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صَفَرٌ ذ [an inf. n. of صَفِرَ, q. v.: ― -b2- and hence,] Hunger: and ↓ صَفْرَةٌ [the inf. n. un.] a hungering once. (M, K.) ― -b3- Also A certain disease in the belly, which renders the face yellow: (M, K:) or a collecting of water in the belly. (Kt.) [See also صُفَارٌ.] ― -b4- Also A kind of serpent, (S, M, K,) in the belly, (S, K,) which sticks to the ribs, and bites them, (M, K,) or, as the Arabs assert, which bites a man when he is hungry, its bite occasioning the stinging which a man feels when he is hungry: (S:) used alike as sing. and pl.; or one is termed صَفَرَةٌ: (M:) and it is said to be what is meant by the word in a trad., in which it is disacknowledged: (S, TA:) or a certain reptile (دَابَّة) which bites the ribs and their cartilages: (M, K:) or a certain serpent in the belly, which attacks beasts and men, and which, accord. to the Arabs [of the time of Ignorance], passes from one to another more than the mange or scab; (Ru-beh:) the Prophet, however, denied its doing so: it is said also that it oppresses and hurts a man when he is hungry: (A'Obeyd:) this is the explanation approved by Az: (TA:) or, as also ↓ صُفَارٌ , worms in the belly, (M, K, TA,) and in the cartilages of the ribs, which cause a man to become very yellow, and sometimes kill him. (TA.) You say, عَضَّ عَلَى شُرْسُوفِهِ الصَّفَرُ, meaning, (tropical:) He was hungry. (A.) -A2- Accord. to some, (M,) in the trad. above referred to, صَفَرٌ signifies The postponing of [the month] El-Moharram, transferring it to Safar: (A'Obeyd, M, K:) [see نَسِىْءٌ:] or it there means the disease called by this name, because they asserted it to be transitive. (K.) -A3- Also The intellect, or understanding; or the heart, or mind; syn. رُوعٌ: (M, K: [in the CK رَوْع:]) the inmost part (لُبّ) of the heart. (M, K.) Hence the saying, (TA,) لَا يَلْتَاطُ هٰذَا بِصَفَرِى This will not adhere to me, [or to my mind,] nor will my soul accept it: (S, TA:) said of that which one does not love. (A.) -A4- Also A contract, compact, or covenant: or suretiship, or responsibility: syn. عَقْدٌ. (M, L, K. [In some copies of the K, فقد.]) -A5- Also (S, M, Msb, K) and sometimes [صَفَرُ,] imperfectly decl., (K,) but all make it perfectly decl. except AO, who makes it imperfectly decl. because it is determinate [or a proper name] and similar in meaning to سَاعَةٌ, which is fem., meaning that all nouns signifying times are سَاعَات, (Th, M,) and, accord. to some, الصَّفَرُ, (Msb,) [The second month of the Arabian calendar;] the month that is [the next] after ElMoharram (المُحَرَّمُ): (S, M, K:) so called because in it they used to procure their provision of corn from the places [in which it was collected, their granaries having then become empty (صِفْر); agreeably with the opinion of my learned friend Mons. Fulgence Fresnel, that it was so called from the scarcity of provisions in the season in which it fell when it was first named; for it then fell in winter: see the latter of the two tables in p. 1254; and see also نَسِىْءٌ]: or because Mekkeh was then empty, its people having gone forth to travel: or, accord. to Ru-beh, because the Arabs in it made predatory expeditions, and left those whom they met empty: (M:) or because they then made predatory expeditions, and left the houses of the people empty: (Msb in art. جمد:) pl. أَصْفَارٌ, (S, M, Msb, K,) and, as some say, صَفَرَاتٌ. (Msb.) ― -b2- الصَّفَرَانِ The two months of El-Moharram and Safar; (M;) two months of the year, whereof one was called by the Muslims El-Moharram. (IDrd, M, Msb, K.)
An Arabic-English Lexicon. London. Williams and Norgate. 1863.
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