أَسَلٌ

Full Definition

أَسَلٌ [Rush, or rushes: so called in the present day:] a kind of trees: or [rather] a kind of plant, having shoots which are slender, without leaves; or of which the shoot is slender, and of which sieves are made; as is said in the A; and Sgh adds, [growing] in El-' Irák: AHn says, accord. to Aboo-Ziyád, it is of the kind called أَغْلَاث, and comes forth in slender shoots, not having branches growing out from them, nor wood, and sometimes men beat them, and make of them well-ropes and other cords, and it seldom or never grows but in a place wherein is water, or near to water: AHn says [also], it signifies shoots, or twigs, growing long and slender and straight, without leaves; of which mats are made: or أَسَلَةٌ, which is the n. un. of أَسَلٌ applied to the plant mentioned above, signifies any shoot, or twig, in which is no crookedness.
2 Hence, Spears; as being likened to the plant mentioned above, in respect of its evenness and length and straightness and the slenderness of its extremities: n. un. as above: and arrows, or Arabian arrows; syn. نَبْلٌ; applied to both of these in a trad. of 'Omar, which refutes an assertion that it is peculiarly applied to spears, or long spears, and not to نبل: Sh says that it is applied to spears because of the points of the heads fixed upon them.
3 Any thin thing of iron, such as a spear-head, and a sword, and a knife.
4 The prickles of palm-trees: n. un. as above: by way of comparison [to the plant mentioned above]: or any long thorns, or prickles, of a tree.
5 [See also what next follows.]

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