Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

بَابَ لَهُ, aor. يَبُوبُ, (M, Ḳ,) quasi-inf. n., if there be such a verb, بِوَابَةٌ, with the و not changed into ى because it is not an inf. n. properly speaking, but a subst., (Lth, T,) He was, or became, a door-keeper, or gate-keeper, to him; (M, Ḳ;) namely, a Sultán (M) [or other person].

بوّب [app., † He practised what are termed أَبْوَابُ الحَرْبِ, meaning the expedients, tricks, or stratagems, of war, battle, or fight.]

[And hence,] † He charged upon, attacked, or assaulted, the enemy. (AA, T.)

بَوَّبْتُ الأَشْيَآءَ † I made the things to be divided into distinct أَبْوَاب [meaning kinds, or sorts; or I disposed, arranged, distributed, or classified, the things under distinct heads]. (Mṣb.) And بوّب الأَبْوَابَ † [He disposed, arranged, distributed, classified, or set in order, the kinds, sorts, classes, chapters, heads, or the like]. (TA voce أَصَّلَ, q. v.) And بوّب المُؤَلِّفُ كِتَابَهُ † [The author disposed, or divided, his book in, or into, distinct chapters]. (A.) [See بَابٌ.]

تبوّب, (A,) or تبوّب بَوَّابًا, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) He took for himself a door-keeper, or gate-keeper. (Ṣ, M, A, Ḳ.)

بَابٌ, originally بَوَبٌ, (M, Mṣb,) A door; a gate; a place of entrance: and the thing with which a place of entrance, such as a door or gate, is closed; of wood, &c.: (MF, TA:) pl. أَبْوَابٌ (Ṣ, M, Mṣb, Ḳ) and بِيبَانٌ (M, Ḳ) and أَبْوِبَةٌ, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) [a pl. of pauc., said to be] only used for conformity with another word mentioned therewith, as in the saying (of Ibn-Mukbil, so in a copy of the Ṣ),

* هَتَّاكُ أَخْبِيَةٍ وَلَّاجُ أَبْوِبَةٍ *

[A frequent render of tents, a frequent enterer of doors], (Ṣ, M,) not being allowable when occurring alone; (Ṣ;) but IAạr and Lḥ assert that it is a pl. of باب without its being used for conformity with another word; (M;) and this is extr.; (M, Ḳ;) for باب is of the measure فَعَلٌ, and a word of this measure has not a pl. of the measure أَفْعِلَةٌ [by rule]. (M.) You say, بَابٌ الدَّارِ [The door of the house]; and بَابُ البَيْتِ [the door of the house, and of the chamber, and of the tent]; (Mṣb;) and بَابُ البَلَدِ [the gate of the town or city]. (The Lexicons, &c. passim.) And Bishr Ibn-Abee-Házim assigns a باب to a grave; calling the latter a بَيْت. (M.) It is also applied to an opening, or a channel, made for water, to irrigate seed-produce: pl. أَبْوَابٌ. (Mgh.) [And in Egypt, it is applied also to A sepulchral chamber, grotto, or cave, hewn in a mountain; from the Coptic βηβ: pl. بِيبَانٌ only.]

Hence, i. e. in a secondary application, the primary signification being “a place of entrance,” it is used as meaning ‡ A means of access, or of attainment, to a thing: (B, Kull, TḲ:) as in the saying, هٰذَا العِلْمُ بَابٌ إِلَى عِلْمِ كَذَا ‡ This science is a means of attainment to such a science. (B, TḲ.)

[And hence, † An expedient, a trick, a stratagem, or a process, by which something is to be effected pl. أَبْوَابٌ: as in أَبْوَابُ الحَرْبِ the expedients., &c. of war, battle, or fight; and بَابٌ مِنَ النُّجُومِ a process of the science of the stars, meaning astrology or astronomy; and بَابٌ مِنَ السِّحْرِ a process of enchantment; see an ex. voce سِحْرٌ. Compare Matt. xvi. 18, πύλαι ᾅδου οὐ κατισχύσουσιν αύτῆς, probably meaning “the stratagems of Hell shall not prevail against it.”]

