This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
بَيْتٌ بيت بيتت [signifies A tent; properly, having more than one pole; but often applied without this restriction: and also a house; a chamber; an apartment; a closet; and the like]: a بَيْت is [a tent] of [goats'] hair (شَعَر), (M, A, Mgh, Msb, K,) or of wool: (Mgh:) a بيت of hair [i. e. hair-cloth] is that kind [of tent] which has more than one pole: the word is masc.: and applies to small and large: (M:) tents of goats' hair are peculiar to people of cold countries and of fertile regions, where the goats have abundant hair; for the goats of the Arabs of the desert have short hair, not long enough to be spun: (T in art. بنى:) a خِبَآء is a small بيت of wool or of hair: a بيت is what is larger than a خبآء: next is the مِظَلَّة, which is larger than the بيت; but the term بيت is also applied to a مظلّة when it is large and مُرَوَّق [i. e. furnished with a رِوَاق, q. v.]: (T:) Ibn-El-Kelbee says that the Arabs have six kinds of بيت; namely, a قُبَّة, which is of skins, or tanned hides; a مِظَلَّة, of hair; a خِبَآء, of wool; a بِجَاد, of soft hair (وَبَر); a خَيْمَة, of trees; an أُقْنَة, of stone; and a سَوْط, of hair; or this is the smallest of them: El-Baghdádee says that the خباء is a بيت made of soft hair (وَبَر), or of wool, or of hair [commonly so called] (شَعَر), upon two poles, or three; and that a بيت is [a tent] upon six poles, or more, to the number of nine: in the Towsheeh it is said that the term خباء is applied to a بيت of any kind: (TA:) a بيت is also [a structure] of clay, or tough or cohesive clay or earth; (A, K;) [and of baked bricks; and of stone;] the name being likewise applied to a structure of a kind other than the structures which are called أَخْبِيَة [or tents]; (M;) signifying a habitation [of any kind; an abode; a dwelling]: (Msb:) a man's house; syn. دَارٌ: (T:) [and particularly a chamber; i. e.] a single roofed structure (Mgh, Kull) having a place of entrance; مَنْزِلٌ being applied to what comprises more than one [such] بيت, and a roofed صَحْن [or vacant part, and a kitchen, inhabited by a man with his family]; and دَارٌ, that which comprises more than one [such] بيت and more than one [such] مَنْزِل and a [court, or] صَحْن without a roof: (Kull:) the pl. is بُيُوتٌ, (S, M, K, &c.,) also pronounced بِيُوتٌ, (TA,) and أَبْيَاتٌ, (S, M, K,) the latter a pl. of pauc.; (TA;) and pl. pl. بُيُوتَاتٌ (M, Mgh, K) and أَبَايِيتُ (Sb, S, M, K) and أَبْيَاوَاتٌ, (Fr, M, K,) which last is extr.: (M:) the dim. is ↓ بُيَيْتٌ , also pronounced ↓ بِيَيْتٌ ; (S, K;) and the vulgar say, بُوَيْتٌ, (S,) which is not allowable. (K.) You say, هُوَ جَارِى بَيْتَ بَيْتَ, (T, S, M,) He is my neighbour [tent to tent, or house to house, i. e.,] by contiguity [of our habitations]: بيت بيت being made indecl. with fet-h for the termination because they are two nouns made one: (S:) Sb says that some of the Arabs make them [thus] indecl., like خَمْسَةَ عَشَرَ, and some make the former a prefixed noun governing the latter in the gen. case, [saying بَيْتَ بَيْتٍ,] except when used as a denotative of state: (M:) one says also, بَيْتًا لِبَيْتٍ, and بَيْتٌ لِبَيْتٍ; (Fr, T;) which last, or بَيْتٌ إِِلَى بَيْتٍ, is the original form. (Har p. 353.) بَنَى فُلَانٌ عَلَى ا@مْرَأَتِهِ [lit. Such a one constructed a tent over his wife,] means such a one had his wife conducted to him on the occasion of his marriage, and brought her, or had her brought, into a pitched tent, having conveyed thither the utensils and furniture and other things that they required. (T.) And أَهْلُ بَيْتُ النَّبِىِّ [The people of the house of the Prophet,] means the Prophet's wives and his daughter and 'Alee: and so أَهْلَ ا@لْبَيْتِ [i. e. يَخُصُّ أَهْلَ البَيْتِ He means particularly, or peculiarly, the people of the house], in the Kur xxxiii. 