إِشْفًى

An instrument for perforating; (K;) a thing pertaining to the makers or sewers of boots or shoes or sandals &c.; (S;) [i. e.] the awl used by them: (MA, KL:) and the instrument with which leather, or skin, is sewed: (Mgh, K:) or, according to ISk, it is [an instrument used] for water-skins and water-bags and the like; and the مِخْصَف is for sandals: (S:) [see also article اشف:] masculine and feminine: (K, * TA:) plural أَشَافٍ. (Mgh, TA.)

Th mentions the saying, إِنْ لَاطَمْتَهُ لَاطَمْتَ الإِشْفَى [if thou contend with him in slapping, thou wilt do so with the اشفى]; meaning that when one does so, it will be against himself. (TA.)

And إِشْفَى المِرْفَقِ, a phrase used by a poet, means (assumed tropical:) Sharp in the elbow. (TA.)