Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

عَرْقَبَ الدَّابَّةَ He hocked, houghed, hamstrung, or cut the hock-tendon of, the beast. (Ṣ, A, O, Ḳ,*)

And عَرْقَبَهُ He raised his hocks, (namely, a camel's, O,) in order that he might stand up: (O, Ḳ:) he assisted him (i. e. a camel) to stand up, by raising [his hocks]. (TA.) Thus the verb has two contr. meanings. (Ḳ.)

And عَرْقَبَ † He practised artifice, craft, or cunning. (O, Ḳ.) One says, إِذَا أَعْيَاكَ غَرِيمُكَ فَعَرْقِبْ † [When thy debtor wearies thee,] practise artifice,, &c. (AA, O, TA.)

تَعَرْقَبَ He mounted a beast from behind. (O, TA.)

And † He took his course along the narrow roads, or ways, of the mountain, which are called عَرَاقِيب. (Ṣ, O, Ḳ.)

And تعرقب لِخَصْمِهِ † He pursued a way hidden from his adversary: said when one adopts another and easier course of speech. (TA.)

And تعرقب عَنِ الأَمْرِ † He turned away, or declined, from the affair. (Ḳ.)

إِذَا مَطَلَ تَعَقْرَبَ وَإِذَا وَعَدَ تَعَرْقَبَ † [When he puts off the fulfilment of his promise, he acts like 'Akrab (a man notorious for putting off the fulfilment of his promises); and when he promises, he acts like 'Orkoob] (A, TA) is a prov. (TA. [See the following paragraph, last sentence but one.])

عُرْقُوبٌ [The tendo Achillis, or heel-tendon;] a certain tense, (T, A, Mgh, Mṣb,) or thick, (Ḳ,) or thick and tense, (Ṣ, O,) tendon, (T, Ṣ, A, Mgh, O, Mṣb, Ḳ,) behind the two ankle-bones, (T, A, Mgh, Mṣb,) above the heel; (Ṣ, O, Ḳ;) the thing that conjoins the shank and the foot; (Aṣ, TA;) in a human being: (Ṣ, O, Ḳ:) pl. عَرَاقِيبُ. (TA, &c.) The saying of the Prophet, وَيْلٌ لِلْعَرَاقِيبِ مِنَ النَّارِ [Woe to the heel-tendons from the fire of Hell] means, to him who neglects the washing of them (Mgh, Mṣb) in the [ablution termed] وُضُوْء. (Mṣb.)

[In a beast, it is in some instances applied to The hock, or hough; i. e.] the عُرْقُوب of a beast is that which, in its hind leg, corresponds to the رَكْبَة [or knee] in its fore leg: (Ṣ, O, Ḳ:) [in other instances, it is applied to the tendon of the hock, or hough; i. e., to the hamstring; for, as] Aṣ says, in every quadruped, the عُرْقُوبَانِ are in the hind legs, and the رُكْبَتَانِ in the fore legs; (Ṣ, O, TA;) and the عُرْقُوب of the horse is the tendon that conjoins the part wherein meet the وَظِيف [here meaning the metatarsus] and the سَاق [here meaning the tibia]: (TA: [he says “of the horse,” instead of using a more comprehensive term, app. because he is describing that animal:]) it is, in a quadruped, the tendon that [corresponds to that which in a human being] is behind the two ankle-bones, between the joint of the foot and the shank: in a human being it is a little above the heel. (TA, from an explanation of a trad. [This last explanation evidently employs terms according to their applications in the comparative anatomy of quadrupeds and human beings, and therefore requires the words which I have supplied. That عُرْقُوبٌ, in relation to a beast, signifies the hocktendon is well known: and that it also signifies the hock itself is shown by a usage of the verb عَرْقَبَ (for it is by raising the hocks that a man assists a camel to stand up), and by an explanation voce رُكْبَةٌ.]) شَرٌّ مَا أَجَآءَكَ إِلَى مُخَّةِ عُرْقُوبٍ [It is an evil thing that has compelled thee to have recourse to the marrow of a hock] (Ḳ, TA) is a prov. (TA) applied to him who seeks to obtain a thing from a mean, or sordid, person; (Ḳ, TA;) for the عرقوب has no marrow. (TA.) And one says, فُلَانٌ يَضْرِبُ العَرَاقِيبَ ويَقْرَعُ الظَّنَابِيبَ [Such a one smites the hock-tendons of camels to slaughter them, and strikes the shins of camels to make them lie down that he may mount them in haste]; meaning that he entertains guests and gives aid, or succour. (A.)

