Quranic root
دلو
d · l · w
The root centers on a bucket being sent down into a well and drawn out, with extensions to reaching or gaining access through a means.
From the concrete movement of the bucket—lowering it, pulling it up, and using it to obtain water—figurative extensions develop for approach, access, presenting something to an authority, and related forms of descent or urging.
- Mufradāt · row 481
- 3
- Quran-attested forms
- 6
- Quran senses
- 4
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
تَدَلَّىٰ
tadallāā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form I
- Form
- I
- 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.
To descend or come down, with the sense of hanging or being lowered from above.
Quran-attested in the construction describing a descent from above; the related notions of hanging down and descending are treated together.
- Lane · entry 1176
Selected Quran examples
Quran 53:8word 3
“and came down”
To draw near or approach, especially from above or after having been high.
A Quran-attested interpretation of the construction ثُمَّ دَنَا فَتَدَلَّى; the approach is associated with descent or movement from above.
- Lane · entry 1176
- Mufradāt · row 481
Selected Quran examples
Quran 53:8word 3
“and came down”
To become emboldened or self-assured.
An alternative Quranic interpretation of the construction ثُمَّ دَنَا فَتَدَلَّى, distinct from the interpretations of descent and approach.
- Lane · entry 1176
Selected Quran examples
Quran 53:8word 3
“and came down”
أَدْلَىٰ
ʾadlāā
- Part of speech
- Verb · Form IV
- Form
- IV
- 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 send a bucket down into a well, or draw it up or out, in order to obtain water.
Used with the bucket as the object in the well-drawing operation; the Quranic occurrence is interpreted as sending down the bucket, while the lexical discussion also records drawing it out.
- Lane · entry 1175
- Mufradāt · row 481
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:19word 5
“then he let down”
To hand over or offer property to authorities as a means of obtaining a desired judgment, especially as a bribe.
In the Quranic construction وَتُدْلُوا بِهَا إِلَى الْحُكَّامِ, the property is presented to judges to influence or secure a ruling, including by seeking what belongs to others.
- Lane · entry 1175
- Mufradāt · row 481
Selected Quran examples
Quran 2:188word 6
“and present”
دَلْوٌ
dalwun
- 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.
A bucket or vessel used to draw water from a well.
The Quranic noun occurs in an inflected possessive expression meaning “his bucket.”
- Lane · entry 1179
- Mufradāt · row 481
Selected Quran examples
Quran 12:19word 6
“his bucket”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 2:188وَتُدْلُوا۟and present
- 12:19فَأَدْلَىٰthen he let down
- 12:19دَلْوَهُۥ ۖhis bucket
- 53:8فَتَدَلَّىٰand came down
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 27 Classical meanings
دَلَا
To pull a bucket up or out of a well, especially after it has been filled.
Used with the bucket as object, also in the construction بِالدَّلْوِ.
- Lane · entry 1172
دَلَا
To seek or demand the fulfillment of a want.
A figurative extension from pulling up the bucket.
- Lane · entry 1172
دَلَا
To ask someone to intercede for one with another.
A figurative construction in which a person is used as the means of access or intercession.
- Lane · entry 1172
دَلَا
To drive or urge on gently, making a creature proceed leisurely.
A tropical use describing gentle or leisurely urging.
- Lane · entry 1172
دَلَا
To treat someone gently; to soothe, coax, wheedle, or conciliate.
An interpersonal tropical use.
- Lane · entry 1172
دَلَّى
To lower a thing, make it hang down, or let it fall into a pit or similar place.
Causative Form II use for lowering or suspending an object or person.
- Lane · entry 1173
دَلَّى
To bring, draw, or make a thing near to another thing.
A causative extension of bringing something within reach.
- Lane · entry 1173
دَلَّى
To cause someone to fall into disobedience, ruin, or loss by deception; to excite desire or embolden by guile.
The construction بِغُرُورٍ is explicitly explained in the lexical evidence as a Quran-cited interpretation, but no corresponding QAC form group is supplied for it here.
- Lane · entry 1173
أَدْلَى
To adduce, defend, or establish a plea or right, thereby obtaining one’s claim or suit.
Used with a plea, right, or similar claim as the matter adduced.
- Lane · entry 1175
أَدْلَى
To seek access to or approach someone by means of kinship, and to plead or intercede through that relationship.
Kinship is treated as the means by which access or intercession is sought, including kinship to the deceased.
- Lane · entry 1175
أَدْلَى
To speak of someone in an evil or foul manner.
Used in the construction أَدْلَى فِيهِ.
- Lane · entry 1175
أَدْلَى
Of a horse or donkey, to put forth the penis for urination or mating.
A specialized animal-related use.
- Lane · entry 1175
تَدَلَّى
To descend upon someone with evil, mischief, or harm.
Used in the construction تَدَلَّى بِالشَّرِّ.
- Lane · entry 1176
تَدَلَّى
To be driven or urged on gently.
A rare quasi-passive or poetic use corresponding to the gentle urging expressed by دَلَا.
- Lane · entry 1176
تَدَلَّى
To become lowly, humble, or submissive; to abase oneself.
A reflexive or intransitive use describing lowered personal status or demeanor.
- Lane · entry 1176
اِدْلَوْلَى
To hasten, speed, or go quickly.
Form XII usage.
- Lane · entry 1177
دَلْوٌ
The sign of Aquarius, one of the signs of the Zodiac.
A conventional astronomical use of the bucket noun.
- Lane · entry 1179
دَلْوٌ
The hopper of a mill.
A specialized technical use by resemblance or function.
- Lane · entry 1179
دَلْوٌ
A mark made with a hot iron on camels, apparently in the form of a bucket.
A specialized branding term.
- Lane · entry 1179
دَلْوٌ
Calamity, misfortune, or mischief.
A figurative idiomatic use, as in bringing calamity.
- Lane · entry 1179
دَلَاةٌ
A share or portion.
The cited poetic example applies the word to a share of affection, but the lexical meaning is stated more generally.
- Lane · entry 1180
دَالٍ
One who pulls a bucket up or out of a well; in poetry, one who lets a bucket down.
An active-participle noun with both pulling-up and poetic letting-down uses.
- Lane · entry 1183
دَالِيَةٌ
A water-drawing irrigation device, such as a water wheel or bucket assembly.
Used of devices operated by an animal, water, or a rope-and-bucket arrangement to irrigate land.
- Lane · entry 1184
دَالِيَةٌ
Land irrigated by means of a bucket or water-drawing machine.
A transferred use referring to the land served by the device.
- Lane · entry 1184
دَوَالٍ
Hanging unripe dates, eaten when ripe; more generally, hung fruit.
A plural use associated with fruit hanging from a tree.
- Lane · entry 1184
دَوَالٍ
A variety of black, though not intensely black, grapes, borne in large hanging bunches.
A specialized plural name for a grape variety.
- Lane · entry 1184
دَالِيَةٌ
A grapevine or a shoot of a grapevine.
A nominal use distinct from the water-drawing apparatus.
- Lane · entry 1184
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The supplied QAC inventory contains four occurrences in three form groups. Lane also links a Form II دَلَّى بِغُرُورٍ construction to a Quranic passage, but no corresponding QAC form group is supplied; it is therefore retained as a broader Form II classical meaning rather than assigned to a QAC public form.
No Maqayis entry was supplied or matched, so the root-level orientation is stated conservatively from the supplied Mufradat discussion and direct classical lexical evidence.