[Also † A mode, kind, sort, class, or category.] Suweyd Ibn-Kuráạ uses metaphorically the pl. أَبْوَاب in relation to rhymes; saying,

* أَتَيْتُ بِأَبْوَابِ القَوَافِى كَأَنَّمَا *

* أَذُودُ بِهَا سِرْبًا مِنَ الوَحْشِ نُزَّعَا *

‡ [I gave utterance to the various kinds of rhymes as though I were driving with them a herd of wild animals desirous of the males, or of their wonted places of pasture]. (M, L.) [You say also, هُوَ مِنْ هٰذَا البَابِ † It is of this mode, kind, sort, class, or category: a phrase of frequent occurrence in lexicons, &c. See also بَابَةٌ.]

[Also † A chapter; and sometimes a section, or subdivision, of a chapter; of a book or writing;] conventionally, † a piece consisting of words relating to matters of one kind; and sometimes, to matters of one species: (Kull:) pl. أَبْوَابٌ. (A.) See also بَابَةٌ.

[Also † A head, or class of items or articles, in an account, or a reckoning; as in the saying,] بَيَّنْتُ لَهُ حِسَابَهُ بَابًا بَابًا † [I explained, or made clear, to him his account, or reckoning, head by head, or each class of items or articles by itself]; a phrase mentioned by Sb: (M:) [or, sometimes,] بَابٌ (M, Ḳ) andبَابَةٌ↓ (T, M, Ḳ) are used in relation to حُدُود [which here means the punishments so termed], and to an account, or a reckoning, (T, M, Ḳ,) and the like, (T, M,) as signifying the extreme term or limit; syn. غَايَةٌ; (M, Ḳ;) but IDrd hesitated respecting this, and therefore it is not mentioned in the Ṣ. (TA.)

بَابَةٌ † A mode, or manner; syn. وَجْهٌ: (ISk, Ḳ:) pl. بَابَاتٌ. (Ḳ.) [See also بَابٌ, which has a similar, and perhaps the same, signification.] Hence, هٰذَا مِنْ بَابَتِى means † This is of the mode, or manner, that I desire; (TA;) this is suitable to me: (IAmb, TA:) and هٰذَا شَىْءٌ مِنْ بَابَتِكَ, (Ṣ,) or هٰذَا بَابَتُكَ, (A,) † this is a thing suitable to thee: (Ṣ, A:) and هٰذَا بَابَتُهُ † this is suitable to him. (Ḳ.) Accord. to most of the critics, it is tropical. (TA.) You say also, فُلَانٌ أَهْوَنُ بَابَاتِهِ الكَذِبُ † Such a one, the lightest of the kinds (أَنْوَاع) of his wickedness is lying. (A.)

† A habit: a property; a quality; nature; natural disposition: or a practice; or an action: syn. خَصْلَةٌ. (Abu-l-ʼOmeythil, TA.) [Hence, perhaps, the last of the exs. cited above from the A.]

† A condition; syn. شَرْطٌ: as in the saying, هذَا بَابَةُ هٰذَا † [This is the condition of this]. (M, Ḳ.*)

بَابَاتُ الكِتَابِ † The lines of the book or writing: (M, A, Ḳ:) or it may mean its أَبْوَاب↓ [i. e. chapters, or sections of chapters]: (M:) this has no sing.: (A, Ḳ:) [ISd says,] I have not heard any sing. of it. (M.)

See also بَابٌ; last signification.

بَوْبَاةٌ A desert; or a desert in which is no water; syn. فَلَاةٌ: (T, IJ, M, Ḳ:) as also مَوْمَاةٌ; (T, MF;) the ب being changed into م, as is often the case. (MF.) [It is mentioned in the Ṣ, and again in the Ḳ, in art. بو, as syn. with مَفَازَةٌ.]

بِوَابَةٌ The office, or occupation, of a door-keeper, or gate-keeper. (M, Ḳ.) [See 1.]

بَوَّابٌ A door-keeper, or gate-keeper. (Ṣ,* M, Mṣb, Ḳ, TA.)

أَبْوَابٌ مُبَوَّبَةٌ † [Kinds, sorts, classes, chapters, heads, or the like, disposed, arranged, distributed, classified, or set in order,] is a phrase similar to أَصْنَافٌ مُصَنَّفَةٌ. (Ṣ.) You say also كِتَابٌ مُبَوَّبٌ † [A book disposed in, or divided into, distinct chapters]. (A.)