Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

جَفَنَ نَاقَةً, (Ḳ,) inf. n. جَفْنٌ, (TA,) He slaughtered a she-camel, and gave her flesh for food (Ḳ, TA) to the people, (TA,) in bowls (جِفَان). (Ḳ, TA.)

جفّنوا They made bowls (جِفَان [probably meaning they prepared bowls of food: accord. to Freytag's Lex., جفّن means “apposuit scutellam; but he does not name his authority]). (TA.)

جفّن andتجفّن↓ It (a grape-vine) attained to the state of having an أَصْل [i. e., app., a stock]. (TA.)

جَفْنٌ The eyelid; both the upper and the lower: (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ:) of the masc. gender: (Mṣb:) pl. [of pauc.] أَجْفَانٌ and أَجْفُنٌ and [of mult.] جُفُونٌ. (Ḳ.)

The upper surface, and the lower, of a cake of bread: both together being called جَفْنَا الرَّغِيفِ. (Lḥ, TA.)

The scabbard, or sheath, (غِمْد, Ṣ, Ḳ, or غِلَاف, Mṣb,) of a sword: (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ:) [or] the case, or receptacle, in which is [put] the sword together with its غمد and suspensory belt or cord: (Ṣ voce قِرَابٌ:) [but the former signification only is commonly known:] and [it is said that] جِفْنٌ↓ signifies the same; (Ḳ;) but this is doubted by IDrd: (M, TA:) pl. [of pauc.] أَجْفَانٌ and [of mult.] جُفُونٌ. (Mṣb.)

The أَصْل [app. here meaning stock] of a grape-vine: (Ḳ:) or a grape-vine itself, in the dial. of El-Yemen; (T, TA;) so called as being imagined to be the receptacle of the grapes: (Er-Rághib, TA:) or a species of grape: (ISd, Ḳ:) or the skin of the grape, in which is the juice: (IAạr, TA:) or a climbing shoot of a grape-vine: (AḤn, TA:) or the shoots of the grape-vine: (T, Ṣ, M, Ḳ:) n. un. with ة {جَفْنَةٌ}: (T Ṣ, M:) or, accord. to IAạr, جَفْنَةٌ is syn. with كرعة [app. a mistranscription for كَرْمَةٌ a single grape-vine]: or, accord. to some, as ISd says, the leaves of the grape-vine. (TA.) [Hence,] مَآءُ الجَفْنِ The juice of the vine; (A, TA;) wine: (TA:) [or it may originally mean tears; then, rain; and then, wine: for] wine is also called مَآءُ السَّحَابِ: and جَفْنُ المَآءِ means the clouds. (TA.)

A kind of tree, of sweet odour. (AḤn, Ḳ.)

A certain plant, of the kind called أَحْرَار, that grows in a spreading manner, and, when it dries up, contracts; having grains like the حُلْبَة [or fenugreek]. (AḤn, TA.)

جَفْنَةٌ A [bowl of the kind called] قَصْعَة: (Ḳ:) or like a قصعة: (Ṣ:) the largest kind of قصعة; (Ks, Ṣ in art. صحف, M;) next to which is the قصعة [properly so called], which satisfies the hunger of ten [men]; then, the صَحْفَة, which satisfies five; then, the مِئْكَلَة, which satisfies two men, and three; then, the صُحَيْفَة, which satisfies one man: (Ks, Ṣ in art. صحف:) it is peculiarly applied to a receptacle for kinds of food: (Er-Rághib, TA:) pl. [of mult.] جَفَانٌ (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ) and جِفَنٌ (Sb, TA) and (of pauc., TA) جَفَنَاتٌ (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ.) [Hence,] كُفِئَتْ جَفْنَتُهُ [His bowl was turned upside-down; meaning] ‡ he was slain; a phrase similar to هُرِيقَ رِفْدُهُ. (A in art. رفد.)

† A small well; (Ḳ;) as being likened to the جفنة for food. (Er-Rághib, TA.)

‡ A generous man: (Ḳ:) جَفْنَةٌ غَرَّآءُ is an appellation applied to a generous man who entertains many guests and feeds many: (IAạr, TA:) he is called جفنة because people are fed in the جفنة, and the epithet غرّآء is added because of the whiteness of the camel's hump in the جفنة. (TA.)

Also i. q. خَمْرَةٌ [meaning Some wine, or a kind of wine: see also مَآءُ الجَفْنِ, voce جَفْنٌ]. (IAạr, TA.)