33: بَنُو and مَعْشَر and أَهْل and آل, as prefixed nouns, being, as Sb says, the nouns most frequently occurring in the accus. case [for the reason indicated above, or, as the Arabian grammarians express it,] عَلَى الاِخْتِصَاصِ. (M.) ― -b2- It also signifies A [pavilion, palace, or mansion, such as is called] قَصْر: (T, K:) whence the saying of Gabriel, بَشِّرْ خَدِيجَةَ بِبَيْتٍ مِنْ قَصَبٍ, i. e. [Rejoice thou Khadeejeh by the announcement of] a pavilion (قصر) of hollow pearls, (T, TA,) or of emerald. (TA. [See also art. قصب.]) بُيُوتًا غَيْرَ مَسْكُونَةٍ [Uninhabited houses], in the Kur xxiv. 29, means buildings for the reception of travellers, or for merchants and their goods, and the shops of the merchants and places in which things are sold, the entering of which is allowed by their owners: or ruins which a man enters for the purpose of easing nature. (M.) And the بُيُوت which God has permitted to be raised, mentioned in the same chapter, verse 36, are Mosques, or places of worship: or, accord. to El-Hasan, Jerusalem (بَيْتُ المَقْدِسِ); the pl. being applied to it as a mark of honour. (Zj, M.) البَيْتُ [The House] applies particularly to (tropical:) the Kaabeh [of Mekkeh]; (K;) as also بَيْتُ ا@للّٰهِ [the House of God]; (AAF, M;) and البَيْتُ الحَرَامُ [the Sacred House]; (T;) and البَيْتُ العَتِيقُ [the Ancient House]; (S and K &c. in art. عتق;) and accord. to some, البَيْتُ المَعْمُورُ, q. v. (Bd in lii. 4.) [بَيْتُ المَالِ signifies The treasury of the state. And بَيْتُ المَآءِ is a euphemism for The privy; because water is put there for the purpose of ablution: also called بَيْتُ الفَرَاغِ, &c.] ― -b3- Also (assumed tropical:) The ark of Noah: so in the Kur lxxi. last verse. (T.) ― -b4- (tropical:) A grave; (M, IAth, K;) app. by way of comparison. (M.) So in a trad. of Aboo-Dharr: كَيْفَ تَصْنَعُ إِِذَا مَاتَ النَّاسُ حَتَّى يَكُونُ البَيْتُ بِالوَصِيفِ, meaning How will thou do when men shall die so that the grave shall be sold for the [servant-] boy? (IAth.) ― -b5- (assumed tropical:) The habitation of the سُرْفَة, which it constructs in a beautiful manner, (A'Obeyd, M,) of fragments of sticks; (Yaakoob, M;) and of the صَيْدَنَانِىّ, which it makes in the interior of the earth, and covers over: (A'Obeyd, M:) and (assumed tropical:) the burrow, or hole, of the ضَبّ &c.: and (assumed tropical:) the web of the spider: all, app., as being likened to the بَيْت of a man. (M.) ― -b6- (tropical:) A man's household. (S, K, TA.) ― -b7- (tropical:) The wife (As, IAar, T, M, A) of a man. (M, A.) So in the saying, “ أَكِبَرٌ غَيَّرَنِى أمْ بَيْتُ
