صَرْفٌ

Full Definition

صَرْفٌ [as an Verbal.Noun: see 1].
2 Used as a subst., The evil accidents, mishaps, or calamities, of time, or fortune; [thus expl. as having a pl. signification;] صَرْفُ الدَّهْرِ meaning حَدَثَانُهُ, and نَوَائِبُهُ, or حَوَادِثُهُ; because it [i. e. time, or fortune,] turns things from their way, or course: [but it seems to be more properly rendered the shifting of fortune, or its shifting about; and to be an Verbal.Noun sometimes used as a simple subst., and therefore having a pl., for] its pl. is صُرُوفٌ. In the phrase قَدْ شَحَطَتْ صَرْفُ نَوَاهَا, in a verse of Sakhr-el-Ghei, [ISd says,] he has made it fem. because of its dependance upon النَّوَى [which is fem.; as though the meaning were The afflictions that are the consequence of the course taken by her in her journey have exceeded the bounds of moderation]: [or it is here made fem. because having the signification of a broken pl., which is fem.:] or the meaning is, قَدْ بَعُدَتْ تَصَرُّفُ وَجْهِهَا الَّذِى أَخَذَتْ فِيهِ [i. e. the shiftingabout of her course that she has taken has become far-extending; صَرْف being thus used as an Verbal.Noun; for the Arabs sometimes make the Verbal.Noun fem., saying أَوْجَعَتْنِى ضَرْبُكَ as well as أَوْجَعَنِى ضَرْبُكَ; and this I think the most preferable explanation].
3 Also Repentance. [See a phrase below, in which this and other meanings are assigned to it.]
4 And Art, artifice, or cunning. Hence, in the Kur [xxv. 20], فَمَآ يَسْتَطِيعُونَ صَرْفًا وَلَا نَصْرًا [And they are not able to put in practice art or artifice or cunning, nor aid]: or this means and they are not able to avert, or repel, from themselves punishment, nor to aid themselves.
5 And Excellence, or superiority, of a dirhem, and of a deenár, over another, in goodness, or in value; as in the saying, بَيْنَ الدِّرْهَمَيْنِ صَرْفٌ [Between the two dirhems is a difference of excellence], because of the [superior] goodness of the silver of one of them: and in like manner, of speech; as in the saying فُلَانٌ لَا يَعْرِفُ صَرْفَ الكَلَامِ Such a one knows not the excellence of speech over other speech: and [in like manner] one says, لِهٰذَا عَلَى هٰذَا صَرْفٌ There is, or pertains, to this, an excess, and an excellence, over this; for when one is judged to excel, it, or he, is turned aside from its, or his, likes, or fellows.
6 And The night; and the day: [because of their interchanging:] الصَّرْفَانِ signifies the night and the day; as also ; the latter accord. to Ibn-'Abbád; like الصِّرْعَانِ, with kesr also [as well as with fet-h].
7 In the saying of the Arabs, or of the Prophet, in a certain trad., لَا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهُ صَرْفٌ وَلَا عَدْلٌ [Neither صَرْف nor عَدْل shall be accepted from him], by صَرْف is meant repentance; and by عَدْل, ransom: or by the former, art, or artifice, or cunning; and by the latter, ransom: or by the former, acquisition of gain; and by the latter, ransom: or by the former, a supererogatory act; and by the latter, an obligatory act: or vice versâ: or by the former, weight; and by the latter, measure: or by the former, deviation; and by the latter, a right, or direct, course: or by the former, مَا يُتَصَرَّفُ فِيهِ [app. meaning an evasive artifice]; and by the latter, a like: or by the former, value, or price; and by the latter, a like; the saying originally relating to the bloodwit (الدِّيَة): one says, لَمْ يَقْبَلُوا مِنْهُمْ صَرْفًا وَلَا عَدْلًا, i. e. They did not accept from them a bloodwit, nor did they slay one man for him, of their people, who had been slain; but they required from them more than that; for the Arabs used [often] to slay two men, and three, for one man; when they slew a man for a man, that was العَدْل with them; and when they took a bloodwit, having turned from the blood to another thing, that was صَرْف, i. e. the value, or price, was صَرْف: then the saying was applied in relation to anything, so as to be proverbially used in the case of him who was to render more than was incumbent on him: it has also been said that by صَرْف is meant [in the saying cited above] something additional, or in excess; but this is nought.

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