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سَوَادٌ

Root: سود

Full Definition

سَوَادٌ Blackness; contr. of بَيَاضٌ; a certain colour, well known. One says, لَقِيَهُ فِى سَوَادِ اللَّيْلِ [He met him in the blackness of night]. And الشَّاةُ تَمْشِى فِى سَوَادٍ وَتَأْكُلُ فِى سَوَادٍ وَتَنْظُرُ فِى سَوَادٍ [The sheep, or goat, walks in blackness, and eats in blackness, and looks in blackness]; meaning the blackness of its legs and of its mouth and of what is around its eyes. And إِذَا كَثُرَ البَيَاضُ قَلَّ السَّوَادُ [When whiteness becomes much, blackness becomes little]; by whiteness meaning milk; and by blackness, dates.
2 Black clothing. (Mgh in art. بيض. [See its contr. بَيَاضٌ.])
3 [Hence,] سَوَادُ القَلْبِ and and and and , the last a dim., The heart's core; the black, or inner, part of the heart: or a black thing in the heart: or the black clot of blood that is within the heart [resembling a piece of liver ]: or the heart's blood: i. q. حَبَّتُهُ: or, as some say, دَمُهُ. One says, اِجْعَلْهُمْ فِى سَوَادِ قَلْبِكَ and [Place them in the inmost part of thy heart; i. e. give them the best, or most intimate, place in thy affections].
4 سَوَادُ البَطْنِ signifies The liver.
5 سَوادٌ is also syn. with شَخْصٌ [as meaning A person; and also, in a more general sense, a bodily, or corporeal, form or figure or substance]; of a man, and of other things; expressly said by A'Obeyd to be of any article of household goods or utensils and furniture and the like, and of other things: because appearing black when seen from a distance: pl. أَسْوِدَةٌ and أَسَاوِدُ, the latter a pl. pl. El-Asshà says, تَنَاهَيْتُمُ عَنَّا وَقَدْ كَانَ فِيكُمُ أَسَاوِدُ صَرْعَى لَمْ يُوَسَّدْ قَتِيلُهَا [Ye refrained from retaliating upon us when there were among you prostrate persons the slain whereof had not been pillowed in graves]: by the اساود meaning the شُخُوص of the slain. And it is said in a trad., إِذَا رَأَى أَحَدُكُمْ سَوَادًا بِلَيْلٍ فَلَا يَكُنْ أَجْبَنَ السَّوَادَيْنِ فَإِنَّهُ يَخَافُكَ كَمَا تَخَافُهُ [When any one of you sees a bodily form, or a person, by night, let him not be the more cowardly of the two bodily forms, or persons; for he feareth thee, like as thou fearest him]: سوادا here meaning شَخْصًا. The saying لَا يُزَايِلُ سَوَادِى بَيَاضَكَ is expl. by As as meaning لَا يُزايِلُ شَخْصِى شَخْصَكَ [i. e. My person will not separate itself from thy person]: سَوَادٌ, with the Arabs, meaning شَخْصٌ, and in like manner بَيَاضٌ. [Hence, app.,] قَالَ لِىَ الشَّرُّ أَقِمْ سَوَادَكَ [as though lit. signifying Evil said to me, Erect thy person]; meaning be thou patient: a prov.
6 As its pl. أَسَاوِدُ means the شُخُوص of the vessels of a house, [accord. to the statement of A'Obeyd cited above,] such as the مِطْهَرَة and the إِجَّانَة and the جَفْنَة, these being called أَسَاوِدُ الدَّارِ, it is also used as meaning Household goods or utensils or furniture and the like, absolutely. [And in like manner] the sing. is also used as meaning The travelling-apparatus and baggage and train (ثَقَل) of a commander: and the tents and apparatus and beasts and other things, collectively, of an army.
7 Also, the sing., Property, or cattle, &c.; syn. مَالٌ: or much thereof; as in the saying لِفُلَانٍ سَوَادٌ [To such a one belongs much property, &c.].
8 Also A collection, company, or collective body, of men; as in the saying كَثَّرْتُ سَوَادَ القَوْمِ بِسَوَادِى [I increased the number of the collective body of the people, or party, by my person]: and and أَسَاوِدُ are used in the same sense; or [rather] as pls. of this meaning: or all these as meaning sundry, distinct or separate, sorts of men, or people: [but] سَوَادُ المُسْلِمِينَ means the collective body of the Muslims: and so السَّوَادُ الأَعْظَمُ, a tropical phrase [in which مِنَ المُسْلِمِينَ is understood]: or this means the great number of the Muslims agreed in obedience to the Imám. The commonalty, or generality, of men of people: the bulk, or main part, of a people: or the greater number. And A great number of any kind.
9 A collection of palmtrees and of trees in general; on account of their greenness and blackness, because greenness nearly resembles blackness.
10 And The rural district of any province; i. e. the district around the towns or villages, and the رَسَاتِيق [i. e. districts of sown fields with towns or villages], of any province: or the environs, consisting of towns, or villages, and of cultivated land, [but more properly applied to the latter than to the former,] of a city, or of the chief city of a province: or the towns, or villages, [but properly with the cultivated lands pertaining to them,] of a province of city: thus [particularly] of El-Koofeh and El-Basrah: hence, سَوَادُ العِرَاقِ, or [simply] السَّوَادُ, the district of towns or villages, and cultivated lands, of El- 'Irák; or the district between ElBasrah and El-Koofeh, with the towns, or villages, around them; or extending in length from Hadeethet El-Mowsil to 'Abbádán, and in breadth from El-'Odheyb to Holwán; so called because of the خُضْرَة [which means both greenness and a colour approaching to blackness] of its trees and its seed-produce; for that which is أَخْضَر the Arabs term أَسْوَد because it appears to be thus at a distance.
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