مِجْدَحٌ

Full Definition

مِجْدَحٌ The instrument with which سَوِيق is stirred about with water &c.; which is a piece of wood the end whereof has several sides; or a piece of wood at the head of which are two cross pieces of wood; and sometimes having three prongs: pl. مَجَادِحُ.
2 It is sometimes used tropically, as relating to evil, or mischief. [Thus it means A stirrer-up of evil or mischief; or a thing that stirs up, or whereby one stirs up, evil or mischief.]
3 Also Any one of the مَجَادِيحُ السَّمَآءِ [or stirrers-up of the sky, or of rain]; these being the أَنْوَآءٌ [or stars, or asterisms, which, by their auroral settings or risings, were believed by the Pagan Arabs to bring rain &c.]; of those انواء that seldom or never failed [to bring rain], accord. to the Arabs: the ى in the pl. is added to give fulness to the sound of the kesreh; for the regular pl. is مَجَادِحُ, and the sing. of مجاديح should by rule be مِجْدَاحٌ. One says, ارْسَلَتِ السَّمَآءَ مَجَادِيحُهَا or مَجَادِيحُ الغَيْثِ [Its stirrers-up, or the stirrers-up of rain, or the stars or asterisms which were the bringers of it, sent forth rain]. It is related of 'Omar, that he ascended the pulpit to pray for rain, and, having only offered a prayer for forgiveness, descended; whereupon it was said to him, “ Thou hast not prayed for rain; ” and he replied, لَقَدِ ٱسْتَسْقَيْتُ بِمَجَادِيحِ السَّمَآءِ [I have indeed prayed for rain by words which are the stirrers-up of rain]; making the prayer for forgiveness to be a prayer for rain, in allusion to a passage in the Kur, lxxi. 9 and 10; and meaning thereby to deny the efficacy of the انواء. المِجْدَحُ, also pronounced المُجْدَحُ , thus pronounced by El-Umawee, is moreover the name of A particular star or asterism, one of those which the Pagan Arabs asserted to be bringers of rain: said to be الدَّبَرَانُ [the Hyades; or the five chief stars thereof; or the brightest star thereof, a of Taurus]; [which is called by this name of الدبران] because it rises latterly [with respect to the Pleiades], or because it follows (يَدْبُرُ, i. e. يَتْبَعُ,) the Pleiades: (T in art. دبر:) [whence] it is also called حَادِى النُّجُومِ [“ the urger of the stars, ” properly, “ with singing ”], or حَادِى النَّجْمِ [“ the urger of the asterism, ” meaning, “ of the Pleiades ”], and تَالِى النَّجْمِ [“ the follower of the asterism, ” or, “ of the Pleiades ”], and التَّالِى and التَّابِعُ [“ the follower ”]: or it is a small star or asterism, between الدبران and الثُّرَيَّا [or the Pleiades]: [perhaps meaning the four stars that are the chief stars of the Hyades exclusively of a Tauri:] or three stars, like the three stones upon which a cooking-pot rests, likened to a three-pronged مِجْدَح; on the [auroral] rising of which, heat is expected: the Arabs regarded it as one of the انواء which [by their auroral setting] foretokened rain. المِجْدَحَانِ is a name by which some of the Arabs called The two wings of الجَوْزَآء [or Orion].
4 مِجْدَحٌ also signifies A certain mark made with a hot iron upon the thighs of camels.

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