ضَبٌّ
Root: ضب
Full Definition
ضَبٌّ
[A species of lizard; termed lacerta caudiverbera, from its habit of striking with its tail; (see جَرَشَ;) Forskål terms it lacerta Aegyptia; referring to Hasselquist, p. 302; and adds the following description: “ femora teretia sine verrucis: cauda verticillata non longa: squamæ patentes, subconicæ mucronatæ: corpus nudum, rugosum: ”] a certain reptile, or small creeping thing, of those termed
حَشَرَات, well known; resembling the
وَرَل [q. v., but not so long]: or resembling the
حِرْذَون [q. v.]; of which there are two species, one of the size of the
حرذون, and one larger: accord. to 'Abd-El-Káhir, of the size of a little young crocodile; having a tail like the tail of the latter: it assumes various colours when exposed to the sun, like as does the chameleon; lives seven hundred years; drinks not water, being satisfied with the air; voids one drop of urine in every forty days; its teeth consist of one curved piece; when it has quitted its hole it knows it not; and it lays eggs, like a bird: so say IKh and Dmr and others: AM says, the وَرَل is of a lank make, with a long tail; the latter resembling that of a serpent; and the length of some exceeds two cubits; but the tail of the
ضبّ
is jointed, and its utmost length is a span: the Arabs deem the ورل a foul and filthy thing, and do not eat it; but they are eager to hunt and eat the
ضبّ: this animal has a rough tail, serrated with jags resembling vertebræ; its colour inclines to a blackish dusty hue; and when it becomes fat, its breast becomes yellow; it eats nothing but [the locusts called] جَنَادِب, and young locusts before their wings have grown (دَبًا), and herbage, not venomous or noxious reptiles; whereas the ورل eats scorpions and serpents and chameleons and beetles: its flesh is an antidote against poisons, and women grow fat upon it: it is the longest, of the animals, in retaining the remains of life: [see also مُطَبِّخٌ:] the fem. is with ة: and the pl. [of pauc.] is أَضُبٌّ and [of mult.] ضِبَابٌ and ضُبَّانٌ, which last Lh particularizes as used to denote a great number, but ISd sees no reason for this distinction, and [quasipl. n.]
مَضَبَّةٌ , like as مَشْيَخَةٌ is of شَيْخٌ, this last on the authority of As, as heard by him from more than one of the Arabs. Hence one says رَجُلٌ خَبٌّ ضَبٌّ
2 [Hence also,]
def.2 Also A certain disease in the lip, in consequence of which it flows with blood, or swells, and becomes hard, or dry and hard, and flows with blood.
2 And A tumour in the breast of a camel.
3 And A tumour in the خُفّ, (so in copies of the K [i. e. foot], in the TA انف [which is, I doubt not, a mistranscription],) or in the فِرْسِن, [which means the same, or the extremity of the foot,] of the camel.
4 And A disease in the elbow of a camel; said to be its cutting into his skin [by rubbing against it]; or its being distorted, and falling against his side, so as to gall it.
5 And A chapping, or cracking, (اِنَفِتَاقٌ,) [in the crease] of the armpit [of a child, or of a camel], and abundance of flesh: El- 'Adebbes El-Kinánee gives the same explanation, and says that this is what is also termed ضَاغِطٌ.
def.3 Also The طَلْع [i. e. the spadix, or the spathe,] of the palm-tree: pl. ضِبَابٌ: or ضَبَّةٌ signifies, and so ضَبٌّ, [but the latter seems to be a coll. gen. n., and the former its n. un.,] a طَلْعَة [meaning spathe of a palm-tree] before it cleaves open from [around] the غَرِيض [or spadix].
2 [Hence also,]
def.2 Also A certain disease in the lip, in consequence of which it flows with blood, or swells, and becomes hard, or dry and hard, and flows with blood.
2 And A tumour in the breast of a camel.
3 And A tumour in the خُفّ, (so in copies of the K [i. e. foot], in the TA انف [which is, I doubt not, a mistranscription],) or in the فِرْسِن, [which means the same, or the extremity of the foot,] of the camel.
4 And A disease in the elbow of a camel; said to be its cutting into his skin [by rubbing against it]; or its being distorted, and falling against his side, so as to gall it.
5 And A chapping, or cracking, (اِنَفِتَاقٌ,) [in the crease] of the armpit [of a child, or of a camel], and abundance of flesh: El- 'Adebbes El-Kinánee gives the same explanation, and says that this is what is also termed ضَاغِطٌ.
def.3 Also The طَلْع [i. e. the spadix, or the spathe,] of the palm-tree: pl. ضِبَابٌ: or ضَبَّةٌ signifies, and so ضَبٌّ, [but the latter seems to be a coll. gen. n., and the former its n. un.,] a طَلْعَة [meaning spathe of a palm-tree] before it cleaves open from [around] the غَرِيض [or spadix].
Lane's Lexicon
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Hans Wehr
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