إِصْبَعٌ

Full Definition

إِصْبَعٌ and أُصْبَعٌ and أُصْبُعٌ and إِصْبِعٌ and أَصْبِعٌ and إِصْبُعٌ and أَصْبَعٌ and أَصْبُعٌ and أُصْبِعٌ, the ء being thus trebly vowelled, and the ب likewise with every one of the vowellings of the ء, and أُصْبُوعٌ also, of all which forms the first is the [only] one commonly known and the one approved by persons of chaste speech, all mentioned by Kr, and by Lh also on the authority of Yoo, A finger: and a toe: of the fem. gender, or fem. and masc., but generally fem.: pl. (of اصبع, MA) أَصَابِعُ and (of اصبوع, MA) أَصَابِيعُ.
2 One says, بِهِمْ تُثْنَى الأَصَابِعُ [With the mention of them the fingers are bent]; meaning that they are reckoned as the best, [or among the best,] for the best are not many. (M, on a verse cited in the first paragraph of art. ثنى.) [See also two similar exs. in the first paragraph of art. حنو and حنى.]
3 And لِلرَّاعِى عَلَى مَاشِيَتِهِ إِصْبَعٌ [The pastor has a finger pointing at his cattle, or camels or sheep or goats]; meaning, [has upon his cattle] an impress of a good state or condition; i. e. they are pointed at with the fingers because of their goodliness and fatness and good tending. [See also a verse cited voce صُلْبٌ.] And similar to this saying is the prov., عَلَيْهِ مِنَ ٱللّٰهِ تَعَالَى إِصْبَعٌ حَسَنٌ, meaning [Upon him is, from God, ] an impress of a good state or condition. And one says also, إِنَّهُ لَحَسَنُ الإِصْبَعِ فِى مَالِهِ, meaning Verily he is good in respect of the impress upon his cattle [indicative of their state or condition].
4 And فُلَانٌ مُغِلُّ الإِصْبَعِ Such a one is unfaithful, treacherous, or perfidious.
5 And لَهُ إِصْبَعٌ فِى هٰذَا الأَمْرِ [He has a finger in this affair].
6 The Prophet said قَلْبُ المُؤْمِنِ بَيْنَ إِصْبَعَيْنِ مِنْ أَصَابِعِ ٱللّٰهِ يُقَلِّبُهُ كَيْفَ شَآءَ [The heart of the believer is between two of the fingers of God: He turneth it about as He pleaseth].
7 And a man says, in respect of a difficult affair, when he has been made to have recourse to a strong man, able to bear his burden, إِنَّهُ يَأْتِى عَلَيْهِ بِإِصْبِعٍ وَاحِدَةٍ [Verily he will make an end of it with one finger]: and إِنَّهُ يَكْفِيهِ بِصُغْرَى أَصَابِعِهِ [Verily the smallest of his fingers will suffice him for its accomplishment; the ب thus prefixed to the agent being redundant, as in كَفَى بِٱللّٰهِ شَهِيدًا and many other instances].
8 أَبُو الإِصْبَعِ is one of the surnames of The Devil. (TA. [See صَبَعَهُ الشِّيْطَانُ, above.])
9 [إِصْبَعٌ signifies also A prong, as resembling a finger: so in the S and K in art. حفر, and in other instances.]
10 أَصَابِعُ الفَتَيَاتِ, in the “ Minháj ” of Ibn-Jezleh اصابع الفتيان, [app. a mistranscription,] and in the I, اصابع البُنَيَّاتِ, [Common clinopodium, or wild basil,] the sweet-smelling plant called in Pers. الفَرَنْجَمُشْك, which grows abundantly in the southern parts of Arabia, and is not depastured by any animal.
11 أَصَابِعُ العَذَارَى A species of grapes, black, long, like the acorn, likened to the dyed fingers of virgins; the bunch thereof is about a cubit [in length], compact [so I render مُتَدَاخِس, supposing it to be similar to دخيس applied to herbage &c.,] in the grapes; its raisins are good; and it grows in the Saráh (السَّرَاة).
12 أَصَابِعُ هُرْمُسَ The flowers (فُقَّاح) of the سُورَنْجَان [or Hermodactylus now applied to meadow-saffron, a species of colchicum]; the potency of which is like that of the سورنجان [itself].
13 أَصَابِعُ فِرْعَونَ [Certain things] resembling the مَرَاوِيد [or مَرَاوِد with which كُحْل is applied], of the length of the finger, red; brought from the Sea of El-Hijáz; of proved efficacy for the speedy consolidation of wounds.
14 أَصَابِعُ صُفْرٌ The root (أَصْل) of a certain plant of which the form is like the hand, variegated with yellowness and whiteness, hard, and having a little sweetness; and there is a species thereof yellow, with a dust-colour, but without whiteness: so says Ibn-Jezleh: it is beneficial as a remedy for madness, or diabolical possession, and for poisons, and the sting, or bite, of venomous, or noxious, reptiles, or the like, and it acts as a dissolvent of thick excrescences.
15 As a measure, إِصْبَعٌ signifies [A digit; i. e. a finger's breadth;] the width of six moderate-sized barley-corns; (Msb voce جَرِيبٌ;) the forth part of the قَبْضَة.

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