Edward William Lane, An Arabic-English Lexicon, ض

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ضَبٌّ ذ [A species of lizard; termed lacerta caudiverbera, from its habit of striking with its tail; (see جَرَشَ;) Forskål (Descr. Animalium, p. 13,) terms it lacerta Aegyptia; referring to Hasselquist, p. 302; and adds the following description: “ femora teretia sine verrucis: cauda verticillata non longa: squamæ patentes, subconicæ mucronatæ: corpus nudum, rugosum: ”] a certain reptile, or small creeping thing, (S, TA,) of those termed حَشَرَات, (TA,) well known; (K, TA;) resembling the وَرَل [q. v., but not so long]: (TA:) or resembling the حِرْذَون [q. v.]; of which there are two species, one of the size of the حرذون, and one larger: (Msb:) accord. to 'Abd-El-Káhir, of the size of a little young crocodile; having a tail like the tail of the latter: it assumes various colours when exposed to the sun, like as does the chameleon; lives seven hundred years; drinks not water, being satisfied with the air; voids one drop of urine in every forty days; its teeth consist of one curved piece; when it has quitted its hole it knows it not; and it lays eggs, like a bird: so say IKh and Dmr and others: AM says, the وَرَل is of a lank make, with a long tail; the latter resembling that of a serpent; and the length of some exceeds two cubits; but the tail of the ضبّ is jointed, and its utmost length is a span: the Arabs deem the ورل a foul and filthy thing, and do not eat it; but they are eager to hunt and eat the ضبّ: this animal has a rough tail, serrated with jags resembling vertebræ; its colour inclines to a blackish dusty hue; and when it becomes fat, its breast becomes yellow; it eats nothing but [the locusts called] جَنَادِب, and young locusts before their wings have grown (دَبًا), and herbage, not venomous or noxious reptiles; whereas the ورل eats scorpions and serpents and chameleons and beetles: its flesh is an antidote against poisons, and women grow fat upon it: (L, TA:) it is the longest, of the animals, in retaining the remains of life: (O:) [see also مُطَبِّخٌ:] the fem. is with ة: (S, O, Msb, K:) and the pl. [of pauc.] is أَضُبٌّ and [of mult.] ضِبَابٌ (S, O, Mgh, Msb, K) and ضُبَّانٌ, (K,) which last Lh particularizes as used to denote a great number, but ISd sees no reason for this distinction, (TA,) and [quasipl. n.] ↓ مَضَبَّةٌ , (O, K,) like as مَشْيَخَةٌ is of شَيْخٌ, (O,) this last on the authority of As, as heard by him from more than one of the Arabs. (TA.) Hence one says رَجُلٌ خَبٌّ ضَبٌّ (tropical:) [A very deceitful or mischievous, and] an abominable, guileful, ireful man: (TA:) or a very deceitful or mischievous or wicked, and guileful man: (S:) likened to the [lizard called] ضَبّ on account of his guilefulness: and in like manner, اِمْرَأَةٌ خَبَّةٌ ضَبَّةٌ. (A, TA.) And أَخْدَعُ مِنَ الضَّبِّ More guileful than the ضبّ: (A, TA:) a prov. (TA.) And أَعَقُّ مِنْ ضَبٍّ [More undutiful to kindred than a ضبّ]; because the ضبّ often eats its حُسُول [or young ones when they have just come forth from the eggs]: another prov.: (S:) أَبُو حِسْلٍ is a surname of the ضبّ. (TA.) One says also أَطْوَلُ ذَمَآءً مِنَ الضَّبِّ, another prov. [expl. in art. ذمى]. (O.) And أَحْيَرُ مِنْ ضَبٍّ, which is likewise a prov. [expl. in art. حير]. (Har p. 166.) And أَتُعْلِمُنِى بِضَبٍّ أَنَا حَرَشْتُهُ, another prov. [expl. in art. حرش]. (TA.) And لَا أَفْعَلُهُ حَتَّى يَحِنَّ الضَّبُّ فِى إِِثْرِ الإِِبِلِ الصَّادِرَةِ [I will not do it until the ضبّ utters a yearning cry at the heels of the camels returning from water]: and لَا أَفْعَلُهُ حَتَّى يَرِدَ الضَّبُّ [I will not do it until the ضبّ comes to water: i. e. I will never do it:] because the ضبّ does not drink water. (S, O.) كَفُّ الضَّبِّ [means The paw of the ضبّ]: to this the Arabs liken the hand of the niggard when he fails to give: (TA:) and it is also applied by way of comparison to (tropical:) a niggard himself: and to denote (tropical:) shortness and littleness. (A, TA.) ― -b2- [Hence also,] (tropical:) Rancour, malevolence, malice, or spite, (S, A, O, Msb, K, TA,) latent in the heart; (A, TA;) like the [lizard called] ضبّ hiding itself in the furthest extremity of its hole: (A:) and anger, wrath, or rage: (K:) or rancour, &c., or vehement rancour, &c., and enmity: (TA:) and ↓ ضِبٌّ signifies the same: (K:) the pl. is ضِبَابٌ, and [app. ضِبَبٌ also, for] the phrase كُلٌّ مِنْهُمَا حَامِلُ ضِبَبٍ لِصَاحِبِهِ [Each of them a bearer of latent rancours &c. towards his fellow] occurs in a trad. (TA.) -A2- Also A certain disease in the lip, (S, O, Msb, K,) in consequence of which it flows with blood, (S, O, Msb,) or swells, and becomes hard, or dry and hard, and flows with blood. (TA.) ― -b2- And A tumour in the breast of a camel. (O, K.) ― -b3- And A tumour (S, O, K) in the خُفّ, (so in copies of the K [i. e. foot], in the TA انف [which is, I doubt not, a mistranscription],) or in the فِرْسِن, [which means the same, or the extremity of the foot,] (S, O,) of the camel. (S, O, K.) ― -b4- And A disease in the elbow of a camel; (K, TA;) said to be its cutting into his skin [by rubbing against it]; or its being distorted, and falling against his side, so as to gall it. (TA.) ― -b5- And A chapping, or cracking, (اِنَفِتَاقٌ,) [in the crease] of the armpit [of a child, or of a camel], and abundance of flesh: (S, O, TA:) El- 'Adebbes El-Kinánee gives the same explanation, and says that this is what is also termed ضَاغِطٌ. (TA. [See 5.]) -A3- Also The طَلْع [i. e. the spadix, or the spathe,] of the palm-tree: pl. ضِبَابٌ: (S, O:) or ↓ ضَبَّةٌ signifies, (K, TA,) and so ضَبٌّ, (TA,) [but the latter seems to be a coll. gen. n., and the former its n. un.,] a طَلْعَة [meaning spathe of a palm-tree] before it cleaves open (K, TA) from [around] the غَرِيض [or spadix]. (TA.)