ع • ظ • ل • م

Darkness. (K.)

Dust; syn. قَتَرَةٌ and غَبَرَةٌ. (K.)

, (S, Msb, K,) of which عَظْلَمٌ is a dial. var., (MF, TA,) The expressed juice of a species of tree or plant, (Az, K, TA,) the colour of which is like نِيل [or indigo], green (أَخْضَر) inclining to duskiness: (Az, TA:) or a certain plant, (S, K,) or thing, (Msb,) with which one dyes, (S, Msb, K,) said to be (Msb) called in Pers. نِيل [i. e. the indigo-plant]: (Msb, and so in some copies of the S; other copies of which, for نيل, have تفل:) or i. q. وَسْمَةٌ [an appellation now applied to woad; as is also عِظْلِم]: (S, Msb, K:) AHn says, one of the Arabs of the desert told me that the عظلم is the male وَسْمَة: he also says that it is a small tree or plant, (شُجَيْرَةٌ), of the [class called] رِبَّة, that grows in a late season, and the greenness of which is lasting: and in one place he says, an Arab of the desert, of the Saráh (السَّرَاة), told me that the عِظْلِمَة [which is the n. un.] is a tree or plant (شَجَرَةٌ) that rises upon a stem about a cubit [in height] and has branches at the extremities of which are what resemble the blossoms of the كُزْبَرَة [or coriander], and it (the tree or plant) is dustcoloured: (TA:) some say that it is the بِقَّم [or Brazil-wood]: (Msb:) MF says, it is the خَطْمِىّ [or marsh-mallow]: (TA:) thus says El-Hareeree; but El-'Okbaree says that it is not that: (Har p. 625:) and some say that it is a certain red dye. (TA.) Hence the prov.,

بَيْضَاءُ لَايُدْجِى سَنَاهَا العِظْلِمُ

i. e. [A white, or fair, female,] whose whiteness [or brightness] عظلم will not blacken [or darken]: applied to that which is notable, which nothing will conceal. (Meyd, TA.) Hence, as being likened thereto, (S,) it signifies also The dark night: (S, K:) one says لَيْلٌ عِظْلِمٌ. (TA.)

, [from عِظْلِمٌ as signifying a certain plant or dye,] said of the night, It was, or became, dark, and very black; (K, TA;) i. e. it became like the عِظْلِم. (TA.)