ضَالَّةٌ

an epithet in which the quality of a subst. is predominant, (IAth, TA,) A stray; i. e. a beast that has strayed: (S, O, TA:) or a camel remaining in a place where it is lost, without an owner (K, TA) that is known: (TA:) or a lost animal (IAth, Msb, TA) or other thing, whatever it be: (IAth, TA:) applied to the male and to the female, (S, O, Msb, K,) and to two and to a plural number: (TA;) and it has for its plural ضَوَالُّ, (Msb, TA,) like دَوَابُّ plural of دَابَّةٌ. (Msb.) It is said in a tradition, ضَالَّةُ المُوءْمِنِ حَرَقُ النَّارِ [explained in article حرق]. (TA.) And one says, الحِكْمَةُ ضَالَّةُ المُوءْمِنِ (assumed tropical:) [Wisdom is the object of persevering quest of the believer]; meaning that the believer ceases not to seek wisdom like as a man seeks his stray. (TA.)