شَرْعٌ

, originally a verbal noun:

then applied as a name for A manifest, a plain, or an open, track, or road, or way:

and then, metaphorically, to The divine way of religion; so says Er-Rághib; (TA;) synonym with شَرِيعَةٌ, q. v. (Msb.)

In the saying مَرَرْتُ بِرَجُلٍ شَرْعِكَ, (so in the K,) or مررت بِرَجُلٍ شَرْعُكَ مِنْ رَجُلٍ, (so in the S and O, [for هُوَ شَرْعُكَ,]) with kesr and with damm to the ع [of شرعك], (TA,) i. e. [I passed by a man] sufficing thee [as a man], (S, O, K,) the meaning is, of the sort to which thou directest thyself and which thou seekest (فِيهِ وَتَطْلُبُهُ تَشْرَعُ): (S, O:) and the word in this sense is used alike as singular and plural (S, O, K) and dual, because it is [originally] a verbal noun (S, O.) You say, شَرْعُكَ هٰذَا [and هٰذَانِ and هٰوءُلَاءِ] i. e. Sufficient for thee [is this and are these two and are these]. (S: and the like is said in the Mgh.) And it is said in a prov.,

شَرْعُكَ مَا بَلَّغَكَ المَحَلَّا

thus correctly, for it is a hemistich; not المَحَلَّ, as in the S and K; (TA;) i. e. Sufficient travel-ling-provision for thee is that which will cause thee to reach the place [of alighting] to which thou repairest: (K, TA:) applied to the case of being content with little. (S, K.)