Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

سَافَ الشَّىْءَ, aor. يَسُوفُ (Ṣ, M, Mṣb) and يَسَافُ, (M,) inf. n. سَوْفٌ; (Ṣ, M, Ḳ;) and soساوفهُ↓; (M, TA;) andاستافهُ↓, (M, Mṣb, Ḳ,*) inf. n. اِسْتِيَافٌ; (Ṣ;) [and, accord. to Freytag, سوّفهُ↓; but he has not named his authority; if correct, probably having an intensive signification;] He smelled the thing. (Ṣ, M, Mṣb.) A poet says, (Mṣb,) namely, Ru-beh, (Ṣ, M,)

*إِذَا الدَّلِيلُ ٱسْتَافَ↓ أَخْلَاقَ الطُّرُقْ *

[When the guide smells the natures of the roads to know whether he be pursuing the right course or deviating therefrom]. (Ṣ, M, Mṣb.)

[And hence, He hunted. (Freytag, from the Deewán el-Hudhaleeyeen.)]

سَوْفٌ is also Syn. with صَبْرٌ. (IAạr, Ḳ.) You say, of a man, سَافَ عَلَيْهِ, inf. n. سَوْفٌ, He endured it with patience. (TḲ.)

سَافَ, (Ṣ, M, O, Ḳ,) aor. يَسُوفُ (Ṣ, O, Ḳ) and يَسَافُ, (O, Ḳ,) inf. n. سَوْفٌ, (M,) said of a man, (M,) and of cattle, (مَال, M, O, Ḳ,) He, or they, perished, or died: (Ṣ, M, O, Ḳ:) or, said of cattle, they had a murrain occurring among them. (Ḳ.)

[سَافَ expl. by Freytag in this art., as though having for its aor. يَسُوفُ, and meaning He smote a person with a sword, is a mistake, caused by a mistranscription (of سُفْتُهُ for سِفْتُهُ) in art. سيف in some copies of the Ḳ.]

سوّفهُ, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) or سوّف بِهِ, (Mṣb,) inf. n. تَسْوِيفٌ, (Ṣ, M, Mṣb, Ḳ,) He said to him time after time سَوْفَ أَفْعَلُ [I will do such a thing]; (Ṣ, Mṣb, TA;) derived from the particle سَوْفَ: (IJ, M:) and hence, (Mṣb,) he delayed, or deferred, with him; or put him off with promises; syn. مَطَلَهُ; (Ṣ,* Mṣb, Ḳ, TA;) saying سَوْفَ أَفْعَلُ; (TA;) or promising to be faithful to his engagement; (Mṣb;) mostly used in relation to a promise that is not to be fulfilled; as is said by Ibn-Abi1-Hadeed: (MF, TA:) andساوفهُ↓ signifies [the same, as is implied in the M, being syn. with] مَاطِلَهُ: see an ex. in a verse cited voce سَوْفَ, last sentence. (TA.) التَّسْوِيفُ is [also expl. as] Syn. with التَّأْخِيرُ [app. as meaning the postponing, putting off, delaying, or deferring, anything]. (TA.) [And it is implied in art. عظب of the TA that it is Syn. with التَّمْرِينُ and التَّصْبِيرُ: so that you say, سوّفهُ عَلَيْهِ, meaning He inured, or accustomed, him to it; and made him to endure it with patience: see سَافَ عَلَيْهِ, above.]

You say also, سَوَّفْتُهُ أَمْرِى, meaning I made him (a man) to have the ordering and deciding of my affair, or case, (Ṣ, Ḳ,) to do what he would: (Ṣ:) and so سَوَّمْتُهُ. (TA.)

See also 1, first sentence.

ساوفهُ: see 1:

and 2.

Also i. q. سَارَّهُ [He spoke, or discoursed, secretly to him or with him; or acquainted him with a secret]. (Ḳ.)

And ساوف المَرْأَةَ i. q. ضَاجَعَهَا [He slept with the woman in, or on, one bed]. (Ḳ.)

اساف, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) inf. n. إِسَافَةٌ, (TA,) said of a man, (Ṣ, M,) His cattle perished, or died: (Ṣ, Ḳ:) or he had murrain occurring among his cattle: so in a verse of Tufeyl, cited voce اِسْتَرْخَى, in art. رخو. (M.) [Hence,] one says, أَسَافَ حتّّى مَايَشْتَكِى السَّوَافَ, (AA, Ṣ, Meyd, Ḳ,) or السُّوَافَ, (Aṣ, Meyd,) [He had murrain among his cattle until he did not complain of the murrain:] a prov., (Meyd,) applied to him who has become accustomed to casualties; (Ṣ, Ḳ;) or to him who has become inured to calamities, (AʼObeyd, Meyd, A,) so that he is not impatient of the vicissitudes of fortune. (AʼObeyd, Meyd.)

اساف الوَالِدَانِ The two parents lost their child by his death: in which case, the child is said to be مُسَافٌ↓; and his father, مُسِيفٌ↓; and his mother, مِسْيَافٌ↓. (Ibn-ʼAbbád, Ḳ.)

