Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

شَهِبَ, (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ,) aor. ـَ {يَشْهَبُ}, (Mṣb, Ḳ,) inf. n. شَهَبٌ, (Ṣ, Mgh, Mṣb, Ḳ,*) It (a thing, Ṣ) was, or became, of the colour termed شُهْبَة, (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ,) i. e. of a [gray] colour in which whiteness predominated over blackness, (Ṣ, Mgh, Mṣb,) or in which whiteness was interrupted by blackness; (Ḳ,* TA;) as also شَهُبَ, aor. ـُ {يَشْهُبُ} andاشهبّ↓; (Ḳ;) the last, inf. n. اِشْهِبَابٌ, said in the former sense of a horse; as alsoاشهابّ↓, inf. n. اِشْهِيبَابٌ; (Ṣ;) and this last verb, said of the head, its whiteness predominated over its blackness; (TA;) as alsoاشتهب↓. (Ṣ, TA.)

شَهَبَهُ, aor. ـَ {يَشْهَبُ}, (Ḳ,) inf. n. شَهْبٌ, (TḲ,) said of heat and of cold, It altered his colour; as alsoشهّبهُ↓: (Ḳ:) or, accord. to A' Obeyd, (TA,)شهّب↓ الشَّجَرَ, (O, TA,) inf. n. تَشْهِيبٌ, (O,) said of cold, It altered the colour of the trees: andشهّب↓ النَّاسَ is likewise said of cold [as meaning It altered the colour of the men or people]. (O, TA.)

And شَهَبَتِ السَّنَةُ القَوْمَ The year of drought destroyed the cattle (أَمْوَال) of the people or party: (so accord. to the CK and my MṢ. copy of the Ḳ:) or the verb in this sense is أَشْهَبَت↓. (So accord. to the text of the Ḳ as given in the TA.)

[Freytag erroneously assigns to this verb, as from the Ḳ, another meaning, belonging to 4.]

اشهب, said of a stallion, He had offspring of the colour termed شُهْبَة born to him: so accord. to the Ḳ: but accord. to IM and the other lexicologists, it is said of a man, meaning the offspring of his horses were of the colour termed شُهْبَة: IAạr says that there are not, among horses, such as are termed شُهْبٌ [pl. of أَشْهَبُ]: A' Obeyd, however, [as will be seen below,] explains شُهْبَة as meaning a colour of horses. (TA.)

See also 1, last sentence but one.

see 1, first sentence.

Also, said of seedproduce, ‡ It dried up, or became yellow, (Ṣ, A,) but with somewhat green remaining in its interstices: (Ṣ:) or was near to yielding, and became white, and dried up, but with a little greenness remaining in its interstices. (TA.)

Accord. to the L, one says also اشهابّت مَشَافِرُهُ [app. meaning His lips became of an ashy hue]. (TA.)

شَهْبٌ A mountain overspread with snow. (O, Ḳ.)

And a boy, or young man, light, or active, in body, and sharp-headed. (IAạr, TA voce عَضْبٌ. [See also شِهَابٌ.])

شُهْبَةٌ A [gray] colour in which whiteness predominates over blackness, (Ṣ, Mṣb,) or in which whiteness is interrupted by blackness; as alsoشَهَبٌ↓; (A, Ḳ;) which latter is [properly] an inf. n., of شَهِبَ: (Ṣ, Mṣb:) or whiteness mixed with blackness: (Ḥar p. 150:) not pure whiteness, as some have imagined it to be. (TA.) And in horses, A colour in which the main hue is interrupted by a hoariness, or by some white hairs, whether the horse be [in his general colour] كُمَيْت or أَشْقَر or أَدْهَم. (A' Obeyd, TA.)

شَهَبَانٌ A kind of plant (شَجَرٌ), resembling the ثُمَام [or panic grass]; (Ḳ;) like شَبَهَانٌ. (TA. [But see this last word.])

شَهَابٌ (AḤát, Ṣ, Ḳ) andشُهَابَةٌ↓ (AḤát, Kr, Ḳ) Milk mixed with much water: (AḤát, Ṣ:) or a mixture of which one third is milk and the rest water: (Ḳ, TA:) Az heard several of the Arabs apply the former term to milk mixed with water: so called on account of the alteration of its colour. (TA.)

