Quranic root
عصر
ʿ · ṣ · r
The root develops three principal orientations: a span or period of time, pressure that extracts what is within something, and attachment to a refuge or means of safety.
The pressure sense extends to expressed liquid, extracted benefit or produce, rain-bearing clouds, and the whirlwind that raises dust; the temporal and refuge branches remain distinct lexical developments.
- Maqāyīs · row 3223
- Mufradāt · row 982
- 4
- Quran-attested forms
- 8
- Quran senses
- 5
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
عَصَرَ
ʿaṣara
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- Quran occurrences
- 2 occurrences
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
To press or squeeze something so as to force out its liquid or contents; to express or extract.
The Quranic use includes expressing liquid from grapes or a similar substance. The displayed Quran forms are imperfect forms of this Form I verb.
- Lane · entry 3441
- Mufradāt · row 982
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:36word 9
“pressing”
To obtain or draw out produce, benefit, or livelihood.
In Yusuf 12:49, the expression is explained as obtaining the produce or good of the land; this is an extended extraction sense rather than merely the physical act of pressing.
- Lane · entry 3441
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:49word 11
“they will press”
To receive rain or be rained upon.
This is a reported alternative reading of the expression in Yusuf 12:49, not the ordinary QAC reading of the verse.
- Lane · entry 3441
To be saved, preserved, or safe; to find refuge or protection.
This is a reported reading or interpretation of the expression in Yusuf 12:49. It reflects the associated refuge meaning and is distinct from obtaining produce.
- Lane · entry 3441
- Lane · entry 3447
To aid or succour one another.
Reported as another alternative reading of the expression in Yusuf 12:49.
- Lane · entry 3441
إِعْصَارٌ
ʾiʿṣārun
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun / lexical noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A whirlwind: a violently rotating, dust-raising wind shaped like a pillar.
In the Quranic occurrence, the whirlwind is described as containing fire. Classical explanations also associate the term with a wind that raises dust or lifts clouds.
- Lane · entry 3465
- Mufradāt · row 982
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:266word 25
“whirlwind”
عَصْرٌ
ʿaṣrun
- Part of speech
- Noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
Time, an age, or the enduring span through which generations pass.
In the oath in al-ʿAṣr 103:1, the word denotes time or the age as an extended temporal span.
- Lane · entry 3448
- Mufradāt · row 982
Selected Quran examples
Quran 103:1word 1
“By the time”
مُعْصِرٌ
muʿṣirun
- Part of speech
- Active participle
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A cloud ready to pour forth rain, or pressing rain forth.
The Quranic form is the feminine plural مُعْصِرَات. Interpretations describe rain-bearing clouds; some explanations extend the term to winds that press rain from clouds.
- Lane · entry 3444
- Lane · entry 3467
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Selected Quran examples
Quran 78:14word 3
“the rain clouds”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:266إِعْصَارٌۭwhirlwind
- 12:36أَعْصِرُpressing
- 12:49يَعْصِرُونَthey will press
- 78:14ٱلْمُعْصِرَٰتِthe rain clouds
- 103:1وَٱلْعَصْرِBy the time
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 42 Classical meanings
عَصَرَ / اِعْتَصَرَ
To withhold, hinder, prevent, or refuse something or someone.
A transitive usage meaning restraint or prevention; it may also describe withholding property or a benefit.
- Lane · entry 3441
- Lane · entry 3447
عَصَرَ
To give or bestow.
This is a contrary usage explicitly reported alongside the meaning “to withhold.”
- Lane · entry 3441
عَصَّرَ
Of grain: to put forth its glumes, enclosing and protecting the developing ears.
A specialized Form II agricultural usage.
- Lane · entry 3442
عَاصَرَ
To be contemporary with someone, or to reach the same time or period.
Used with a person or period whose time one attains or shares.
- Lane · entry 3443
أَعْصَرَ
To enter the time of ʿaṣr, the afternoon or later part of the day.
A temporal Form IV usage, also extended to entering the evening or last part of the day.
- Lane · entry 3444
مُعْصِرَةٌ
A girl or woman who has reached the period of youth and puberty, or has approached or begun menstruation.
The lexical explanations vary between approaching puberty, attaining it, beginning menstruation, and, in one dialect, giving birth.
- Lane · entry 3444
- Mufradāt · row 982
تَعَصَّرَ
To become difficult, constrained, or intricate.
A Form V usage equated with becoming hard or difficult.
- Lane · entry 3445
تَعَصَّرَ
To weep.
A figurative usage.
- Lane · entry 3445
اِنْعَصَرَ
To become compressed or pressed upon.
The usage may describe something becoming squeezed so that its contents are forced out, or a rope or similar object becoming compressed against the throat.
- Lane · entry 3446
اِعْتَصَرَ بِهِ
To have recourse to someone or something for refuge, protection, preservation, or aid.
The construction takes the person or thing to which refuge or assistance is sought.
- Lane · entry 3447
اِعْتَصَرَ
To void ordure.
A figurative or euphemistic usage.
- Lane · entry 3447
- Lane · entry 3474
اِعْتَصَرَ بِالمَاءِ
To swallow water little by little to help food lodged in the throat descend.
A specialized construction describing relief from choking.
- Lane · entry 3447
- Mufradāt · row 982
اِعْتَصَرَ مَالَهُ
To extract, extort, or take property from someone’s possession.
The usage can refer to taking property for a debt or another reason, or obtaining something from a person.
- Lane · entry 3447
اِعْتَصَرَ
To take back, revoke, or retract a gift.
Especially used of a father taking back what he has given to a child; the same discussions also connect it with withholding.
