شِعْرٌ
1.
[a verbal noun, (see 1, first sentence,) and used as a simple subst. signifying] Knowledge; cognizance: (K, TA:) or knowledge of the minute particulars of things: or perception by means of [any of] the senses. (TA.) One says, لَيْتَ
شِعْرِى فُلَانًا مَا صَنَعَ, (Ks, Lh, S, * Msb, * K, *) and لَيْتَ شِعْرِى لَهُ مَا صَنَعَ, and لَيْتَ شِعْرِى عَنْهُ مَا صَنَعَ, (Ks, Lh, K, *) i. e. Would that I knew what such a one did, or has done; (S, * K, * Msb, * TA;) for would that my knowledge were present at, or comprehending, what such a one did, or has done; the phrase being elliptical: (TA:) according to Sb, لَيْتَ شِعْرِى is for ليت شِعْرَتِى, the ة being elided as in هُوَ أَبُو عُذْرِهَا [for هو ابو عُذْرَتِهَا], (S, TA,) the elision of the ة in this latter instance, as Sb says, being peculiar to the case of the words being preceded by ابو; [but see عُذْرَةٌ;] and as in إِقَامَة when used as a prefixed noun; though لَيْتَ شِعْرَتِى is not now known to have been heard. (TA.) One says also, لَيْتَ شِعْرِى مَا كَانَ
Would that I knew what happened, or has happened. (A.)
2.
The predominant signification of شِعْرٌ is Poetry, or verse; (Msb, K;) because of its preeminence by reason of the measure and the rhyme; though every kind of knowledge is شِعْرٌ: (K:) or because it relates the minute affairs of the Arabs, and the occult particulars of their secret affairs, and their facetiæ: (Er-Rághib, TA:) it is properly defined as language qualified by rhyme and measure intentionally; which last restriction excludes the like of the saying in the Qur'an, 94:3 and 4], اَلَّذِى أَنْقَضَ ظَهْرَكْ وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكْ, because this is not intentionally qualified by rhyme and measure: (KT; and the like is said in the Msb:) and sometimes a single verse is thus termed: (Akh, TA:) plural أَشْعَارٌ. (S, K.)