شِهَابٌ, in its primary acceptation, A شُعْلَة [i. e. either brand or flame (app. the former, agreeably with what follows,)] of fire: (TA:) or a شُعْلَة of fire gleaming or radiating: (Ṣ, Ḳ:) accord. to ISk, a firebrand; i. e. a stick in which is fire: or, accord. to AHeyth, originally, a piece of wood, or stick, in which is fire gleaming or radiating: (Az, TA:) pl. شُهُبٌ, (Ṣ, Ḳ,) and some allow شُهْبٌ, (TA,) and شُهْبَانٌ (Akh, Ṣ, Ḳ) and شِهْبَانٌ, (Ḳ,) which is strange, (TA,) and أَشْهُبٌ, (Ḳ,) which last is [a pl. of pauc., but] thought by IM to be a quasi-pl. n. (TA.) The reading بِشِهَابِ قَبَسٍ, instead of بِشِهَابٍ قَبَسٍ, in the Ḳur [xxvii. 7], is an instance of a word prefixed to another identical therewith. (Fr. L.)

Hence, [A shooting, or falling, star;] a star, or the like of a star, that darts down [or is hurled] by night; and particularly after a devil; as occurring in the Ḳur [xv. 18 and] xxxvii. 10; and in a trad.; respecting the attempt of a devil to hear, by stealth, words uttered in heaven. (TA.)

[Hence also,] الشُّهُبُ signifies The shining, or brightly-shining, stars: (Ḳ:) or the seven stars [or planets; meaning, not the Pleiades (which are called النَّجْمُ), but the Moon, Mercury, Venus, the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn: the first three of which are said by Freytag to be called صِغَارُ الشُّهُبِ]. (TA.)

For another meaning assigned in the Ḳ to الشُّهُبُ, see الشُّهْبُ, voce أَشْهَبُ.

شِهَابٌ also signifies ‡ One who is penetrating, sharp, or energetic, in an affair; (Ḳ, TA;) as being likened to the [shooting] star. (TA.) One says, إِنَّ فُلَانًا لَشِهَابُ حَرْبٍ ‡ Verily such a man is one who is penetrating, sharp, or energetic, in war. (Ṣ, A.*) And هٰؤُلَآءِ شُهْبَانُ الجَيْشِ ‡ [These are the braves, or heroes, of the army]. (A.)

Also the name of A certain devil: occurring in a trad.: hence the Prophet changed the name of a certain man [originally] thus named. (TA.)

شَوْهَبٌ The hedge-hog; syn. قُنْفُذٌ. (Ṣ, Ḳ.)

أَشْهَبُ Of the colour termed شُهْبَةٌ; (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ;) as alsoشَاهِبٌ↓, (Ḳ,) occurring in the poetry of Hudheyl: (TA:) fem. of the former شَهْبَآءُ: (Ṣ, Mṣb, Ḳ:*) and pl. شُهْبٌ: (O:) the former epithet is applied to a horse, (Ṣ,) [contr. to an assertion of IAạr, (see 4,)] and to a he-mule, (Mṣb,) and شَهْبَآءُ to a she-mule. (Mgh, Mṣb.) [Golius, on the authority of Meyd, explains أَشْهَبُ أَدْهَمُ, applied to a horse, as meaning Subniger, spadiceus: and أَشْهَبُ أَخْضَرُ as meaning lucide leviterve viridis: the correct meaning of the former seems to be of a blackish, or brownish, gray: and that of the latter, of a dark dustcoloured gray: see أَدْهَمُ and أَخْضَرُ.] الشَّهْبَآءُ was the name of a mare belonging to El-Kattál El-Bejelee. (O, Ḳ; in the CK El-Bejlee.) Applied to a she-goat, شَهْبَآءُ signifies Of a white colour intermixed with black: thus applied, it is like مَلْحَآءُ applied to a ewe. (Ḳ.) Applied to a غُرَّة [or blaze on a horse's forehead], it means In which are hairs differing from the whiteness [of the blaze]. (Ṣ.) And الأَشَاهِبُ is [a pl. formed from الأَشْهَبُ as though this were a subst.] applied to the Benu-l-Mundhir, (Ḳ,) or one of the troops of En-Noamán Ibn-El-Mundhir, consisting of the sons of his paternal uncle and his maternal uncles, and their brethren; (TA;) so called because of their comeliness, (Ḳ,) or because of the whiteness of their faces. (TA.)

