شَمْلَةٌ
1.
A [garment of the kind called] كِسَاء, with which one wraps, or inwraps, himself (يُشْتَمَلُ بِهِ), (S, Mgh, K,) smaller than the
قَطِيفَة; as also
مِشْمَلٌ (K) and
مِشْمَلَةٌ; (S, K;) the last two explained by Lth as a
كِسَاء
having a sparse villous substance, with which one wraps himself, smaller than the
قَطِيفَة: (TA:) or the first signifies a small
كِسَاء
which one wears in the manner of the
إِزَار [or waist-wrapper]: (Msb:) or with the Arabs it is a
مِيءْزَر [or waist-wrapper] of wool or of [goats'] hair, which one wraps round him: and
مِشْمَلَةٌ, such as is made of two pieces sewed together, with which a man wraps himself when he sleeps by night: (Az, TA:) and this last, according to Meyd, signifies a
كِسَاء
comprising the steel with which one strikes fire, with the apparatus of this latter: (Har p. 628:) the plural of the first is شِمَالٌ (Msb, TA) and شَمَلَاتٌ. (Msb.) [See also مِشْمَالٌ.]
2.
[Hence the saying,] ضَمَّ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلُ شَمْلَتَهُ (tropical:) [The night contracted upon him its covering of darkness]. (TA.)
3.
And أُمُّ شَمْلَةَ (tropical:) The present world, or its enjoyments; synonym الدُّنْيَا: (IAar, K, TA:) so called because compassing the intellect of a man (تَشْتَمِلُ عَلَى
عَقْلِهِ), and concealing it. (TA.)
4.
And (assumed tropical:) Wine: (AA, K, TA:) so called for the same reason. (TA.)
5.
And The sun. (Z, TA; and T in article ام).