عفر

عَفَرَ، عَافِرٌ

To rub or soil something with dust; to roll or turn it over in dust, hide it there, or be dust-defiled.

The participial adjective عافر describes something or someone covered or defiled with dust, especially the face.

• Lane · entry 3884
• Lane · entry 3912

عَفَرَ، عَفَّرَ

To cast someone to the ground, seize and throw him, wrestle with him, or make him cleave to the dust.

The construction may describe dragging or throwing an adversary into the dust.

• Lane · entry 3884
• Lane · entry 3885

عُفْرَةٌ، أَعْفَرُ، عَفِرَ

A dust-colored hue tending toward whitishness, often with a dull or reddish tinge; to be or become of that color.

The color is compared with the surface of the earth and may describe animals, land, or other objects.

• Lane · entry 3884
• Lane · entry 3896
• Lane · entry 3898
• Lane · entry 3914

تَعَفَّرَ

Of wild animals: to become fat.

This is a specialized Classical use of the Form V verb.

• Lane · entry 3887

عَفَّرَ، تَعَافَرَ

To make white, or to become white.

The use is attested of mixed sheep or goats, food, and similar objects; it expresses whitening rather than dusting.

• Lane · entry 3885
• Lane · entry 3888
• Lane · entry 3914

اِنْعَفَرَ

To become rubbed or soiled with dust, or to roll, turn over, or become hidden in dust.

This is the intransitive or medio-passive counterpart of dusting and rolling something in dust.

• Lane · entry 3889

اِنْعَفَرَ

To fail to reach the ground beneath one’s feet while entering water.

Attested in the construction describing a person whose feet do not reach the bottom.

• Lane · entry 3889

تَعَفْرَتَ

To become or act like an عِفْرِيت: to behave with its formidable or mischievous character.

This specialized verb is derived from عِفْرِيت and preserves the augmentative ending of that noun.

• Lane · entry 3891

عِفْرٌ

A boar, swine, or young pig.

This is a distinct nominal use from the adjectival meanings of عِفْرٌ and عِفْرِيتٌ.

• Lane · entry 3894

عِفْرٌ، عِفْرِيَةٌ، عِفْرِيتٌ

A human who is wicked, crafty, audacious, rebellious, or exceptionally forceful; a person metaphorically likened to a devil.

This is the Classical human application of the same adjectival family whose Qurʾanic occurrence describes a jinn.

• Lane · entry 3894

عِفْرٌ، عِفْرِيَةٌ، عِفْرِيتٌ

One who or something that exceeds ordinary bounds, or is sharp, vigorous, and effective in an affair, especially with craft or malignity.

The expression may describe unusual effectiveness or excess rather than physical strength alone.

• Lane · entry 3894

عِفْرٌ، عَفَرْنَى، عَفَرْنَاةٌ

Strong, powerful, or bold, especially of a lion, lioness, or she-camel.

These adjectival forms are used of powerful animals and are distinct from the jinn designation عِفْرِيت.

• Lane · entry 3894

عَفَرٌ، عَفْرٌ

Dust, the outer layer of dust or earth, and the surface or face of the ground.

The surface-of-the-earth sense also occurs in expressions meaning “upon the face of the earth.”

• Lane · entry 3895

عَفَرٌ

In the expression كَلَامٌ لَا عَفَرَ فِيهِ, speech containing nothing obscure or difficult to understand.

This is a figurative idiom based on the absence of dust or obstruction.

• Lane · entry 3895

عِفْرِيَةٌ، عِفْرَاةٌ

The hair or feathers at the back of the neck, crown, forelock, or around the neck of a bird.

The term may describe the raised hair or feathers of a person, lion, cock, bustard, or similar animal.

• Lane · entry 3903

عِفِرِّينٌ

In لَيْثُ عِفِرِّينَ, a lion; عِفِرِّين is also reported as the name of a place or country associated with lions.

The phrase may function as a fixed designation or proverbially as an image of courage.