Applied to ambergris, (Ḳ, TA,) † Of an excellent colour, i. e., (TA,) inclining to whiteness. (Ḳ, TA.) And applied to an iron head or blade of an arrow or of a spear, &c., ‡ That has been filed so that its blackness has gone: (Ṣ, A, TA:) or that has been filed lightly, so that all its blackness has not gone. (AḤn, TA.) [Hence,] كَتِيبَةٌ شَهْبَآءُ † A great troop having numerous weapons; (Ḳ;) so called because of the iron; (Ṣ;) or because of the whiteness of the weapons and iron, intermixed with blackness: or a troop of which the iron [of the weapons and armour] is white and bright: (TA:) or, as alsoكَتِيبَةٌ شَهَّابَةٌ↓, a troop upon which is [seen] the whiteness of the iron [weapons, &c.]. (T, TA. [See also كَتِيبَةٌ مَلْحَآءُ, voce أَمْلَحُ.]) And جَيْشٌ أَشْهَبُ A strong army [app. because of its numerous weapons]. (TA.)

أَرْضٌ شَهْبَآءُ † A land in which is no verdure, by reason of the paucity of rain. (TA.) And [hence,] سَنَةٌ شَهْبَآءُ ‡ A year of drought, or sterility, white in consequence thereof, (TA,) in which is no verdure, or in which is no rain: (Ḳ, TA:) next in degree is the بَيْضَآء; then, the حَمْرَآء, which is more severe than the بَيْضَآء; (TA;) and then, the سَوْدَآء: (TA in art. حمر:) or a year that is white by reason of the abundance of snow and the want of herbage: (IB, TA:) or a year of drought, or sterility; because the seedproduce dries up therein, and becomes yellow: and عَامٌ أَشْهَبُ signifies the same. (Ḥar p. 150.) And أَشْهَبَانِ † Two white years (عَامَانِ أَبْيَضَانِ) between which is no verdure (Ḳ, TA) of herbage. (TA.) And يَوْمٌ أَشْهَبُ ‡ A cold day: (A, Ḳ:) or a day of cold wind; thought to be so called on account of the snow and hoar frost and hail therein: (L, TA:) or a day of hoar-frost: (Az, TA:) a day of cold wind and hoar frost; and [in like manner] the night (اللَّيْلَةُ) is termed شَهْبَآءُ. (Ṣ.) In the following verse, cited by Sb,

* فِدًى لِبَنِى ذُهْلِ بْنِ شَيْبَانَ نَاقَتِى *

* إِذَا كَانَ يَوْمٌ ذُو كَوَاكِبَ أَشْهَبُ *

[May my she-camel be a ransom for the sons of Dhuhl Ibn-Sheybán when there is a day of difficulties, or distresses, …] the meaning may be اشهب [or whitish] by reason of the whiteness of the weapons, or by reason of the dust. (TA.) And الشُّهْبُ [pl. of أَشْهَبُ], (O,) orالشُّهُبُ↓ [pl. of شِهَابٌ], (Ḳ,) [but the former, I think, is evidently the right,] † The white nights; (اللَّيَالِى البِيضُ;) [i. e. the thirteenth and fourteenth and fifteenth nights of the lunar month; so called because lighted by the moon throughout, (see art. بيض;)] (O;) three nights of the month; (Ḳ, TA;) because of the alteration of their colour. (TA.)

أَشْهَبُ [or أَمْرٌ أَشْهَبُ] also signifies † A hard, or difficult, affair or case, (Ḳ, TA,) such as is disliked, or hated. (TA.) And أَشْهَبُ بَازِلٌ † A hard, or difficult, affair or case, that is beyond one's power [of accomplishment or endurance]: termed بازل because the camel thus termed is one that has attained its utmost strength. (O, TA. [See also art. بزل.])

And الأَشْهَبُ signifies The lion. (O, Ḳ.) [And in the Deewán of Jereer, it is applied to The swine. (Freytag.)]