411 REFERENCE · Wiktionary
Captain Ahab
Reference material by Wiktionary contributors. This retains its source identity and is not 411 news reporting.
English
Etymology
From the character of the same name in the novel Moby Dick.
Noun
A monomaniacal person; one who is consumed by a desire beyond all reason to achieve a particular goal (a white whale).
en "Do you remember saying that?" Ben nods up at the wall. "Telling Lia, 'You are on track to be the Captain Ahab of the idealized al pastor taco'?" https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_King_of_Infinite_Space/_aBxEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22the+captain+ahab+of%22+-%22moby+dick%22&pg=PA74&printsec=frontcover 74 Penguin Publishing Group The King of Infinite Space Lyndsay Faye 2022
en THE AUTHOR WOULD LIKE TO THANK GEORGES BORCHARDT, Lenore Riegel, Marie Pantojan, Dave Cole, and also Robert Weil, the Captain Ahab of publishing, in his continual search for the blinding white whale of perfection. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Perilous_Adventures_of_the_Cowboy_Ki/Y65gDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 Liveright The Perilous Adventures of the Cowboy King: A Novel of Teddy Roosevelt and His Times Jerome Charyn 2019
en Be the Captain Ahab of vision, mission and values. A group is better able to avoid being diverted or tossed around by the winds of change and public policy fashions if it is clear and agreed on its vision (the long-term difference we want to see in society), mission (our particular contribution to that change) and values (how we do things, and what we would never do). https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Routledge_Handbook_of_Community_Deve/HoI6DwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22the+captain+ahab+of%22+-%22moby+dick%22&pg=PT85&printsec=frontcover Taylor & Francis The Routledge Handbook of Community Development: Perspectives from Around the Globe 2017 Brian McGrath, Rhonda Phillips, Sue Kenny
Related terms
en Ahabian
en terms derived from fiction eponyms
en Fictional characters