اسافهُ ٱللّٰهُ God destroyed him, or took away his life. (M.)

اساف الخَرْزَ i. q. خَرَمَهُ [i. e. He spoiled the sewing of the skin, or hide; as when one uses a thick instrument for sewing or perforating, and a thin thong; or as when one rends two stitch-holes into one]. (M.) And اساف الخَارِزُ The sewer of a skin, or hide, perforated, or sewed, in such a manner that the two stitch-holes became rent [into one]. (AʼObeyd, Ḳ.)

سَافٌ Any row, or course, (Ṣ, M, L, Ḳ, TA,) [i. e.] a single row, or course, (Mgh,) of bricks, (Ṣ, M, Mgh, L, Ḳ, TA,) or (so in the Mgh, but in the TA “and”) of clay, (Mgh, TA,) of a wall, (Ṣ, Mgh, Ḳ, TA,) or in a wall, (TA,) or in a building; (M, L, TA;) as also مِدْمَاكٌ: (TA:) pl. of pauc. آسُفٌ [formed by transposition, like آدُرٌ pl. of دَارٌ,] (L,) and سَافَاتٌ: (Mgh:) Lth explains السَّافُ as signifying what is between the سَافَات of the building: its ا is originally و. (TA.) [سَافَةٌ mentioned by Freytag as signifying “a single series of stones in a wall,” on the authority of the Ḳ, I do not find there, nor in any other lexicon.]

Also A certain bird, that preys. (M.)

سَوْفَ, for which one also says سَفْ, (M, Mughnee, Ḳ,) rejecting the medial radical letter, (M, Mughnee,) and سَوْ, (M, Mughnee, Ḳ,) rejecting the final radical, (M, Mughnee,) and سَىْ, (M, Mughnee, Ḳ,) rejecting the final radical and changing the medial into ى for the purpose of alleviation [of the utterance], (M, Mughnee,) and accord. to the L سَا, (TA,) is a particle, (IJ, M, Ḳ,) denoting inception; (Ḳ;) or a word denoting تَنْفِيس, (Sb, Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) i. e. amplification, because it changes the aor. from the strait time, which is the present, to the ample time, which is the future; (Mughnee voce سَ [q. v.];) i. e., denoting تنفيس with respect to that which has not yet happened; (Sb, Ṣ, Ḳ;) and postponement; (M;) and is used in terrifying and threatening and promising; (IDrd, Ḳ;) or it is a word denoting promising or threatening: (Mṣb:) it is syn. with سَ accord. to some, or has a larger meaning than this latter accord. to others. (Mughnee.) You say, سَوْفَ أَفْعَلُ [I will do such a thing]. (Sb, Ṣ.) And one may not introduce a separating word between it and its verb, [except in a case mentioned in what follows,] because it occupies the place of the س in سَيَفْعَلُ [&c.]. (Sb, Ṣ.) [But] it is distinct from سَ by its [sometimes] having ل prefixed to it; as in [the phrase in the Ḳur xciii. 5], وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَى [And thy Lord will give thee, and thou wilt be well pleased]: (Mughnee:) in this phrase, [however,] the ل is [considered as] prefixed to the verb, not to the particle: (M:) or the phrase is elliptical, for لَأَنْتَ سَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ. (Bḍ.) And it is distinct from سَ in this, that it is sometimes separated [from its verb] by a verb divested of government both as to the letter and the meaning; as in the saying,

* وَمَا أَدْرِى وَسَوْفَ إِخَالُ أَدْرِى *

* أَقَوْمٌ آلُ حِصْنٍ أَمْ نِسَآءُ *

[And I know not, but I shall, I think, know, whether the family of Hisn be a company of men or women]. (Mughnee.)

When you desire to make it a subst., [i. e. to use it as a subst.,] you make it to have tenween [when it is indeterminate]. (IDrd, Ḳ.) IDrd cites as an ex.,

* إِنَّ سَوْفًا وَإِنَّ لَيْتًا عَنَآءٌ *

[Verily سَوْفَ and verily لَيْتَ are a weariness]: but one reading is إِنَّ لَوًّا; and another, إِنَّ لَيْتًا وإِنَّ لَوًّا; and there is no such reading as إِنَّ سَوْفًا. (O, TA.) One says also, فُلَانٌ يَقْتَاتُ السَّوْفَ [lit. Such a one feeds upon the word سَوْفَ]; meaning ‡ Such a one lives by means of things hoped for: (Ṣ, Ḳ, TA:) and in like manner, مَا قُوتُهُ إِلَّا السَّوْفُ [lit. His food is not anything but, or other than, the word سَوْفَ]. (A, TA.)

In the following verse of Ibn-Mukbil, cited by Sb,

*لَوْ سَاوَفَتْنَا↓ بِسَوْفٍ مِنْ تَحِيَّتِهَا *

* سَوْفَ العَيُوفِ لَرَاحَ الرَّكْبُ قَدْ قَنِعَا *

[Had she put us off with a سَوْفَ as part of her greeting, with the putting off even of such as is affected with dislike, the riders had gone contented], سَوْفَ is put in the accus. case [for مُسَاوَفَةَ, i. e.] as an inf. n. with the augmentation [meaning the augmentative letters] rejected. (M.)

