Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

ثَعْلَبَ He (a man) was cowardly, and eluded, or turned away, or went this way and that, or to the right and left, quickly, and deceitfully, or guilefully; as alsoتَثَعْلَبَ↓: his doing so being thus likened to the running of the ثَعْلَب. (TA.) And ثعلب مِنْهُ فَرَقًا [He was cowardly, and eluded him, or turned away from him,, &c., through fear]; i. e., from another man. (TA.)

ثَعْلَبٌ [The fox; canis vulpes of Linn.: but in the dial. of Egypt, the jackal; canis aureus of Linn.: the former animal being there called أَبُو الحُصَيْنِ, as it often is by the Arabs of other countries:] a certain beast of prey; (TA;) well known: (Ṣ, Ḳ:) applied to the male and the female; so that one says ثَعْلَبٌ ذَكَرٌ and ثَعْلَبٌ أُنْثَى; but if one would designate the male by a single word applying to it only, he says ثُعْلُبَانٌ↓, with damm to the ث and ل: (IAmb, Mṣb:) or the former applies to the female: (Ḳ:) or the female is called ثَعْلَبَةٌ↓; (Ks, Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ;) and the male, ثُعْلُبَانٌ↓ (Ks, Ṣ, Ḳ) and ثَعْلَبٌ, (Ḳ,) [accord. to some,] like as one says عَقْرَبَةٌ [and عُقْرُبَانٌ] and عَقْرَبٌ: (Mṣb:) or ثَعْلَبٌ is the male; and the female is called ثُعَالَةُ↓: (Az, TA: [but see this word is art. ثعل:]) the pl. of ثعلب is ثَعَالِبُ and ثَعَالٍ, (Ḳ,) accord. to Lḥ: but ISd disapproves of this [latter pl.]; and Sb does not allow it except in poetry. (TA.) F charges J with error in citing, as a proof that ثُعْلُبَانٌ↓ signifies the male, the following verse:

* أَرَبٌّ يَبُولُ الثُّعْلُبَانُ بِرَأْسِهِ *

* لَقَدْ ذَلَّ مَنْ بَالَتْ عَلَيْهِ الثَّعَالِبُ *

[Is he a Lord, upon whose head the he-fox makes water? (the ب in برأسه being syn. with عَلَى: so in the Mughnee, in art. ب:) Vile indeed is he upon whom the foxes make water!] said by a man who was keeper of an idol, on seeing a he-fox make water upon it: but in this, F opposes also Ks and others; and it is asserted by several authorities that the correct reading of the word ثعلبان in a trad. whereby F attempts to establish his charge against J is not ثَعْلَبَانِ, dual. of ثَعْلَبٌ, as he pronounces it to be, but ثُعْلَبَانِ, which is said to be the masc. of ثَعْلَبٌ, like as أُفْعُوَانٌ and عُقْرُبَانٌ are mascs. of أَفْعًى and عَقْرَبٌ. (TA.)

دَآءُ الثَّعْلَبِ [for which Golius seems to have found in a copy of the Ḳ دَوَآءُ الثَّعْلَبِ] A well-known disease, [namely, alopecia,] (Ṣ, Ḳ,) in consequence of which the hair falls off. (Ṣ.)

عِنَبُ الثَّعْلَبِ [Fox-grape: rendered by Golius “uvæ vulpinæ, i. e. solanum:” but now applied by some to the gooseberry: and the solanum nigrum, or gardennightshade, is now commonly called عِنَبُ الذِّئْبِ:] a certain astringent, cooling plant: seven (or, as in one copy of the Ḳ, nine) حَبَّات [which here seems to mean berries] thereof, swallowed, are a cure for the jaundice (اليَرَقَان), and stop pregnancy, (Ḳ, TA,) like the berries of the خِرْوَع [or castor-oil-plant], for the year, or, as some say, absolutely. (TA.)

A hole, or aperture, (جُحْر,) whence rain-water flows. (TA.) [And particularly,] The outlet, hole, or aperture, (مَخْرَج, Ṣ and Mṣb, or جُحْر, Ḳ, or ثَقْب, TA,) whence the rain-water flows from the place where dates are dried. (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ, TA.) And The place whence the water flows forth (L, Ḳ) from, (L, TA,) or to, (Ḳ, [probably a mistake,]) a watering-trough or tank. (L, Ḳ.)

The upper extremity of a spear-shaft that enters into the head thereof. (Ṣ, Ḳ.)

The lowest part of a palm-shoot when it is cut from [the root of] the mother-tree: or the lowest part of a [shoot such as is termed] راكُوب, on the trunk of a palm-tree. (AA, Ḳ.)

ثَعْلَبَةٌ: see ثَعْلَبٌ.

Also The os coccygis, or tail-bone; syn. عُصْعُصٌ. (Ḳ.)

And The podex, or the anus; syn. اِسْتٌ. (Ḳ.)

ثَعْلَبِيَّةٌ A running of the horse like the running of the dog. (Ḳ.)

أَرْضٌ مُثَعْلِبَةٌ A land having ثَعَالِب [or foxes]: (Ṣ:) or, having many thereof; as also أَرضٌ مَثْعَلَةٌ; (Ḳ;) which is from ثُعَالَةٌ; or it may be from ثَعْلَبٌ, like مَعْقَرَةٌ applied to “a land having many عَقَارِب [or scorpions].” (Ṣ, L.)