Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

سَرِفَ, aor. ـَ {يَسْرَفُ}, inf. n. سَرَفٌ, He was ignorant: or he was unmindful, negligent, or heedless. (Mṣb.) [In these senses it is trans.: you say,] سَرِفَهُ, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) aor. ـَ {يَسْرَفُ}, (Ḳ,) inf. n. سَرَفٌ, (Ṣ,* M, Ḳ,*) He was unmindful, negligent, or heedless, of it; (Ṣ, M, Ḳ;) namely, a thing: (Ṣ, M:) and he was ignorant of it: (Ṣ, Ḳ:) and he missed it; (Ṣ,* M, Ḳ;* [in the first and third of which, only the inf. n. of the verb in this sense in mentioned, and expl. as syn. with خَطَأٌ;]) syn. أَخْطَأَهُ. (M.) And طَلَبْتُهُمْ فَسَرِفْتُهُمْ I sought them and missed them: or was ignorant of them. (Mṣb.) And سَرِفَ القَوْمَ He passed by the people, or party, and left them behind him. (M.) Aṣ relates, of an Arab of the desert, with whom some companions of his made an appointment to meet him in a certain place of the mosque, and to whom he broke his promise, that, being asked respecting that, he said, مَرَرْتُ بِكُمْ فَسَرِفْتُكُمْ, meaning [I passed by you and] I was unmindful of you. (Ṣ.) And hence the saying of Jereer, (Ṣ, TA,) praising the Benoo-Umeiyeh, (TA,)

* أَعْطَوْا هُنَيْدَةَ يَحْدُوهَا ثَمَانِيَةٌ *

* مَا فِى عَطَائِهِمُ مِنٌّ وَلَا سَرَفُ *

meaning [They gave a hundred camels, eight persons driving them, or urging them by singing to them: there was not in their gift reproach for a benefit conferred, nor] unmindfulness: or the meaning is, nor missing (خَطَأٌ); that is, they did not miss the proper place of the gift by their giving it to such as did not deserve it and refusing it to the deserving. (Ṣ, TA.) You say also, سَرِفْتُ يَمِينَهُ I was unacquainted with, or knew not, his oath. (TA.)

[سَرَفٌ is also, as expl. below, syn. with إِسْرَافٌ, but as a subst., having no verb properly belonging to it.]

سَرَفَتِ الشَّجَرَةَ, (ISk, Ṣ, Ḳ,) aor. ـُ {يَسْرُفُ}, inf. n. سَرْفٌ, (ISk, Ṣ,) said of the سُرْفَة [q. v.], It ate the leaves of the tree: (ISk, Ṣ, Ḳ:) and سَرَفَتِ الخَشَبَ is likewise said of the سُرْفَة [as meaning it ate the wood]. (Z, TA.) And سُرِفَتِ الشَّجَرَةُ, (ISk, Ṣ, M, TA,) inf. n. سَرْفٌ, (ISk,) The tree had its leaves eaten by the سُرْفَة: (Ṣ:) or was smitten, or lighted on, by the سُرْفَة: (ISk, M, TA:) and سَرِفَ الخَشَبُ [the wood was eaten by the سُرْفَة], the verb in this phrase being quasi-pass. of the verb in the phrase سَرَفَتِ السُّرْفَةُ الخَشَبّ, like as حَطِمَ and صَعِقَ are quasi-passives of the verbs in the phrases حَطَمَتْهُ السِّنُّ and صَعَقَتْهُ السَّمَآءُ: (Z, TA:) and [hence] one says also, سَرِفَ الطَّعَامُ ‡ The wheat, or food, was, or became, cankered, or eaten away; as though smitten, or lighted on, by the سُرْفَة. (M, TA.)

[Hence also,] سُرِفَتْ أُذُنُ الشَّاةِ ‡ The ear of the sheep, or goat, was entirely cut off. (A, TA.)

And سَرَفَتْ وَلَدَهَا ‡ She (a mother) injured her child by too much milk. (A, Ḳ,* TA.)

