name given by Christ to his disciples John and James, the two sons of Zebedee (Mark iii:17), Late Latin, from Ecclesiastical Greek Boanerges, from a Galilean dialectal corruption of Hebrew bene reghesh "sons of rage" (interpreted in Greek as "sons of thunder"), from bene (see B'nai B'rith) + reghesh "commotion, tumult, throng." Applied figuratively to zealous or loud preachers.