عَبْرَةٌ

Also A tear: (TA:) or a tear before it overflows: or a [sobbing, or] reiteration [of the sound] of weeping in the bosom: (A, K:) or an overflowing of tears without the sound of weeping: (TA:) or a flowing, or an oozing, of tears: (S, O:) or grief without weeping: (A, K:) plural عَبَرَاتٌ (O, K) and عَبَرٌ, (so in the O, [but this, if correct, is a quasi-plural n.,]) or عِبَرٌ. (Thus in copies of the K.) Of the first meaning, the following is an example:

وَإِنَّ شِفَايءِى عَبْرَةٌ لَوْ سَفَحْتُهَا

[And verily my cure would be a tear if I shed it]: and of the last, the following is an example:

لَكَ مَا أَبْكِى وَلَا عَبْرَةَ بِى

or, as some relate it, ولا عبرة لِى; and the meaning is, For thy sake I weep, but there is grief in me for myself: so says As: (TA:) or in this saying, which is a prov., ما may be redundant, or it may be what is termed مَصْدَرِيَّة; and the meaning is, For thee I weep, or for thee is my weeping, I [myself] having no need of weeping. (Meyd.)