ثَوْبٌ

Full Definition

ثَوْبٌ A garment, [or piece of cloth or stuff,] that is worn by men, composed of linen, cotton, wool, fur, خَزّ [q. v.], silk, or the like; but [properly] not what is cut out of several pieces, such as the shirt, and trousers, or drawers, &c.; [though often applied to a shirt or shift (قَمِيص or دِرْع) and to a جُبَّة &c.:] it seems to be so called because the wearer returns to it, or it to the wearer, time after time: [also a garment worn by women and girls over the shift; (see أُصْدَةٌ;) app., as in the present day, a long gown, reaching to the feet, with very wide sleeves:] pl. ثِيَابٌ [the pl. of mult.] and أَثْوَابٌ [a pl. of pauc.] and أَثْوُبٌ and أَثْؤُبٌ, the last two being pls. of pauc., and the latter of them being thus pronounced with ء by some of the Arabs because the dammeh immediately after و is deemed difficult of utterance; for which reason they substitute ء for و in all instances like this.
2 Curtains, and the like, are not [properly] called ثِيَاب; but أَمْتِعَةُ البَيْتِ: though Es-Sarakhsee uses the phrase ثِيَابُ البَيْتِ. تَعَلَّقَ بِثِيَابِ ٱللّٰهِ [He clung to the curtains of the House of God], i. e., to the curtains of the Kaabeh, is a tropical expression.
3 Sometimes, ثَوْبٌ is used metonymically to signify A thing [of any kind] that veils, covers, or protects: as in the saying of a poet, كَثَوْبِ ٱبْنِ بِيضٍ وَقَاهُمْ بِهِ فَسَدَّ عَلَى السَّالِكِينَ السَّبِيلَا [Like the means of protection adopted by Ibn-Beed: he protected them by it, and closed the way against the passengers]. Ibn-Beed was a wealthy merchant of the tribe of 'Ád, who hamstrung his she-camel upon a mountain-road, and stopped the way [to his abode] with it. (K in art. بيض.)
4 In the same manner, also, ثِيَابٌ is used to signify Weapons.
5 And أَثْوَابٌ is sometimes employed to signify The wearers of garments; the wearers' bodies. Esh-Shemmákh says, or Leylà, describing camels, وَمَوْهَا بِأَثْوَابٍ خِفَافٍ فَلَا تَرَى لَهَا شَبَهًا إِلَّا النَّعَامَ المُنَفَّرَا i. e. They mounted them, namely, the travellingcamels, with their [light, or agile,] bodies: [and thou seest not anything like them, except ostriches scared away.] And in like manner, also, the dual is employed to signify The wearer's body, or self; or what the garments infold: and ثِيَاب is employed in the same manner. You say, لِلّهِ ثَوْبَاهُ, i. e. To God be he [meaning his excellence] attributed! [for nothing but what is excellent is to be attributed to God:] or it means لِلّهِ دَرُّهُ [To God be attributed the good that hath proceeded from him! or his good deed! &c.: see arts. اله and در]. And فِى ثَوْبَىْ أَبِى أَنْ أَفِيَهُ meaning [On me and on my father it rests, or lies, or be it, that I pay it: or] فِىذِمَّتِى وَذِمَّةِأَبِى [on my responsibility and the responsibility of my father]. And اُسْلُلْ ثِيَابَكَ مِنْ ثِيَابِى Withdraw, or separate, thyself from me.
6 [The following exs. are mostly, or all, tropical.]
7 إِنِّ المَيِّتَ لَيُبْعَثُ فِى ثِيَابِهِ الَّتِى يَمُوتُ فِيهَا, a saying of Mohammad, repeated by Aboo-Sa'eed El-Khudree, when, being about to die, he had called for new garments, and put them on: it means Verily the dead will be raised in his garments in which he dies; accord. to some; and was used in this sense by Aboo-Sa'eed: or [agreeably with] his works with which his life is closed: or in the state in which he dies, according as it is good or evil.
8 وَثِيَابَكَ فَطَهِّرْ, in the Kur [lxxiv. 4], means And purify thy garments: or shorten thy garments; for the shortening them is a means of purity: or put not on thy garments in a state of disobedience or unrighteousness: or be not perfidious; for [figuratively speaking,] he who is so pollutes his garments: or, as some say, purify thy heart: or purify thyself from sins, or offences: or rectify thine actions, or thy conduct.
9 You say, فُلَانْ نَقِىُّ الثَّوْبِ, meaning Such a one is free from vice, or fault: and طَاهِرُ الثَّوْبِ [the same; or pure in heart, or conduct, or reputation]. (TA in art. نصح.) And دَنِسُ الثِّيَابِ Vicious, or faulty: or perfidious: or foul, or evil, in reputation, in conduct, or actions, and in the way that he follows [with respect to religion and morality].
10 كَلَابِسِ ثَوْبَىْ زُورٍ: see مُتَشَبِّعٌ.
11 أَعْرَضَ ثَوْبُ المَلْبَسِ and المِلْبَسِ &c.: see عَرُضَ.
12 ثَوْبُ المَآءِ [The membrane called] السَّلَى and الغِرْسُ.

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