بَحْرٌ

Full Definition

بَحْرٌ [A sea: and a great river:] a spacious place comprising a large quantity of water; a large quantity of water, whether salt or sweet; contr. of بَرٌّ; so called because of its depth and large extent; from البَحَارَةُ; or because its bed is trenched in the earth; see 1: or a large quantity of salt water, only; and so called because of its saltness: or rather this is its general meaning: for it signifies also any great river; any river of which the water does not cease to flow; such as the Euphrates, for instance; or such as the Tigris, and the Nile, and other similar great rivers of sweet water; of which the great salt بَحْر is the place of confluence; so called because trenched in the earth: pl. [of pauc.] أَبْحُرٌ and [of mult.] بِحَارٌ and بُحُورٌ. The dim. is ↓أُبَيْحِرٌ, which is anomalous; and ↓بُحَيْرٌ, which is the regular form: accord. to the K, the latter is not used; but this is untrue; for it is sometimes used, though rare.
2 Hence its application in the saying of the Arabs, يَا هَادِىَ اللَّيْلِ جُرْتَ إِنَّمَا هُوَ البَحْرُ أَوِ الفَجْرُ, which Th explains by saying that the meaning is, [O guide of the night, thou hast deviated from the right way:] it is only destruction or thou wilt see the daybreak: the night is here likened to the sea [and with the night is associated the idea of destruction]: but accord. to one recital, it is البَجْرُ, instead of البَحْرُ. (TA. [See art. بجر.])
3 Also Salt; as an epithet, applied to water.
4 A fleet, or swift, and excellent, horse; that runs much; that takes a wide range in his running; that runs like the sea, or a great river; or like the sea, or a great river, when it rolls wave over wave.
5 A generous man; one who takes a wide range in his beneficence, bounty, or kindness; who abounds therein. You say, لَقِيتُ بِزَيْدٍ بَحْرًا [I found, in the place of Zeyd, a man of abundant generosity or beneficence]: ب here denoting substitution. (The Lubáb cited in the TA voce بِ.) And لَقِيتُ مِنْهُ بَحْرًا [I found him to be a man of exceeding generosity]; a phrase expressing an intensive degree of generosity: and رَأَيْتُ مِنْهُ بَحْرًا [signifies the same]. (Mughnee in art. بِ.)
6 A man of extensive knowledge or science; one who takes a wide range in his knowledge or science.
7 Any person, or thing, that takes a wide range in a thing.
8 Land of seed-produce and fruitfulness; or a tract, or region, in which are green herbs or leguminous plants, and waters; or the part of a country near to water; syn. رِيفٌ: and the dim. بُحَيْرٌ is used in the same sense; or, by poetic licence, for بُحَيْرَةٌ . So in the Kur [xxx. 40], ظَهَرَ الفَسَادُ فِى البَرِّ وَ البَحْرِ [Corruption hath appeared in the desert, or deserts, and in the land of seed-produce and fruitfulness; &c.]: or the meaning here is, [in the desert, or deserts, and in the towns, or villages, in which is water: (see بَرٌّ:) or in the open country and] in the cities [or towns] upon the rivers; by sterility in the former, and scarcity in the latter: (Zj, TA, and T in art. بر:) or in the land and the sea; i. e., the land has become sterile, or unfruitful, and the supply of the sea has become cut off. See also بَحْرَةٌ.
9 Also, البَحْرُ, or بَحْرُ الرَّحِمِ, The bottom (عُمْق, S, A, Mgh, K, or قَعْر, IAth, TA) of the womb; fundus uteri: whence blood of a pure red colour, or intensely red, is termed بَحْرَانِىٌّ and بَاحِرٌ.

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