حَلَكٌ

Blackness: (S:) or intense blackness; as also ↓ حُلْكَةٌ; (K;) like the colour of the crow, or raven: (TA:) [for] حَلَكُ الغُرَابِ signifies the blackness of the crow, or raven; as in the saying, أَسْوَدُ مِثْلُ حَلَكِ الغُرَابِ [black like the blackness of the crow, or raven]: (S:) or it means its حَنَك [q. v.] : (K:) or if you say مثل حَنَكِ الغراب, you mean its beak; (S;) or the blackness of its feathers: (Er-Rághib, TA in article حنك:) or they said أَسْوَدُ مِنْ حَلَكِ الغُرَابِ [blacker than the حلك of the crow, or raven]: or من حَنَكِ الغراب: an Arab of the desert, being asked by Fr whether he said the latter or the former, answered that he never said the former: Umm-El-Heythem, being asked by AHát the same, answered that she said the former, and never the latter; (TA;) and she explained the former as meaning its two jaws and the part around them; adding that [the saying that it means] its beak is nought: and IDrd is related to have disallowed the saying من حنك الغراب: (TA in article حنك:) according to AZ, الحَلَك means the colour; and الحَنَك, the beak: some say that the ن in the latter is a substitute for the ل in the former; but others deny this. (TA.) In the saying of a poet,

الغُرَابِ ↓ مِدَادٌ مِثْلُ حَالِكَةِ

[Ink like the حالكة of the crow, or raven], cited by Th, حالكة may be a dialect var. of حَلَك: or it may mean its feathers; its خَافِيَة or its قَادِمَة or other feathers. (TA.)