Judas

Judas
    n 1: (New Testament) supposed brother of St. James; one of the
         Apostles who is invoked in prayer when a situation seems
         hopeless [syn: {Jude}, {Saint Jude}, {St. Jude}, {Judas},
         {Thaddaeus}]
    2: (New Testament) the Apostle who betrayed Jesus to his enemies
       for 30 pieces of silver [syn: {Judas}, {Judas Iscariot}]
    3: someone who betrays under the guise of friendship
    4: a one-way peephole in a door
    

Judas \Ju"das\, n.
   The disciple who betrayed Christ. Hence: A treacherous
   person; one who betrays under the semblance of friendship. --
   a. Treacherous; betraying.
   [1913 Webster]

   {Judas hole}, a peephole or secret opening for spying.

   {Judas kiss},
   (a) a deceitful and treacherous kiss.
   (b) an act appearing to be an act of friendship, which is in
       fact harmful to the recipient.

   {Judas tree} (Bot.), a leguminous tree of the genus {Cercis},
      with pretty, rose-colored flowers in clusters along the
      branches. Judas is said to have hanged himself on a tree
      of this genus ({Cercis Siliquastrum}). {Cercis Canadensis}
      and {Cercis occidentalis} are the American species, and
      are called also {redbud}.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Judas
the Graecized form of Judah. (1.) The patriarch (Matt. 1:2, 3).

  (2.) Son of Simon (John 6:71; 13:2, 26), surnamed Iscariot,
i.e., a man of Kerioth (Josh. 15:25). His name is uniformly the
last in the list of the apostles, as given in the synoptic
(i.e., the first three) Gospels. The evil of his nature probably
gradually unfolded itself till "Satan entered into him" (John
13:27), and he betrayed our Lord (18:3). Afterwards he owned his
sin with "an exceeding bitter cry," and cast the money he had
received as the wages of his iniquity down on the floor of the
sanctuary, and "departed and went and hanged himself" (Matt.
27:5). He perished in his guilt, and "went unto his own place"
(Acts 1:25). The statement in Acts 1:18 that he "fell headlong
and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out,"
is in no way contrary to that in Matt. 27:5. The sucide first
hanged himself, perhaps over the valley of Hinnom, "and the rope
giving way, or the branch to which he hung breaking, he fell
down headlong on his face, and was crushed and mangled on the
rocky pavement below."

  Why such a man was chosen to be an apostle we know not, but it
is written that "Jesus knew from the beginning who should betray
him" (John 6:64). Nor can any answer be satisfactorily given to
the question as to the motives that led Judas to betray his
Master. "Of the motives that have been assigned we need not care
to fix on any one as that which simply led him on. Crime is, for
the most part, the result of a hundred motives rushing with
bewildering fury through the mind of the criminal."

  (3.) A Jew of Damascus (Acts 9:11), to whose house Ananias was
sent. The street called "Straight" in which it was situated is
identified with the modern "street of bazaars," where is still
pointed out the so-called "house of Judas."

  (4.) A Christian teacher, surnamed Barsabas. He was sent from
Jerusalem to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas with the
decision of the council (Acts 15:22, 27, 32). He was a "prophet"
and a "chief man among the brethren."
    

Judas, Jude, same as Judah
    

50 Moby Thesaurus words for "Judas":
      Benedict Arnold, Brutus, Judas Iscariot, Quisling, archtraitor,
      betrayer, cockatrice, conniver, conspirator, conspirer, convict,
      criminal, crook, deceiver, desperado, desperate criminal,
      double agent, double-crosser, double-dealer, felon, fugitive,
      gallows bird, gangster, gaolbird, informer, intrigant, intriguer,
      jailbird, lawbreaker, machinator, mobster, outlaw, plotter,
      public enemy, quisling, racketeer, rat, schemer, scofflaw, serpent,
      snake, swindler, thief, thug, timeserver, traitor, treasonist,
      trimmer, turncoat, two-timer

    

JUDAS

suicide.