أَعْوَجُ

Crooked, curved, bent, or bending, winding, wry, contorted, distorted, or uneven: (S, * O, * L, Msb:) and ↓ مُعْوَجٌّ, [or this and the former also,] crooked, curved, &c., of itself: feminine of the former عَوْجَاءُ: (L, Msb:) and plural عُوجٌ. (L.) One says ↓ عَصًا مُعْوَجَّةٌ [A crooked, or crooking, staff or stick]; but not مِعْوَجَّةٌ, with kesr to the م: (S, O:) or, according to ISk, one says the former; but not ↓ مُعَوَّجَةٌ, with fet-h to the ع and teshdeed to the و; though analogy does not forbid this, as it is allowable to say عَوَّجَهَا: according to As, one should not say ↓ مُعَوَّجٌ, with teshdeed to the و, except in applying it to a stick, or in another sense explained below: Az says that this word is allowable as signifying rendered crooked or curved &c. (Msb.)

[Hence,] العَوْجَاءُ signifies The bow. (S, A, K.)

And عَوْجَاءُ applied to a woman, Inclining, or bending, towards her child, to suckle it. (TA.) And, so applied, That has become crooked by reason of leanness and hunger. (Ham p. 744.) And, applied to a she-camel, Lean, lank, light of flesh, slender, or lank in the belly: (S, A, K:) or emaciated so that her back has become crooked, or curved. (TA.)

[And أَعْوَجُ applied to a هِلَال (or new moon), Oblique: see أَدْفَقُ.]

نَخِيلٌ عُوجٌ signifies Palm-trees inclining, or leaning, and therefore crooked, or curved: and according to some, the saying of Lebeed, describing a [wild] he-ass and his she-asses,

وَأَوْرَدَهَا عَلَى عُوجٍ طِوَالِ

[the latter hemistich of a verse cited in the first paragraph of article حوذ] means, And he brought them to the watering-place at [tall] palm-trees growing over the water, inclining and curving by reason of the abundance of their fruit: but others say that the meaning of على عوج is, upon their crooked legs. (TA.)

Hence, عُوجٌ signifies The legs of a horse or similar beast; (O, TA;) as ISd says, thus used as an epithet in which the quality of a subst. predominates [apparently implying their having that bending, or curving, and tension of the sinews, termed تَجْنِيب, agreeably with what here follows]. (TA.)

And hence also, (TA,) خَيْلٌ عُوجٌ meaning Horses that have, in their hind legs, the quality termed تَجْنِيب. (A, TA. *)

أَعْوَجُ applied to a man means [Crooked in temper, or] evil in natural disposition. (S, A, O, K.)

المِلَّةُ العَوْجَاءُ [The crooked, or perverted, or corrupted, religion] is a phrase occurring in a tradition, applied to the religion of Abraham as changed by the Arabs from its state of rectitude. (TA.) And one says خُطَّةٌ عَوْجَاءُ, and رَأْىٌ أَعْوَجُ, meaning [An affair, and an opinion,] not of a right kind. (A.)

الأَيَّامُ عُوجٌ رَوَاجِعُ [The days are apt to decline from the right course, apt to return,] is a prov., (Meyd, O, TA,) meaning fortune at one time declines from thee, and at another time returns to thee; (Meyd;) said by him at whose affliction one rejoices, or said on his part, and sometimes on an occasion of threatening: Az says that عُوجٌ, here, may be plural of أَعْوَجُ, or of عَوْجَاءُ; or it may be plural of ↓ عَايءِجٌ, and originally عُوُجٌ. (O, TA.) [Hence,] العُوجُ is used as signifying The days [in allusion to their variableness with respect to good and evil]. (TA.)

And أَعْوَجُ is a [proper] name of A watering-trough. (Th, TA.)

See also the next paragraph, in four places.