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ذُبَابٌ

Root: ذب

Full Definition

ذُبَابٌ [The common fly;] the black thing that is in houses, that falls into the vessel and into food; well known: so called, accord. to Ed-Demeeree, because of its fluttering about, or because it returns as often as it is driven away: and likewise applied to the bee; which is also called ذُبَابُ الغَيْثِ [the fly of the rain], or ذُبَابُ غَيْثٍ [the fly of rain]; because the rain is the means of producing herbage, and by herbage it is fed; or because it accompanies rain, and lives upon that which the rain causes to grow: [accord. to some, it is a coll. gen. n.; and] the n. un. is ذُبَابَةٌ : one should not say ذِبَّانَةٌ [as the vulgar do in the present day]: or one should not say ذُبَابَةٌ , though El-Ahmar and Ks are related to have used this word [as meaning a kind of fly]; for ذُبَابٌ is a sing. [properly speaking], and is used as such in the Kur xxii. 72: the pl. is أَذِبَّهٌ and ذِبَّانٌ and ذُبٌّ, the last mentioned by Sb, accord. to the dial. of Temeem. One says, إِنَّهُ لَأَوْهَى مِنَ الذُّبَابِ [Verily he is more frail than the fly]. And هُوَ أَهْوَنُ عَلَىَّ مِنْ طَنِينِ الذُّبَابِ [He is more contemptible to me than the buzzing of the fly]. مَنْجَى الذُّبَابِ [The refuge of the fly] is a prov., applied to him who is protected by his ignobleness. (Har p. 332: there written مَنْجَا; and in two places, منجأ.) And أَبُو الذُّبَابِ [The father of the fly] is an appellation used as meaning He who has stinking breath; and some say أَبُو الذِّبَّانِ [the father of the flies]: and is especially applied to 'Abd-El-Melik Ibn-Marwán: whence the saying, أَبْخَرُ مِنْ أَبِى الذُّبَابِ and أَبِى الذِّبَّانِ [More stinking in breath than Abu-dh-Dhubáb and Abu-dh-Dhibbán].
2 [Hence,] Evil, or mischief; and annoyance, or harm; as in the saying, أَصَابَنِى ذُبَابٌ [Evil, &c., befell me]; and أَصَابَ فُلَانًا مِنْ فُلَانٍ ذُبَابٌ لَاذِعٌ Evil, or mischief, [lit. a hurting fly] fell upon such a one from such a one: or continual evil, as in the saying, أَصَابَكَ ذُبَابٌ مِنْ هٰذَا الأَمْرِ [Continual evil hath befallen thee from this thing, or event]; and شَرُّهَا ذُبَابٌ [Her, or its, or their, evil is a continual evil].
3 Ill luck. Fr relates that the Prophet saw a man with long hair; and said ذُبَابٌ, meaning This is ill luck: and hence, رَجُلٌ ذُبَابِىٌّ [An unlucky man].
4 Plague, or pestilence.
5 Diabolical possession; or madness, or insanity.
6 Ignorance: so in the phrase رَجُلٌ مَحْشِىٌّ الذُّبَابِ [A man stuffed with ignorance].
7 The إِنْسَان [as meaning the pupil, or apple,] of the eye: so in the saying, هُوَ أَعَزُّ عَلَىَّ مِنْ ذُبَابِ العَيْنِ [He is dearer to me than the apple of the eye]: [ISd says,] I think it to be so termed as being likened to the ذُبَاب [properly so called; i.e. the fly]. And الذُّبَابُ also signifies A black speck, or spot, in the interior of the حَدَقَة [or dark part] of the eye of the horse. The pl. is as above.
8 ذُبَابُ السَّيْفِ and ذُبَابَةٌ السَّيْفِ The حَدّ, or طَرَف, [each app. here meaning the point, or extremity, though the former also means the edge,] of the sword, which is the part wherewith one strikes: or its extremity with which one is pierced, or transpierced; and the حَدّ [here meaning edge] with which one strikes is called its غِرَار: or its tapering, or pointed, extremity; expl. by طَرَفُهُ المُتَطَرِّفُ: or the point (حَدّ) of its extremity which is between its شَفْرَتَانِ: the parts of its two edges that are on either side of it are its ظُبَتَانِ: the ridge in the middle of it, on the inner and outer sides, is called the عَيْر; and each has what are termed غِرَارَانِ, which are the part between the عَيْر and each one of the ظُبَتَانِ on the outer side of the sword and the corresponding portion of the inner side, each of the غِرَارَانِ being on the inner side of the sword and its outer side. [The swords of the Arabs, in the older times, were generally straight, twoedged, and tapering to a point; and so are many of them in the present day; a little wider towards the point than towards the hilt.] Hence the saying, ثَمَرَةُ السَّوْطِ يَتْبَعُهَا ذُبَابُ السَّيْفِ [The knot, or tail, at the end of the whip is followed by the point of the sword; i. e., whipping is followed by slaughter].
9 [Hence,] ذُبَابٌ signifies likewise The حَدّ [or point, or extremity, or edge,] of anything.
10 The pointed, or sharp, part of the extremity of the ear of a horse and of a man.
11 The sharp edge of the teeth of camels.
12 And The part that first comes forth of the flower of the حِنَّآء


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