• Lane · entry 3906

عِفِرِّينٌ

A small creeping creature said to resemble a chameleon, hide in soft dust, roll itself into a ball, and throw up dust when disturbed.

This is a rare zoological designation and is separate from the place-name use in لَيْثُ عِفِرِّينَ.

• Lane · entry 3906

لَيْثُ عِفِرِّينَ

A fully mature and vigorous man, conventionally one who has reached fifty years of age.

This is a figurative age expression built on the image of the lion.

• Lane · entry 3906

عِفِرِّينٌ

Resolute, firm-minded, strong, or powerful.

This figurative adjectival use is reported independently of the zoological and place-name uses.

• Lane · entry 3906

عَفَرْنَاةٌ

A ghoul or similar demon.

This meaning is attributed to the feminine-form noun عَفَرْنَاةٌ.

• Lane · entry 3907

عَفَارٌ، عَفَارَةٌ

A tree whose wood produces abundant fire and is used for fire-drills or kindling.

عَفَارٌ may be a collective designation, with عَفَارَةٌ for an individual tree.

• Lane · entry 3909

عَفَارَةٌ

The quality or disposition of one who is wicked, malignant, or devilishly forceful.

This abstract noun denotes the characteristic associated with عِفْرٌ, عِفْرِيَةٌ, and عِفْرِيتٌ.

• Lane · entry 3910

عَافُور

In the expression وَقَعُوا فِي عَافُورِ شَرٍّ, difficulty, distress, or a severe predicament.

The expression’s etymology is disputed: it may derive from this root or involve substitution for ث in عاثور.

• Lane · entry 3913

قَرْنُ أَعْفَرَ

A calamity, distress, or frightening predicament; in a related proverb, to carry a tyrant on the horn means to kill him and carry his head on a spear.

The expression كَأَنَّهُ عَلَى قَرْنِ أَعْفَرَ describes someone frightened or disquieted. The proverb preserves an older image involving an antelope’s horn.

• Lane · entry 3914

أَعْفَرُ

Red or reddish sand.

This is a nominal use distinct from the general adjective for a whitish dust-color.

• Lane · entry 3914

عَفْرَاءُ

Of land: untrodden or not yet traversed.

The adjective is applied specifically to land in the cited construction.

• Lane · entry 3914

العَفْرَاءُ، العُفْرُ

A designation for certain moonlit or pale nights, especially the thirteenth night or, in another usage, the seventh, eighth, and ninth nights of the lunar month.

Classical descriptions differ over which nights are included; the term is associated with the moon’s whiteness, while another expression contrasts white and dark nights.

• Lane · entry 3914

مُعَفِّرٌ

One whose sheep or goats have the color called عُفْرَةٌ.

The term is reported as a tribal or group designation in particular usage.

• Lane · entry 3916

مَعْفُورٌ

Of land: land whose herbage has been eaten or grazed down.

This is a specialized passive-participial description of land.

• Lane · entry 3917

مُعَافِرٌ

One who travels with groups of wayfarers and obtains a share of their surplus provisions.

This is a figurative or specialized occupational description.

• Lane · entry 3919

مَعَافِرِيٌّ، مَعَافِرُ

A type of garment or cloth, including a garment of the kind called بُرْد.

The name is related to Maʿāfir, understood as a Yemeni tribe, place, or district; the garment noun may occur without the relative suffix.

• Lane · entry 3920

يَعْفُورٌ

A dust-colored gazelle; by extension, a gazelle generally, a young gazelle, a buck-gazelle, or the young of a wild cow.

The exact animal reference varies among Classical descriptions; the basic association is with a gazelle and its dust-colored appearance.

• Lane · entry 3923

يَعْفُورٌ

A light or active ass.

This is a separate animal use from the gazelle designation.

• Lane · entry 3923

يَعْفُورٌ

A human form seen from a distance and resembling a gazelle.

This is a figurative visual comparison, not a name for a human being generally.

• Lane · entry 3923

يَعْفُورٌ

One of the traditional divisions of the night.

The term is listed among five named divisions of the night.

• Lane · entry 3923