Classical Arabic - English Dictionary

هَمَس, aor. ـِ {يَهْمِسُ}, (A, TA,) inf. n. هَمْس (AHeyth, L, TA) and هَمِيسٌ and هُمُوسٌ, (L, TA,) He spoke inaudibly: (AHeyth, TA:) or in a low, faint, gentle, or soft, manner, (AHeyth, TA,) so as to be hardly intelligible. (TA.) It is said in a trad. فَجَعَلَ بَعْضُنَا يَهْمِسُ إِلَى بَعْضٍ And some of us began to speak to others in a low, faint, gentle, or soft, manner, so as to be hardly intelligible. (TA.) And in another trad., كَانَ ذَا إِصَلَّى العَصْرَ هَمَسَ بِشَىْءٍ لَا نَفْهَمُهُ He used, when he performed the afternoon-prayer, to utter something in a low, faint, gentle, or soft manner, we not understanding it. (TA.) You say also, هَمَسَ إِلَىَّ بِحَدِيثِهِ [He uttered his discourse to me inaudibly: or in a low, faint, gentle, or soft, manner.] (A.) And الشَّيْطَانُ يَهْمِسُ بِوَسْوَسَتِهِ صَدْرَ الإِنْسَانِ [The devil speaks inaudibly in his suggesting vain or unprofitable things into the bosom of man]. (A.) And هَمَسَ الشَّيْطَانُ فِى الصَّدْرِ The devil suggested vain, or unprofitable things in the bosom; syn. وَسْوَسَ. (TA.) See also هَمْسٌ below.

Also, aor. and inf. n. as above, He made the faintest, or slightest, sound in treading. So in the saying, إِهْمِسْ وَصَهْ and هَمْسًا وَصَهْ Make thou the faintest, or slightest, sound in treading, and be thou silent: addressed by a thief to his companion. (TA.) And hence the saying of the Rájiz,

* فَهُنَّ يَمْشِينَ بِهِ هَمِيسَا *

And they walk with him making the faintest, or slightest, sound in treading. (Ṣ.) هَمِيسٌ also signifies The walking softly; with a soft-sounding tread: (TA:) [and so هَمْسٌ; as in the saying,] سَمِعْتُ هَمْسَ الأَخْفَافِ وَالأَقْدَامِ [I heard the soft-sounding treading of the feet of camels and of the feet of men]. (A.) See also هَمْسٌ below.

هَمَسَ الصَّوْتَ, aor. ـِ {يَهْمِسُ}, inf. n. هَمْسٌ, He made the sound, or voice to be low, faint, gentle, or soft. (Mṣb.) And هَمَسَ الكَلَامَ, [aor. and] inf. n. as above, [He spoke in a low, faint, gentle, or soft manner; like هَمَسَ alone; lit.,] he made speech, or the speech to be low, faint, gentle, or soft. (A, TA.)

هَمَسَ الطَّعَامَ, (TḲ), [aor. and] inf. n. as above, (AZ, Ḳ,) He chewed the food with the mouth closed: (AZ, Ḳ, TA:) or without opening the mouth. (TA.) You say, هُوَ يَأْكُلُ هَمْسًا He eats without opening his mouth. (A.) Hence, a toothless old woman's eating is termed هَمْسٌ. (AHeyth.) هَمَسَهُ also signifies [simply] He chewed it. (TA.)

هامسهُ, inf. n. مُهَامَسَةٌ, He spoke, or discoursed secretly to him, or with him. (A.) You say also, هَامَسُوا, (TḲ,) inf. n. as above, (Ḳ,) They spoke, or discoursed, secretly together; as alsoتهامسوا↓. (Ḳ,* TḲ.)

هَمْسٌ A low, faint, gentle, or soft, sound. (Ṣ, A, Mṣb, Ḳ.) So it has been explained as occurring in the words of the Ḳur, [xx. 107,] فَلَا تَسْمَعُ إِلَّا هَمْسًا [So that thou shalt not hear aught save] a low, faint, gentle, or soft, sound, arising from the shifting of the feet from place to place towards the scene of congregation [for the general judgment]: or, as Az thinks, the meaning here is, the sound of the patting, or pattering, of the feet (خَفْقَ الأَقْدَامِ) upon the ground. (TA.)

The faint, or gentle, sound of the voice in the mouth, of such kind as has no mixture of the voice of the chest, nor loudness of utterance. (Lth, Ḳ.) See also مَهْمُوسٌ.

And Anything low, faint, gentle, or soft, (كُلُّ خَفِىٍّ, Ḳ, TA,) of speech and the like: (TA:) [see again, مَهْمُوسٌ:] or the faintest, or slightest, sound of the feet; (Ṣ, Ḳ;) i. e., of their tread upon the ground: (TA:) so [accord. to J] in the instance in the Ḳur, [xx. 107,] mentioned above: (Ṣ:) and [in like manner] هَمِيسٌ↓ signifies the sound of the shifting from place to place of the feet of camels. (Ḳ.) See also 1.

كَلَامٌ مَهْمُوسٌ [Speech spoken inaudibly: or in a low, faint, gentle, or soft manner, so as to be hardly intelligible: see 1: or] speech not spoken out or openly. (A,* Mṣb.)

حَرْفٌ مَهْمُوسٌ, (Mṣb,) or حَرْفُ الهَمْسِ, (IJ,) [A letter which is pronounced with the breath only, without the voice; a non-vocal letter;] a sound with which the breath passes forth, not from the voice of the chest, but passing forth gently; (IJ;) contr. of مَجْهُورٌ: (Mṣb:) الحُرُوفُ المَهْمُوسَةُ are the letters (ten in number, Ṣ,) which are comprised in the saying حَثَّهُ شَخْصٌ فَسَكَتْ: (Ṣ, Ḳ:*) so called [accord. to some] because the stress is made weak in the place where any one of them occurs until the breath has passed forth with it. (Sb, Ṣ.)