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صَافِرٌ ذ Whistling; or a whistler. (TA.) ― -b2- And hence, (TA,) A thief; (K;) as also ↓ صَفَّارٌ : [or this signifies a frequent, or habitual, whistler:] the thief being so called because he whistles in fear of his being suspected: whence, as some explain it, the saying أَجْبَنُ مِنْ صَافِرٍ [More cowardly than a thief]: (TA:) a prov.: accord. to AO, it means in this instance one who whistles to a woman for the purpose of fornication or adultery; because he fears lest he should be seen: or ― -b3- accord. to A'Obeyd, Any bird that whistles; for birds of prey do not whistle, but only ignoble birds, that are preyed upon: (Meyd:) [or] any bird that does not prey: (M, K:) and any bird having a cry: and a certain cowardly bird: (K:) [accord. to Dmr, as stated by Freytag, it is a bird of the passerine kind; also called ↓ صَافِرِيَّةٌ :] accord. to Mohammad Ibn- Habeeb, (Meyd,) a certain bird that suspends itself from trees, hanging down its head, whistling all the night in fear lest it should sleep and be taken; and so in the prov. above mentioned: (Meyd, A: *) or, accord. to IAar, it means بِهِ ↓ مَصْفُورٌ [whistled to]: i. e., when he is whistled to, he flees: and by بِهِ ↓ المَصْفُورُ is meant the bird called التنوّط [i. e. التَّنَوُّطُ or التُّنَوِّطُ &c.], the cowardice of which induces it to weave for itself a nest like a purse, suspended from a tree, narrow in the mouth and wide in the lower part, in which it protects itself, fearing lest a bird of prey should light upon it: (Meyd: [see also art. نوط:]) or any coward. (TA.) ― -b4- مَا بِهَا صَافِرٌ There is not in it (i. e. the house, الدَّار, TA) any one: (S, K:) [lit.] any one who whistles: (M:) or any one to be called by whistling; صَافِرٌ being here an instance of the measure فَاعِلٌ in the sense of the measure مَفْعُولٌ followed by بِهِ. (T, TA.)
An Arabic-English Lexicon. London. Williams and Norgate. 1863.
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