مَثَلٌ

Full Definition

مَثَلٌ i. q. صِفَةٌ [as meaning A description, condition, state, case, &c.]; or وَصْفٌ [meaning the same]: or this is a mistake: or it may be a tropical signification: for in the language of the Arabs it means a description by way of comparison: you say مثل زيد مثل فلان [The description of Zeyd, by way of comparison, or the condition, &c., is that of such a one]: it is from المِثاَلُ and الحَذْوُ: it is metaphorically applied to a condition, state, or case, that is important, strange, or wonderful. The phrase here given is more literally, and better, rendered, The similitude of Zeyd is the similitude, or is that, of such a one; for a similitude is a description by way of comparison.
2 You say also, جَعَلَهُ مَثَلًا لِكَذَا [He made it to be descriptive, by way of comparison, of such a thing]. [And مَثَلٌ لِكَذَا means An expression denoting, by way of similitude, such a thing.]
3 عَلَى المَثَلِ As indicative of resemblance to something.
4 See بَدَلٌ.

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Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon

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