سَوَافٌ The [cucumber commonly called] قِثَّآء [q. v.]: (M, Ḳ, TA:) so says AḤn, (M, TA,) on the authority of Et-Toosee. (TA.)

See also what next follows.

سُوَافٌ andسَوَافٌ↓; with damm accord. to Aṣ, and so, he says, all the names of diseases, as نُحَازٌ and دُكَاعٌ and قُلَابٌ and خُمَالٌ [&c.]; accord. to AA, not so, but with fet-ḥ, and in like manner said 'Omárah Ibn-ʼAḳeel; (Ṣ;) or none relates it with fet-ḥ except AA, and his relation is nought; (IB;) Disease of cattle, and death thereof: (Ṣ:) or each signifies death among mankind and cattle: (M:) or the latter, a mortality, or murrain, among camels; or so the former: or the latter, a mortality among mankind and cattle: (Ḳ:) and the former, disease of camels; (AḤn, M, Ḳ;) and so the latter. (Ḳ.) One says, وَقَعَ فِى المَالِ سَوَافٌ [or سُوَافٌ] Death [or a murrain] happened among the cattle. (Ṣ.)

مَسَافٌ The nose: because one smells (يُسَافُ, Ḳ, i. e. يُشَمُّ, TA) with it: (Ḳ:) so in the Moḥeeṭ. (TA.)

See also مَسَافَةٌ, in two places.

مُسَافٌ A child taken from his parents by death: see 4. (Ibn-ʼAbbád, Ḳ.)

مُسِيفَ A man whose cattle have died. (TA.)

And A father having lost his child by death: see 4. (Ibn-ʼAbbád, Ḳ.)

مَسَافَةٌ [properly A place of smelling:]

[and hence,] ‡ Distance; (Ṣ, Ḳ, TA;) andمَسَافٌ↓ andسِيفَةٌ↓ signify the same in this sense [or in others here following]: (Ḳ:) [a space, or tract, or an extent, over which one journeys:] a far-extending tract that one traverses: originally a place of smelling of the guides, in order that they may know whether it be far or near, out of the way or in the right way: (A, TA:) or a [desert, or such as is termed] مَفَازَة: (M:) said to be from سَافَ الشَّىْءَ meaning “he smelled the thing;” for the guide smells the dust of the place wherein he is; and if he smell the odour of urine and dung of camels, he knows that he [or some other] has traversed it; but otherwise, not: (Mṣb:) or because the guide, when he is in a desert, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) and has lost his way therein, (M,) smells its dust, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) in order that he may know, (Ṣ, Ḳ,) or and thus knows, (M,) whether he be in the right way, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) or not: (Ṣ, Ḳ:) then, by reason of frequency of usage of this word [as meaning “a place of smelling of the guides”] it became a term for “distance:” (Ṣ, Ḳ:) pl. مَسَاوِفُ (A, TA) and مَسَافَاتٌ. (Mṣb.) One says, كَمْ مَسَافَةُ هٰذِهِ الأَرْضِ andمَسَافُهَا↓ andسِيفَتُهَا↓ ‡ [How long is the distance, or how much is the extent, of this land?]. (TA.) And بَيْنَهُمْ مَسَافَةٌ بَعِيدَةٌ † [Between them is a far-extending distance or space]. (Mṣb.) And بَيْنَنَا مَسَافَةُ عِشْرِينَ يَوْمًا ‡ [Between us is the distance, or space, of twenty days]. (TA.)

In the following saying of Dhu-rRummeh, it is doubly tropical:

* وَأَبْعَدُهُمْ مَسَافَةَ غَوْرِ عَقْلٍ *

* إِذَا مَا الأَمْرُ ذُو الشُّبُهَاتِ عَالَا *

‡ ‡ [And the furthest of them in the extent of the depth of intelligence when the affair, or case, in which are dubiousnesses overcomes and is onerous]. (A, TA.)

مُسَوِّفٌ One who does what he will, [as though he said time after time سَوْفَ أَفْعَلُ,] whom no one will make to turn back. (Ḳ.)

And, with ة {مُسَوِّفَةٌ}, A woman who will not comply with the desire of her husband when he calls her to his bed, and strives with him to repel him in respect of that which he desires of her, and says سَوْفَ أَفْعَلُ: such is said, in a trad., to be cursed. (TA.)

Also, with ة {مُسَوِّفَةٌ}, A well (رَكِيَّةٌ) of which one says, Water will be found (سَوْفَ يُوجَدُ) in it: or of which the water is smelt (يُسَافُ), and disliked, and loathed. (Ibn-ʼAbbád, Z, Ḳ.)

And, without ة {مُسَوِّفٌ}, Very patient or enduring. (TA.)

مُسْتَافٌ A place of smelling, or that is smelt. (O, Ḳ.)

مِسْيَافٌ A mother having lost her child by death: see 4. (Ibn-ʼAbbád, Ḳ.)

إِنَّهَا لَمُسَاوِفَةٌ لِلسَّيْرِ [app. referring to a she-camel] Verily she is one that has ability for journeying. (M.)