طَرَفٌ

Full Definition

طَرَفٌ The extremity, or end, of anything; [as of a sword, and of a spear, and of a rope, and of the tongue, &c.;] thus accord. to ISd; but in the K this meaning is assigned to طَرْفٌ : and a side; a lateral, or an outward, or adjacent, part or portion; a region, district, quarter, or tract; syn. نَاحِيَةٌ: and a part, portion, piece, or bit, (syn. طَائِفَةٌ,) of a thing: it is used in relation to bodies, or material things, and to times &c.; and is thus used in the sense of طَائِفَة of a people, in the Kur iii. 122; [and may often be rendered somewhat of a thing, whether material or not material (as in the T and S voce ذَرْوٌ, where it is used of a saying, and as in the S and A and K in art. هوس &c., where it is used of madness, or insanity, or diabolical possession):] the pl. is أَطْرَافٌ.
2 [Hence,] الأَطْرَافُ signifies The fingers: and [when relating to the fingers] has no sing. unless this is used as a prefixed noun, as in the saying أَشَارَتْ بِطَرَفِ إِصْبَعِهَا [She made a sign with the end of her finger]: but the pl. is said by Az to be used in the sense of the sing. in the following ex. cited by Fr, يُبْدِينَ أَطْرَافًا لِطَافًا عَنَيَهٌ [so that the meaning is, They show an elegant finger like a fruit of the species of tree called عَنَم]; therefore the poet says عَمَنَه [which is a n. un.: but I think that it is much more reasonable, and especially as the verb is pl., to regard the ه in this case as the ه of pausation, of which see an ex. voce حِينٌ; and accordingly to render the saying, they show elegant fingers like fruits of the عَنَم]. It is said in a trad. of Abraham, when he was a little child, جُعِلَ رِزْقُهُ فِى أَطْرَافِهِ [His sustenance was made to be in his fingers]; meaning that he used to suck his fingers and find in them that which nourished him.
3 And [hence] أَطْرَافُ العَذَارَى A species of grapes, white and slender, found at Et-Táïf: or, as in the L, black and long, resembling acorns, likened to the fingers of virgins, that are dyed [with حِنَّآء], because of their length; and the bunch of which is about a cubit long.
4 ذُو الطَّرَفَيْنِ is an appellation of A sort of serpent, a sort of black serpent, or the [serpent called] أَسْوَد, having two stings, one in its nose and the other in its tail, with both of which, so it is said, it smites, and it suffers not him whom it smites to linger, killing at once.
5 طَرَفَا الدَّابَّةِ sometimes means The fore part and the hinder part of the beast.
6 And أَطْرَافُ الجَسَدِ or البَدَنِ means [The extremities of the body; i. e.] the arms or hands, and the legs or feet, and the head: or, as in the L, أَطْرَافٌ is pl. of طَرَفٌ as syn. with شَوَاةٌ [n. un. of شَوًى, q. v.].
7 [And the dual has various other meanings assigned to it, derived from the first of the significations mentioned in this paragraph.] It is said in a trad. of the Prophet, كَانَ إِذَا ٱشْتَكَى أَحَدٌ مِنْ أَهْلِهِ لَمْ تَزَلِ البُرْمَةُ عَلَى النَّارِ حَتَّى يَأْتِىَ عَلَى أَحَدِ طَرَفَيْهِ [It was the case that when any one of his family had a complaint, the cooking-pot did not cease to be on the fire but he arrived at one of his two limits]; meaning convalescence or death; because these are the two terminations of the case of the diseased.
8 And one says, لَا يَمْلِكُ طَرَفَيْهِ He will not have control over his mouth and his anus: referring to him who has drunk medicine or become intoxicated.
9 And فُلَانٌ فَاسِدُ الطَّرَفِيْنِ Such a one is corrupt in respect of the tongue and the فَرْج.
10 And لَا يَدْرِى أَىُّ طَرَفَيْهِ أَطْوَلُ, (in the CK يُدْرَى,) [He will not, or does not, know which of his two extremities is the longer,] meaning his ذَكَر and his tongue; whence طَرَفٌ is used as signifying the tongue: or the meaning is, as some say, which of his two halves is the longer; the lower or the upper: or the lineage of his father or that of his mother in respect of generosity, or nobility: i. e., which of his two parents is the more generous, or noble: so says Fr.
11 كَرِيمُ الطَّرَفَيْنِ means Generous, or noble, [on both sides, i. e.] in respect of male and female ancestors.
12 And أَطْرَافٌ means also A man's father and mother and brothers and paternal uncles and any relations whom it is unlawful for him to marry.
13 And Noble, or exalted, men: or أَطْرَافُ الأَرْضِ means the noble, or exalted, men, and the learned men, of the earth, or land: one of whom is termed طَرَفٌ, or طِرْفٌ . And hence, as some explain it, the saying in the Kur [xiii. 41, like one in xxi. 45], أَوَلَمْ يَرَوْا أَنَّا نَأْتِى ٱلْأَرْضَ نَنْقُصُهَا مِنْ أَطْرَافِهَا [Have they not seen that we visit, or bring destruction upon, the land, curtailing it of its learned men?]; the meaning being, the death of its learned men: or, as some say, [curtailing it of its inhabitants and its fruits; for they say that] the meaning is, the death of its inhabitants and the diminution of its fruits: or it means, curtailing it of its sides, or districts, one by one: Ibn-'Arafeh says that the meaning is, we lay open by conquest, to the Prophet, (نَفْتَحُ عَلَى النَّبِىِّ,) the country around Mekkeh. [
14 أَطْرَافُ النَّاسِ also means The lower orders of the people: but this I believe to be post-classical.]
15 طَرَفَىِ النَّهَارِ, in the Kur xi. 116, means غُدْوَةً وَعَشِيَّةً [i. e. Morning and afternoon]; by the former being meant daybreak; and by the latter, noon and the عَصْر [q. v.], or the عَصْر [only]. And أَطْرَافَ النَّهَارِ, in the Kur xx. 130, means At daybreak and at sunset: or at noon and at the عَصْر; so says Zj: or, accord. to IAar, in the hours (سَاعَات) of the day: Abu-l-'Abbás says that it means طَرَفَىِ النَّهَارِ.
16 [عَلَى طَرَفٍ often occurs as meaning Beside, aside, or apart; like على جَانِبٍ, and على نَاحِيَةٍ: and in like manner the Persians say بَرْ طَرَفْ.
17 And مِنْ طَرَفِ فُلَانٍ is often used as meaning On the part of such a one; but is perhaps post-classical.]
18 And you say, لِلْأَمْرِ طَرَفَانِ [meaning There are two ways of performing the affair, either of which may be chosen; as though it had two ends, or two sides]. (TA voce صَرْعٌ.) And جَعَلَهُ مُطْلَقَ الطَّرَفَيْنِ [He made it allowable, or free, in respect of both the alternatives, either way one might choose to take]. (Msb in art. بوح.)
19 [And hence, perhaps,] طَرَفٌ signifies also Anything chosen or choice: pl. أَطْرَافٌ: [whence] أَطْرَافُ الحَدِيثِ means Chosen, or choice, subjects of discourse; as also الحَدِيثِ: and أَطْرَافُ الأَحَادِيثِ means [the same, or] colloquies of friends, consisting of mutual communications, and oblique expressions, and allusions: so says ISd: and this is likewise a meaning of and السِّبَابُ, which latter [properly signifying “ mutual reviling ”] is given in the K as an explanation of the former.
20 Also Flesh, or flesh-meat; syn. لَحْمٌ.

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