طَائِرٌ

Full Definition

طَائِرٌ A flying thing [whether bird or insect]: pl. طَيْرٌ , like as صَحْبٌ is pl. of صَاحِبٌ: or طَيْرٌ is originally an Verbal.Noun of طَارَ: or an epithet contracted from طَيِّرٌ: or a quasi-pl. n.; and this is the most correct opinion: [but see, below, a reason for considering it originally an Verbal.Noun:] and طَائِرٌ may also be quasi-pl. n., like جَامِلٌ and بَاقِرٌ: طَيْرٌ is also sometimes used as a sing.; as in the Kur iii. 43 [and v. 110], accord. to one reading: but ISd says, I know not how this is, unless it be meant to be [originally] an Verbal.Noun: [for an Verbal.Noun used as an epithet is employed as sing. and pl.:] or طَائِرٌ, only, is used as a sing., by general consent; and AO once said so in common with others: but طَيْرٌ has a collective, or pl., signification: and is fem.: or is more frequently fem. than masc.: the pl. of طَيْرٌ is طُيُورٌ [a pl. of mult.] and أَطْيَارٌ [a pl. of pauc.]: or طُيُورٌ may be pl. of طَائِرٌ, like as سُجُودٌ is pl. of سَاجِدٌ: طَائِرَةٌ is seldom applied to the female.
2 [الطَّائِر is a name of The constellation Cygnus; also called الدَّجَاجَةُ.]
3 هُوَ سَاكِنُ الطَّائِرِ means He is grave, staid, sedate, or motionless; so that if a bird alighted upon him, it would be still; for if a bird alight upon a man, and he move in the least, the bird flies away. Of the same kind also is the saying, رُزِقَ فُلَانٌ سُكُونَ الطَّائِرِ وَخَفْضَ الجِنَاحِ [Such a one was endowed, or has been endowed, with gravity and gentleness]. And طُيُورُهُمْ سَوَاكِنُ They are remaining fixed, settled, or at rest: and شَالَتْ نَعَامَتُهُمْ signifies the contrary. And كَأَنَّ عَلَى رُؤُسِهِمُ [As though birds were on their heads] is said of a people, meaning them to be motionless by reason of reverence: it was said of the Companions of Mohammad, describing them as quiet and grave [in his presence], without levity: and the origin of the saying is this: that birds alight only upon a thing that is still and inanimate: or that the crow alights upon the head of the camel, and picks from it the ticks, and the young ones thereof, and the camel does not move his head, lest the crow should take fright and fly away. In like manner, وَقَعَ طَائِرُهُ means He became grave, or sedate. And طَارَ طَائِرُهُ He became light, or inconstant: and he became angry; like ثَارَ ثَائِرُهُ and فَارَ فَائِرُهُ: or he hastened, and was light, or active, or agile.
4 And it is said in a trad., الرُّؤْيَا عَلَى رِجْلِ طَائِرٍ مَا لَمْ تُعَبَّرْ A dream is unsettled as to its result, or final sequel, while it is not interpreted. [The Arabs hold that the result of a dream is affected by its interpretation: wherefore it is added in this tradition, and said in others also, that the dreamer should not relate his dream, unless to a friend or to a person of understanding.]
5 عَيَّثَتْ see expl. in art. عيث.
6 طَائِرٌ also signifies A thing from which one augurs either good or evil; an omen, a bodement, of good or of evil: and and and طِوَرَةٌ (IDrd, Sgh, K, TA [in the CK, in this art., erroneously, طُورَةٌ, but in art. طور it is طِوَرَة,]) a thing from which one augurs evil; an evil omen or bodement; contr. of فَأْلٌ: and طَائِرٌ signifies fortune, whether good or evil: and especially evil fortune; ill luck; as also طَيْرٌ and : for the Arabs used to augur evil from the croaking of the crow, and from birds going towards the left: [see 5:] and is an Verbal.Noun [or rather a quasi-Verbal.Noun] of تَطَيَّرَ, [q. v.,] and signifies auguration of evil. The Arabs used to say, to a man or other thing from which they augured evil, طَائِرُ ٱللّٰهِ لَا طَائِرُكَ, and طائرَ اللّٰه لا طائرَك, meaning What God doth and decreeth, not what thou dost and causest to be feared: accord. to ISk, one should not say ٱللّٰهِ: but the Arabs are related to have said, also, لَا طَيْرَ إِلَّا طَيْرُ ٱللّٰهِ [There is no evil fortune but that which is of God]; like as one says, لَا أَمْرَ إِلَّا أَمْرُ ٱللّٰهِ. They also used to say, جَرَى لَهُ الطَّائِرُ بِأَمْرِ كَذَا [Fortune brought to him such an event]: and hence fortune, whether good or evil, is called طائر. And it is said in the Kur [vii. 128], إِنَّمَا طَائِرُهُمْ عِنْدَ ٱللّٰهِ, meaning Their evil fortune, which will overtake them, is only that which is threatened to befall them in the latter state, [with God,] and not that which befalls them in the present state of existence: or the cause of their good and evil is only with God; i. e., it is his decree and will: or the cause of their evil fortune is only with God; i. e., it is their works, which are registered with Him. It is said in a trad., that Mohammad liked what is termed فَأْل, and disliked what is termed : and in another, that he denied there being any such thing as the latter.

def.2 Also The means of subsistence; syn. رِزْقٌ. or misery: or happiness: every one of these three significations has been assigned to it in the Kur xvii. 14: in which, accord. to AM, it is meant that God has decreed to every man happiness or misery, according as He foresaw that he would be obedient or disobedient. [See also what immediately follows.]

def.3 Also The actions of a man which are [as it were] attached as a necklace to his neck. And this is [also said by some to be] its signification in the Kur xvii. 14. [The actions of a man are the cause of his happiness or misery.]

def.4 الطَّائِرُ signifies also The brain.

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