عَتَمَةٌ
1.
Slowness, or tardiness: (IB, TA:) hence the saying of a rájiz,
meaning يَسْرِى بَطِيْيءًا, [i. e. A phantom visited (أَلَمْ being for أَلَمَّ) in Dhoo-Selem, journeying by night slowly amid the tents,] the ة of عَتَمَة [i. e. عَتَمَةً] being elided. (TA. [But عَتَمٌ is also mentioned in the TA, in the beginning of this article, not as being originally عَتَمَةٌ, but simply as a subst. in the sense explained above.])بِذِى سَلَمْطَيْفٌ أَلَمْبَيْنَ الخَيَمْ
2.
[Also, in its most usual sense,] The first third of the night, after the disappearance of the
شَفَق [or redness that is seen in the sky after sunset]; (Kh, S, Msb, K;) the first part of the night, after the setting of the light of the
شَفَق: (Msb:) or the time of the prayer of nightfall: (S, K:) but the calling of that prayer the prayer of the عَتَمَة, as the Arabs of the desert called it, instead of calling it the prayer of the عِشَاء, is said to be forbidden in a tradition (TA.)
3.
عَتَمَةُ رُبَعٍ [The
عتمة
of a young camel brought forth in the
رَبِيع, which is the beginning of the breeding-time], (S, K,) meaning the space during which it (i. e. the
رُبَع) is confined at its evening-feed, (K,) is applied to the moonlight of the night when the moon is four nights old. (S, K.) AZ says, The Arabs say in relation to the moon when it is one night old,
عَتَمَةُ سُخَيْلَةٍ حَلَّ أَهْلُهَا بِرُمَيْلَةٍ [The
عتمة
of a little lamb or kid, the owners of which have alighted in a small tract of sand]; meaning that it does not long continue; like the lamb, or kid, that sucks its mother and soon returns to the sucking: and when it is two nights old, حَدِيثُ أَمَتَيْنِ
بِكَذِبٍ وَمَيْنٍ [The discourse of two female slaves, with lying and falsehood]; because their discourse is not long, by reason of their being busied with the serving of their owners: and when it is three nights old, حَدِيثُ فَتَيَاتٍ غَيْرِ مُوءْتَلِفَاتٍ [The discourse of young women not united by affection]: and when it is four nights old, عَتَمَةُ رُبَعٍ غَيْرِ جَايءِعٍ
وَلَا مُرْضَعٍ [The
عتمة
of a
ربع (explained above) not hungry nor suckled]; meaning that it is limited to the space of the فُوَاق [or time between two suckings] of this ربع or of the فواق [or time between two milkings] of its mother; or, as IAar says, عَتَمَةُ أُمِّ الرُّبَعِ [The
عتمة
of the mother of the
ربع]: and when it is five nights old, حَدِيثٌ وَأُنْسٌ وَبَقَاءُ عَشَاءِ خَلِفَاتٍ قُعْسٍ [Discourse and sociableness, and the continuance of the evening-feed of pregnant camels having their heads and necks inclining towards their backs: see also article قعس]: and when it is six nights old, يَسْرٌ وَبَتٌّ [apparently A twisting and a grinding by a turning towards the left and from the left; as though meaning that it is a time fit for active employment]: and when it is seven nights old, دُلْجَةُ
الضَّبُعِ [The night-journeying of the hyena]: and when it is eight nights old, قَمَرٌ إِضْحِيَانٌ [A bright moon]: and when it is nine nights old, يُلْقَطُ فِيهِ
الجَزْعُ [The onyx is picked up in it, being distinguishable by the light of the moon]: and when it is ten nights old, مُخَنِّقُ الفَجْرِ [lit. The choker of the dawn; as though its light were about to overtake, and grapple with, that of daybreak]. (TA.) [It should be observed that every one of these ten sayings is fancifully framed so as to rhyme, perfectly or imperfectly, with words preceding it: the first being preceded by اِبْنُ لَيْلَةٍ; the second, by اِبْنُ لَيْلَتَيْنِ; the third, by اِبْنُ
ثَلَاثٍ; the fourth, by اِبْنُ أَرْبَعٍ; and so on.]
4.
عَتَمَةٌ signifies also The darkness of the night: (S, K, TA:) or the darkness of the first part of the night, [after nightfall, i. e.] after the setting of the light of the
شَفَق [or redness that is seen in the sky after sunset]: and the vulgar [sometimes] pronounce it عَتْمَة. (TA.)
5.
And The remains of the milk that has collected in the udders of the camels, or of the camels and other cattle, at the period thus termed. (S, ISd, K.) One says, حَلَبْنَا عَتَمَةً [We milked some remains of what had collected in the udders &c.]. (S, TA.) And حُلِبَتْ عَتَمَتُهَا
The milk that was obtained from them at the period termed the
عَتَمَة
was drawn. (TA, from the tradition of Aboo-Dharr.) And قَعَدَ عِنْدَنَا فُلَانٌ قَدْرَ عَتَمَةِ الحَلَايءِبِ i. e. [Such a one sat with us, or at our abode,] as long as the space during which the milch camels are confined for the purpose of the collecting of the milk in their udders. (TA.)