عُرْقُوبُ الأَسَدِ is a name of The Thirteenth Mansion of the Moon. (Ḳzw: see العَوَّآءُ, in art. عو.)

طَيْرُ عُرْقُوبٍ is an appellation given to Any bird from which one augurs evil to camels, because it wounds them in the hocks or hock-tendons (يُعَرْقِبُهَا). (Meyd, TA.) The Arabs say that when the bird called أَخْيَل [q. v.] lights upon a camel, its hocks, or hock-tendons, will assuredly be laid bare: and accord. to the [O and] Ḳ, طَيْرُ العَرَاقِيبِ is an appellation of The [bird called] شِقِرَّاق [which is said in the Ṣ, &c. to be the same as the أَخْيَل]; and [Ṣgh and SM add that] they regard it as of evil omen. (TA.)

عُرْقُوبُ القَطَا means The سَاق [or shank] of the قطا [or sand-grouse]. (Ṣ, O, Ḳ.) To this a thing is hyperbolically likened to denote its shortness: one says يَوْمٌ أَقْصَرُ مِنْ عُرْقُوبِ القَطَا [A day shorter than the shank of the katà]: (L, TA:) and a poet says, (Ṣ, &c.,) namely, El-Find Ez-Zimmánee, (O, L, TA,) or, accord. to Seer, Imra-el-Ḳeys Ibn-'Ábis, (IB, L, TA,)

* وَنَبْلِى وَفُقَاهَا كَعَرَاقِيبِ قَطًا طُحْلِ *

[And my arrows, with their notches, like the shanks of ash-coloured sand-grouse]. (Ṣ, O, L, TA.)

عُرْقُوبٌ also signifies † A turning, or bending, part of a valley: (Ḳ:) or a part of a valley in which is a great turning or bending. (Ṣ, O.) And A road in a mountain: (Ḳ:) or a narrow road in a mountain: or a road in a deep valley, in which only one can walk. (TA.) And [the pl.] عَرَاقِيبُ, ‡ The prominences, or projecting parts, of mountains: (O, Ḳ, TA:) and the most distant, or far-extending, roads, or ways, thereof: (Aboo-Kheyreh, O, TA:) for [in travelling mountains,] you follow the most easy way, wherever it be: (Aboo-Kheyreh, TA:) or the narrow roads or ways, in the hard and elevated parts, of mountains. (Ṣ, O, Ḳ.) And [hence, app.,] عَرَاقِيبُ الأُمُورِ † Great and difficult affairs: (Ṣ, O, Ḳ:) as also عَرَاقِيلُهَا. (Ṣ, O.)

And A mountain always crowned with clouds, not rained upon. (TA.)

Also † Artifice, craft, or cunning; or a stratagem, or trick. (O, Ḳ. [See Q. 1, last signification.])

And † Knowledge (عِرْفَان) of an argument, a plea, an allegation, or a proof. (O, Ḳ.)

Also the name of a certain man of the Amalekites, (Ṣ, O, Ḳ, TA,) or, (so says Ibn-El-Kelbee, O,) of the Benoo-Abd-Shems-Ibn-Saạd, (Jm, O, TA,) but this is said to be of no authority, (O,) or of El-Ows, (Jm, TA,) the greatest liar of his time, (Ḳ,) proverbial for breach of promises: (Ṣ, O:) El-Ashja'ee (whose name was Jubeyhà, O, Ḳ) says,

* وَعَدْتَ وَكَانَ الخُلْفُ مِنْكَ سَجِيَّةً *

* مَوَاعِيدَ عُرْقُوبٍ أَخَاهُ بِيَتْرَبِ *

(Ṣ, O, Ḳ, TA) i. e. ‡ Thou promisedst, but breach of promise was an inherent quality of thee, like the promises of 'Orkoob to his brother in Yetreb; which is in El-Yemámeh; or, as some relate it, بِيَثْرِب, i. e. El-Medeeneh, or, as some say, the land of the Benoo-Saạd; but the former is the more correct. (TA. [See also Ḥar p. 160.]) And one says, هُوَ أَكْذَبُ مِنْ عُرْقُوبِ يَتْرَبَ ‡ [He is more mendacious than 'Orkoob of Yetreb]. (A, TA.)