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خِدَاعٌ خداع : see خَدِيعَةٌ; [and see also 3.] ― -b2- خِدَاعُ الضَّبِّ signifies The procedure of the [lizard called] ضبّ when it is attacked by a serpent, or hunted by a man feeling the head of its hole in order that it may imagine him to be a serpent: if the ضب be experienced, it puts forth its tail to half the length of the hole, and if it feel a serpent, it strikes it, and cuts it in halves; and if it be a hunter, it does not suffer him to lay hold upon its tail, and so it escapes, for the hunter does not dare to put his hand into its hole, because it may not be free from a scorpion, of which he fears the sting, as a strong friendship subsists between the ضب and the scorpion, and the former makes use of the latter to defend itself from the hunter: or, as some say, it signifies its concealing itself, and remaining long in its hole, and seldom appearing, and being very cautious. (O, TA.)
An Arabic-English Lexicon. London. Williams and Norgate. 1863.
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