مِحْرَابٌ
Root: حرب
Full Definition
مِحْرَابٌ
: see حَرْبٌ, in two places.
def.2 Also The upper end of a sitting-room, (Msb, and so accord. to an explanation of the pl. مَحَارِيبُ, in the S, on the authority of Fr,) or of a house, or tent, or chamber; the chief, or most honourable, sitting-place; whence, in a trad., كَانَ يَكْرَهُ المَحَارِيبَ [he used to dislike the uppermost, or chief, sitting-places in rooms]: the place where kings and chiefs and great men sit: a high place: a [chamber of the kind called] غُرْفَة: the highest chamber in a house: a chamber to which one ascends by stairs: a king's closet, or private chamber, into which he retires alone, out of the way of the people: a [pavilion, or building of the kind called] قَصْر: the station of the Imám in a mosque: the مِحْرَاب [or niche which shows the direction of the kibleh] of a mosque; from the same word as signifying the “ upper end of a sittingroom; ” or, as some say, because the person praying wars with the devil and with himself by causing the attention of his heart: the highest place in a mosque: the kibleh: a mosque, or place of worship; so in the Kur xix. 12: a place of assembly. مَحَارِيبُ بَنِى إِسْرَائِيلَ means The places of worship of the Children of Israel, in which they used to assemble for prayer, or in which they used to sit; as though they sat therein to consult respecting war. [See also مَذْبَحٌ.]
2 I. q. أَجَمَةٌ, meaning The haunt of a lion.
3 The neck of a beast.
def.2 Also The upper end of a sitting-room, (Msb, and so accord. to an explanation of the pl. مَحَارِيبُ, in the S, on the authority of Fr,) or of a house, or tent, or chamber; the chief, or most honourable, sitting-place; whence, in a trad., كَانَ يَكْرَهُ المَحَارِيبَ [he used to dislike the uppermost, or chief, sitting-places in rooms]: the place where kings and chiefs and great men sit: a high place: a [chamber of the kind called] غُرْفَة: the highest chamber in a house: a chamber to which one ascends by stairs: a king's closet, or private chamber, into which he retires alone, out of the way of the people: a [pavilion, or building of the kind called] قَصْر: the station of the Imám in a mosque: the مِحْرَاب [or niche which shows the direction of the kibleh] of a mosque; from the same word as signifying the “ upper end of a sittingroom; ” or, as some say, because the person praying wars with the devil and with himself by causing the attention of his heart: the highest place in a mosque: the kibleh: a mosque, or place of worship; so in the Kur xix. 12: a place of assembly. مَحَارِيبُ بَنِى إِسْرَائِيلَ means The places of worship of the Children of Israel, in which they used to assemble for prayer, or in which they used to sit; as though they sat therein to consult respecting war. [See also مَذْبَحٌ.]
2 I. q. أَجَمَةٌ, meaning The haunt of a lion.
3 The neck of a beast.
Lane's Lexicon
+
Hans Wehr
+
Mufradat
Three dictionaries. One search.
"The product of over thirty years of unrelenting labor — to this day supreme in the field of Arabic lexicography."
47,000+ classical entries
Root-based navigation
Full text search
Hyperlinked definitions
Try Now
Trusted by researchers at University of Michigan, Duke, Alberta & more