اسرف, (Mṣb,) inf. n. إِسْرَافٌ, (M, Mṣb,) He exceeded, or transgressed, the just, or right, bound, or limit, or measure; acted extravagantly, exorbitantly, or immoderately: (M, Mṣb:) or إِسْرَافٌ signifies the being extravagant in expenditure, syn. تَبْذِيرٌ; (Ḳ) or so إِسْرَافٌ فِى النَّفَقَةِ: (Ṣ, TA:) or, as some say, تبذير means the “exceeding in respect of the right objects of expenditure,” which is ignorance of the [right] manner, and of things that should prevent it; and اسراف means the exceeding with respect to quantity [in expenditure], and is ignorance of the values of the right objects: (MF in art. بذر:) or the latter signifies the expending otherwise than in obedience of God, (Sufyán, Ḳ,* TA,) whether little or much; (TA;) as alsoسَرَفٌ↓: (M, TA:) it is also said to mean the eating that which it is not lawful to eat; and this is said to be meant in the Ḳur vi. 142 or vii. 29: and the putting a thing in a wrong place [as when one expends his money upon a wrong object]: and accord. to Iyás Ibn-Mo'áwiyeh, الإِسْرَافُ is that [action] whereby one falls short of what is due to God. (TA.) You say also, اسرف فِى مَالِهِ, meaning He was hasty in respect of his property, [i. e. in expending it,] without pursuing the just course, or keeping within due bounds. (M.) And اسرف فِى الكَلَامِ and فِى القَتْلِ He exceeded the due bounds, or just limits, in speech, and in slaying. (M.) الإِسْرَافُ فِى القَتْلِ, which is forbidden in the Ḳur xvii. 35, is said to mean The slaying of another than the slayer of one's companion: (Zj, M, Mgh:*) or the slaying the slayer without the authority of the Sultán: or the not being content with slaying one, but slaying a number of persons, because of the high rank of the slain and the low condition of the slayer: or the slaying one higher in rank than the slayer: (Zj, M:) or the slaying two when the slayer is one: or the maining or mutilating [before slaughter]. (Mgh.) إِسْرَافٌ also signifies The committing of many faults, offences, or crimes, and sins. (TA.) And you say, أَكَلَهُ إِسْرَافًا (TA) andسَرَفًا↓, (M, TA,) meaning He ate it hastily. (M, TA.)

تسرّف He sucked: and ate, gnawed, or devoured. (KL. [App. from سُرْفَةٌ, q. v. See also سَرَفَتِ الشَّجَرَةَ, &c., in the latter half of the first paragraph.])

سَرَفْ inf. n. of سَرِفَ [q. v.]. (Ṣ,* M, Mṣb, Ḳ.*)

And also a subst. from أَسْرَفَ; (Mṣb;) i. q. إِسْرَافٌ; (M;) signifying Excess, or transgression, of the just, or right, bound, or limit, or measure; extravagant, exorbitant, or immoderate, action or conduct; (M, Mṣb, TA;) contr. of قَصْدٌ. (Ṣ, Ḳ.) See also 4, in two places.

[Hence,] ‡ The overflowing of water from the sides of a watering-trough, or tank; as in the saying, ذَهَبَ مَآءُ الحَوْضِ سَرَفًا ‡ The water of the watering-trough, or tank, [went away running to waste, or] overflowed from its sides: (Ḳ, TA:) or سَرَفُ المَآءِ means † what goes, of water, without irrigating and without profit: [or rather its going for nought:] you say, أَرْوَتِ البِئْرُ النَّخِيلَ وَذَهَبَ بَقِيَّةُ المَآءِ سَرَفًا † [The well irrigated the palmtrees, and the rest of the water went for nought, in waste]. (Sh, TA.)

And Addictedness (ضَرَاوَةٌ, Ṣ, Ḳ, or لَهَجٌ M) to a thing, (M,) or in respect of wine. (Ḳ, TA.) It is said in a trad. (Ṣ, M) of ʼÁïsheh, (TA,) إِنَّ لِلَّحْمِ سَرَفًا كَسَرَفِ الخَمْرِ [Verily there is an addictedness to flesh-meat like the addictedness to wine]: (Ṣ, M, TA:) i. e. he who is accustomed to it is addicted to the eating thereof, like as he who is constantly drinking wine is addicted thereto, having little selfrestraint therefrom: or the meaning here is unmindfulness [of consequences with respect to flesh-meat, &c.]: or corruptness of conduct, arising from hardness of heart, and daringness to disobey, and self-impulsion to the gratification of appetite: (TA:) or it may be [that the meaning is, there is an extravagance with respect to flesh-meat, &c.,] from الإِسْرَافُ (Ṣ, TA) in expenditure for that which is not needed, or otherwise than in obedience [to the law of God]. (TA.)

It is also said in a trad., لَا يَنْتَهِبُ الرَّجُلُ نُهْبَةً ذَاتَ سَرَفٍ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ, meaning, ذَاتَ شَرَفٍ وَقَدْرٍ كَبِيرٍ [i. e. The man shall not take a thing as spoil that is of high and great estimation, he being a believer]: (Ḳ, TA:) [for] people disapprove of that: (TA:) and it is also related with ش [i. e. ذات شَرَفٍ]. (Ḳ.)

سَرِفٌ Ignorant; (IAạr, M, Mṣb, TA;) as alsoمُسْرِفٌ↓: (IAạr, TA:) or unmindful, negligent, or heedless. (Mṣb.) And رَجُلٌ سَرِفٌ الفُؤَادِ ‡ A man missing, or mistaking, in heart, or mind; negligent, or heedless, therein. (Ṣ, Ḳ, TA.) And رَجُلٌ سَرِفُ العَقْلِ † A man having little intellect, or intelligence: or ‡ corrupt in intellect; accord. to Z, from سَرَفَتِ السُّرْفَةُ الخَشَبَ, of which the quasi-pass. is سَرِفَ [q. v.; meaning that it is from سَرِفٌ as a part. n. of this latter verb]. (TA.)