- Lane · entry 3447
اِعْتَصَرَ / عَاصِرٌ
To be niggardly, avaricious, or tenacious in withholding.
A figurative characterization of one who clings to property or refuses to give.
- Lane · entry 3447
- Lane · entry 3462
عَصْرٌ
A time or period of the day, especially the afternoon, evening, or another temporal extremity.
The term may refer to an hour, day, night, morning, afternoon, or evening; adverbial use can indicate coming late or not at the proper time.
- Lane · entry 3448
العَصْرَانِ
The two temporal extremities, conventionally morning and evening, or more broadly night and day.
The exact pair depends on the expression and authority; the term can also designate the first and last parts of the day.
- Lane · entry 3448
صَلَاةُ العَصْرِ
The afternoon prayer, and by extension its prayer time.
The name derives from its performance in the latter part of the day. العَصْرَانِ can also refer to the dawn and afternoon prayers.
- Lane · entry 3448
- Mufradāt · row 982
عَصْرٌ
Rain issuing from the clouds called مُعْصِرَات.
A derived nominal usage distinct from the Quranic noun meaning time.
- Lane · entry 3448
عَصْرٌ
A man’s close paternal kin, clan, or agnatic group.
Used for near relatives such as a person’s raht, ʿashīrah, or ʿasabah.
- Lane · entry 3448
عَصَرٌ
A place of refuge, protection, concealment, lodging, or safety; a means of escape.
The word can denote either a physical refuge or a cause or means of safety.
- Lane · entry 3451
عَصَرٌ
Dust raised and spreading, especially vehement dust.
The term may describe dust stirred up and dispersed, including dust raised by wind.
- Lane · entry 3451
عَصَرَةٌ
An exhalation or waft of perfume.
Used in an idiom describing perfume or dust proceeding from a garment; the related expression may also refer to dust itself.
- Lane · entry 3451
عُصْرَةٌ
Something from which water or another liquid can be expressed or nearly wrung out.
For example, clothing so saturated with rain that it is almost capable of being wrung out.
- Lane · entry 3453
عُصْرَةٌ
Close kinship or a close relation, especially exclusive of more distant people.
Used of relatives regarded as one’s immediate or nearest group.
- Lane · entry 3453
عُصَارَةٌ
Expressed juice, extract, or liquid obtained from grapes and similar substances by pressure or squeezing.
The word may also denote the material extracted from things containing oil, syrup, honey, or moisture.
- Lane · entry 3459
- Mufradāt · row 982
عُصَارَةٌ
The dregs or residue remaining after a substance has been pressed to extract its juice.
This meaning refers to what remains rather than to the expressed liquid itself.
- Lane · entry 3459
- Mufradāt · row 982
عُصَارَةٌ
The choice portion or, contrariwise, the refuse of a thing.
The sources explicitly report both opposite applications.
- Lane · entry 3459
عُصَارَةٌ
The produce or yield of a land.
A figurative extension from what is extracted or obtained from something.
- Lane · entry 3459
عُصَارَةٌ
Generous lineage, ancestry, or disposition.
In expressions describing children or a man of generous race, the word denotes the valuable “extract” or quality of a lineage.
- Lane · entry 3459
عُصَارَةٌ
Generous or liberal in responding to requests.
Used in descriptions of a person whose bounty is readily obtained.
- Lane · entry 3459
عُصَارَةٌ
Protection that cannot be obtained, or a person whose protection is inaccessible.
A figurative idiom based on the notion of obtaining an extract or benefit.
- Lane · entry 3459
عَصَّارٌ / عَاصِرٌ / مُعْتَصِرٌ
One who presses grapes, olives, oil, or similar substances to extract their liquid.
The forms include an occupational noun and active participles; one usage specifies pressing for another person.
- Lane · entry 3461
- Lane · entry 3462
- Lane · entry 3474
عَصَّارٌ
An extorter or exactor.
A figurative occupational extension of pressing or extracting.
- Lane · entry 3461
عَوَاصِرُ
Three stones placed one upon another for pressing grapes and extracting their juice.
A specialized plural noun associated with the pressing apparatus.
- Lane · entry 3462
عَاصِرٌ
One who takes property from his child without the child’s permission.
The usage is specifically reported of a parent taking or controlling a child’s property.
- Lane · entry 3462
عُنْصُرٌ
Origin, source, lineage, family, or inherited rank and nobility.
The word can refer to ancestry and the reputation or quality derived from it.
- Lane · entry 3463
عُنْصُرٌ
An element from which material substances are composed.
A technical philosophical usage, including the traditional four elements.
- Lane · entry 3463
مِعْصَرٌ / مِعْصَارٌ
A device or receptacle in which grapes, olives, or another substance is pressed so that its liquid flows out.
The term may refer to the press itself or to something into which the material is placed for pressing.
- Lane · entry 3468
- Lane · entry 3471
مَعْصَرَةٌ
A place or establishment in which grapes and similar substances are pressed to extract their juice or oil.
A location noun derived from the pressing action.
- Lane · entry 3469
مَعْصُورٌ
A tongue made dry by thirst.
A figurative passive-participial usage.
- Lane · entry 3472
مُعْتَصِرٌ
One who gets or takes something from a thing or person.
A general figurative extension of extracting or obtaining; it need not imply coercion or property.
- Lane · entry 3474
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
Yusuf 12:49 has multiple reported readings and interpretations: obtaining produce or benefit, receiving rain, being safe or preserved, and aiding one another. These are kept distinct from the ordinary QAC reading rather than treated as one undifferentiated gloss.
The Quranic مُعْصِرَات is a feminine plural form normalized under the supported singular active participle مُعْصِرٌ; explanations differ between rain-bearing clouds and winds associated with pressing rain.