמֵּת‎ Eccl 9:4.
b. applied, figurative, to men, in contempt 1Sam 17:43, so of psalmist's enemies Ps 22:17*; Ps 22:21*, or in excessive humility 2Kgs 8:13 still more emphatically ‎מֵת‎ ‎׳‎‎כ‎ a dead dog, ‎הַמֵּת‎ ‎׳‎‎הַכּ‎ 2Sam 9:8; 2Sam 16:9 also ‎׳‎‎ראֹשׁ כ‎ 2Sam 3:8 ‎כְּלָבִים אִלְּמִים‎ Isa 56:10 (of misleading prophets), ‎עַזֵּי נֶפֶשׁ‎ ‎׳‎‎הַכּ‎ vIsa 56:11 (id.); ‎׳‎‎כ‎ was name given to male temple-prostitutes Deut 23:19* (see Dr; compare ‎קָדֵשׁ‎).

Brown-Driver-Briggs References