ضَنْكٌ

a verbal noun of ضَنُكَ: (O, K:) its primary signification is Narrowness, or straitness, and hardship. (Aboo-Is-hák, TA.)

And Narrow, or strait; synonym ضَيِّقٌ; (S, M, O, K; [in the CK, and in a copy of the S, ضِيق, which is also a correct explanation, as shown above; but not what is here meant, as appears from what follows;]) applied to anything, (M, K,) masculine and feminine, (M, K, and Bd in xx. 123,) being a verbal noun used as an epithet. (Bd ibid.) [Like the Pers. تَنْG.] One says مَكَانٌ ضَنْكٌ A narrow, or strait, place. (IDrd, O, TA.) And عَيْشٌ ضَنْكٌ A strait life; or strait sustenance, or means of subsistence; (IDrd, O, TA;) as also ↓ عَيْشٌ ضَنِيكٌ: (AA, O, K, TA:) and thus مَعِيشَةً ضَنْكًا in the Qur'an, 20:123; where some read ↓ ضَنْكَى, like سَكْرَى: (Bd:) or this means such as is unlawful; (O, TA;) every life that is unlawful being termed ضَنْكٌ, according to Lth, even though it be ample: (O, TA: *) Aboo-Is-hák thinks it to mean [subsistence] in the fire of Hell: but says that most explain this phrase in the Qur'an as meaning the punishment of the grave: (TA:) thus it means according to Ibn-Mes'ood: (O:) or, according to Katádeh, Hell: (O, TA:) or, according to Ed-Dahhák, forbidden gain: (TA:) or, as some say, الضَّرِيعُ [q. v.], and الزَّكُّومُ [q. v.]. (Bd.)