Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

مَثَلَ aor. ـُ {يَمْثُلُ}, inf. n. مُثُولٌ; (Ṣ, M, Ḳ, &c.;) and مَثُلَ; (M, Ḳ;) He stood erect; (Ṣ, M, Ḳ, &c.;) بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ before him. (Ṣ, &c.)

مَثَلَ بِهِ, inf. n. مُثْلَةٌ, He mutilated him; castrated him; namely, a sheep or goat. (TA in art. دجن, from a trad.)

أَمْثَلَهُ He set it up: from مَثَلَ “he stood erect.”

He set up a butt or mark: see an ex. voce غَرَضٌ.

تَمَثَّلَ بِكَذَا [He affected to be like, or imitated, such a thing;] i. q. تَشَبَّهَ بِهِ. (TA, art. شبه.)

تَمَثَّلَ البَيْتَ and [more commonly] بِالبَيْتِ He used, or applied, the verse as a proverb, or proverbially. (MA.)

See تَشَبَّهَ.

تَمَاثَلَ He became nearly in a sound, or healthy, state; or near to convalescence: (Ḳ:) or he became more like the sound, or healthy, than the unsound, or unhealthy, who is suffering from a chronic and pervading disease; (TA;) or so تماثل لِلْبُرْءِ. (M.) Said also of a wound: (T, Ṣ in art. دمل:) and of a disease; like أَشْكَلَ. (TA, art. شكل.)

تَمَاثَلَا i. q. تَشَابَهَا. (M, Ḳ in art. سوى.)

اِمْتَثَلَ أَمْرَهُ He followed his command, order, bidding, or injunction; did like as he commanded, ordered, &c.; (Mgh;) he obeyed his command, order, &c. (Mṣb.)

مِثْلٌ A like; a similar person or thing; match; fellow; an analogue. (Ḳ, &c.) See نِدٌّ and voce بَدَلٌ.

A likeness, resemblance, or semblance; see شَبَهٌ.

An equivalent; a requital.

مِثْلَ, used as a denotative of state, means Like. Ex. مَرَّ مِثْلَ البَرْقِ He passed like the lightning. See an ex. in the Ḳur li. 23; and another, from Sakhr-el-Gheí, voce فَرْضٌ.

مَثَلٌ i. q. صِفَةٌ [as meaning A description, condition, state, case,, &c.]; (Ṣ, Ḳ, &c.;) or وَصْفٌ [meaning the same]: (Mṣb:) or this is a mistake: (Mbr, AAF, TA:) or it may be a tropical signification: (MF, TA:) for in the language of the Arabs it means a description by way of comparison: (AAF, TA:) you say مثل زيد مثل فلان [The description of Zeyd, by way of comparison, or the condition, &c., is that of such a one]: it is from المِثاَلُ and الحَذْوُ: (Mbr, TA:) it is metaphorically applied to a condition, state, or case, that is important, strange, or wonderful. (Ksh, Bḍ in ii. 16.) The phrase here given is more literally, and better, rendered, The similitude of Zeyd is the similitude, or is that, of such a one; for a similitude is a description by way of comparison.

You say also, جَعَلَهُ مَثَلًا لِكَذَا [He made it (an expression or the like) to be descriptive, by way of comparison, of such a thing]. (TA passim.) [And مَثَلٌ لِكَذَا means An expression denoting, by way of similitude, such a thing.]

عَلَى المَثَلِ As indicative of resemblance to something.

See بَدَلٌ.

مِثَالٌ Quality, made, manner, fashion, and form; (Mṣb;) a model according to which another thing is made or proportioned; a pattern, (مِقْدَارٌ) by which a thing is measured, proportioned, or cut out: (T:) an example of a class of words, of a rule, &c.

مِنْ غَيْرِ سَبْقِ مِثاَلٍ [Without there having been any precedent]. (Mṣb in art. قرح, &c.)

[A bed:] بَناَتُ المِثَالِ The daughters of the bed; meaning women. (T in art. بنى.)

تَمَاثِيلُ, in the following hemistich of Ibn-Aḥmar,

* تَمَاثِيلُ قِرْطَاسٍ عَلَى هَبْهَبِيَّةٍ *

signifies كُتُبٌ يَكْتُبُونَهَا. (L, in TA, voce هَبْهَبِىٌّ, as signifying a “light, or active,” camel.)