أَرْضٌ سَرِفَةٌ, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) and وَادٍ سَرِفٌ, (M, TA,) A land, and a valley, abounding with the [worm, or caterpillar, or small creeping thing, called] سُرْفَة. (Ṣ, M,* Ḳ, TA.)

سُرُفٌ A certain white thing [or substance] resembling the web of the silkworm. (Ibn-ʼAbbád, O, Ḳ.)

سُرْفَةٌ [A certain worm, or caterpillar, or small creeping thing;] a small creeping thing that makes for itself a habitation, (Ṣ, Ḳ,) four-sided, or square, (Ṣ,) of fragments of wood, (Ṣ, Ḳ,) joining them together by means of its spittle, in the form of a نَاؤُوس [here meaning coffin], (Ṣ,) which it then enters, and [therein it] dies: (Ṣ, Ḳ:) or the silkworm: or a certain small creeping thing, dust-coloured, that constructs a beautiful habitation in which it is: or a very small creeping thing, like the half of a lentil, that bores a tree, and then constructs therein a habitation of pieces of wood, which it conjoins by means of what resembles the web of the spider: or a very small dust-coloured creeping thing, that comes to a piece of wood and excavates it, and then brings a bit of wood and puts it therein, then another, then another, and then weaves what resembles the web of the spider: or, accord. to AḤn, a certain small creeping thing, like the worm, inclining in some degree to blackness, found upon the [plants called] حَمْض, that constructs a four-sided, or square, habitation, of pieces of wood, joining the extremities of these together by means of a thing [or substance] resembling the web of the spider: or the worm [or caterpillar] that weaves [a web] upon certain trees, and eats their leaves, and destroys the rest thereof by that weaving: or a certain worm [or caterpillar] like the finger, hairy, speckled with black or white, that eats the leaves of trees so as to make them bare: or a certain worm [or caterpillar] that weaves upon itself, of the size of the finger in length, a thing like the قِرْطَاس [or roll, or scroll, of paper], which it enters, so becoming unattainable: or a certain light, small creeping thing, like a spider: (M:) pl. سُرَفٌ. (TA.) Hence the prov., أَصْنَعُ مِنْ سُرْفَةٍ [More skilled in fabricating than a سُرْفَة]. (Ṣ, M, Ḳ.) And one says also, أَخَفُّ مِنْ سُرْفَةٍ [Lighter than a سُرْفَة]. (M.)

[سَرَافٌ, accord. to Freytag, (but he has not named his authority,) The erosion of a tree by wood-fretters (“teredines,” by which he means سُرَف, pl. of سُرْفَةٌ).]

سَرُوفٌ Hard, severe, or difficult; great, momentous, or formidable: (O, Ḳ, TA:) an epithet applied to a day. (O, TA.)

سَرِيفٌ A row of grape-vines. (O, Ḳ.)

أُسْرُفٌ i. q. آنُكٌ [i. e. Lead, or black lead, or tin, or pewter]; (O, Ḳ;) of Pers. origin, (O,) arabicized, from سُرُبْ, (O, L, Ḳ,) or أُسْرُبْ. (CK.) [See also أُسْرُبٌ.]

إِسْرَافِيلُ, (Ṣ, M, O, Ḳ,) and El-Kanánee used to say سَرَافِيلُ↓, the name of A certain angel; (M; [in which it is mentioned among quadriliteral-radical words; but it is there said that the إ may be radical;]) the angel who is to blow the horn on the day of resurrection: (Jel in vi. 73, &c.:) [see رُوحَانِىٌّ:] a foreign word (Ṣ, O, Ḳ) prefixed, (Ḳ,) or as though prefixed, (Ṣ, O,) to إِيلُ: (Ṣ, O, Ḳ:) and إِسْرَافِينُ is a dial. var. of the same; (Kh, Ṣ, M, O, Ḳ;) like as they said جَبْرِينُ and إِسْمَاعِينُ and إِسْرَائِينُ. (Akh, Ṣ, O.)

مُسْرِفٌ [Exceeding, or transgressing, the just, or right, bound, or limit, or measure; acting extravagantly,, &c.: see its verb (4)].

See also سَرِفٌ.

[Also] Denying, or disacknowledging, the favours, or benefits, or the unity, and the prophets and law, of God; a disbeliever, an unbeliever, or an infidel: it is said to be used in this sense in the Ḳur xl. 36. (TA.)

مَسْرُوفٌ Eaten by the سُرْفَة [q. v.]. (TA.) And شَجَرَةٌ مَسْرُوفَةٌ A tree of which the leaves have been eaten by the سُرْفَة; (Ṣ;) or smitten, or lighted on, by the سُرْفَة. (ISk, TA.)

شَاةٌ مَسْرُوفَةٌ ‡ A sheep, or goat, that has had its ear entirely cut off. (M, A.)