وَطْوَاطٌ

Root: وط

Full Definition

وَطْوَاطٌ The bat; syn. خُفَّاشٌ: or the large خُفَّاش: or the swallow; syn. خُطَّافٌ; this is thought by A'Obeyd to be, more probably than the first, the correct meaning; or the last may be right, but the first is that which is commonly known: or it has the first signification, and also signifies a species of the swallows (خَطَاطِيف) of the mountains, black and likened to a species of the خَشَاشِيف [or bats], because of its [frequent] receding and turning aside [in its flight]: [Golius says, as on the authority of the K, “ pec. genus montanum et. vocale, quod ἄπουσ dicitur; i. e. the swift:] pl. وَطَاوِيطُ, or وَطَاوِطُ, or both, but the latter, which is irreg., only allowable in poetry, in cases of necessity. It is used in the first of these senses in the proverb, أَبْصَرُ فِى اللَّيْلِ مِنَ الوَطْوَاطِ [More clear-sighted in the night than the bat].
2 Clamorous; applied to a man: and one who utters his speech, or words, rapidly, or near together; as though his voice were the voice of bats: so they assert it to mean: fem. with ة: and [in like manner] وَطْوَاطِىٌّ signifies loquacious; a great talker; a babbler.
3 A man weak in intellect and judgment: or weak and cowardly; in the opinion of A'Obeyd, as being likened to the flying thing so called; as also وَطْوَاطِىٌّ : and وُطُطٌ , of which وَطْوَاطٌ is the sing., men weak in intellects and bodies.

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