” [Hath old age altered me, or a wife?]: (As, T:) or here it means a household. (S.) ― -b8- The nobility of the Arabs; (T, Msb, K; *) as when one says, بَيْتُ تَمِيمٍ فِى بَنِى حَنْظَلَةَ [The nobility of Temeem is in the sons of Handhaleh]: (T, Msb: *) or the family that comprises the nobility of a tribe; as آلُ حِصْنٍ of the فَزَارِيُّون, and آلُ الجُدَّيْنِ of the شَيْبَانِيُّون, and آلُ عَبْدِ المَدَانِ of the حَارِثِيُّون; which three were asserted by Ibn-El-Kelbee to be the highest of the families thus called of the Arabs: (M:) [see a verse of El-Lahabee cited voce أَخْضَرُ:] pl. بُيُوتٌ and بُيُوتَاتٌ, (T, M,) the latter being pl. of the former. (T.) You say, هُوَ مِنْ أَهْلِ البُيُوتَاتِ He is of the people of nobility: and مِنْ بَيْتٍ كَرِيمٍ [of a generous, or noble, house, or family]. (A.) [See also بَنَى.] ― -b9- A noble person: (M, Mgh, K:) pl. بُيُوتٌ and بُيُوتَاتٌ. (Mgh.) You say, فُلَانٌ بَيْتُ قَوْمِهِ Such a one is the noble person of his people. (Abu-l-'Omeythil El-Aarabee, M.) ― -b10- (tropical:) The [furniture termed] فَرْش, (A, Mgh, K,) or مَتَاع, (TA,) of a tent or house, (Mgh, K,) or that is sufficient for a tent or house. (A.) You say, تَزَوَّجْتُ فُلَانَةَ عَلَى بَيْتٍ (tropical:) I married, or took as a wife, such a woman for [my giving] furniture sufficient for a tent or house, (A,) or furniture of a house or tent. (Mgh.) [See 1, last sentence.] ― -b11- A بَيْت of poetry, (T, S, M, Msb,) or of the poet, (K,) is (tropical:) [A verse; i. e.] what consists of certain known divisions [or feet] called أَجْزَآءُ التَّفْعِيلِ; being termed بيت metaphorically, because of the conjoining of its component parts, one to another, in a particular manner, like as those of a tent are conjoined in its construction; (Msb;) because it consists of words collected together in a regular manner, and so resembles a tent, which is composed of a سَقْف and كِفَآء and رِوَاق and عُمُد: (T:) it is derived from the same word signifying a خِبَآء [or tent], and applies to the small and the great, as the رَجَز and the طَوِيل; and is [said to be] thus called because it comprises words like as the tent comprises its inhabitants; wherefore its component parts are termed أَسْبَاب and أَوْتَاد, as being likened to the اسباب and اوتاد of tents: (M:) pl. أَبْيَاتٌ and بُيُوتٌ, (M, A, Msb,) the latter mentioned by Sb and IJ, (M,) [but rare,] and [pl. pl.] أَبَايِيتُ: (A:) Abu-l-Hasan says that if the بيت of poetry be likened to the بيت which is a tent or other kind of structure, there is no reason why it should not have the same pl. forms as the latter has. (L.) By the following words of a poet, “ وَبَيْتٍ عَلَى ظَهْرِ المَطِىِّ بَنَيْتُهُ
بِأَسْمَرَ مَشْقُوقِ الخَيَاشِيمِ يَرْعُفُ
” [Many a بيت upon the back of the camel have I constructed with a lawny thing slit in the nose and bleeding], is meant, many a بيت of poetry have I written with the reed-pen. (S.) [البَيْتَ, written after a quotation of a part of a verse of poetry, means اِقْرَأِ البَيْتَ Read thou the verse.] بَيْتُ القَصِيدَةِ [The chief verse of the poem] is a phrase employed when a person composes a poem in praise of any one from whom he would obtain some object of desire and want, being applied to that verse of the poem in which the author's want is mentioned: and is a proverbial expression relating to that which is extraordinary and strange, and used in denoting the superiority of a part of a thing over the whole of it [regarded as a whole]: [hence,] one says, فُلَانٌ أَوَّلُ الجَرِيدَةِ وَبَيْتُ القَصِيدَةِ (assumed tropical:) [Such a one is the first of the detachment of horsemen, and the chief verse of the poem]. (Har p. 441.)
An Arabic-English Lexicon. London. Williams and Norgate. 1863.
The U.S. Department of Education, The Max Planck Society provided support for entering this text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.
hide
Dictionary Entry Lookup
Use this tool to search for dictionary entries in all lexica.
