صُوفٌ

[Wool;] an appertenance of sheep, (in the S لِلشَّاةِ, in the M لِلْغَنَمِ, and in the O and Msb [more definitely] لِلضَّأْنِ,) which is to them like شَعَرٌ to goats and وَبَرٌ to camels: (M:) [in the K only said to be well know:] n. un. صُوفَةٌ, (M,) [i. e.] this latter has a more particular signification [meaning a portion, flock, tuft, or wisp, of wool]: (S, O, Msb, K:) and sometimes صُوفٌ is used in the sense of the n. un., as mentioned by Sb: (M:) the plural of صُوفٌ is أَصْوَافٌ [meaning sorts of wool]: (M:) and the diminutive of the n. un. is ↓ صُوَيْفَةٌ. (TA.) One says خَرْقَاءُ وَجَدَتْ صُوفًا [An unskilful woman that has found wool]: (As, O, K:) a prov. (As, O) relating to property possessed by such as does not deserve to have it: (As, TA:) because the unskilful woman, when she lights upon wool, mars it, (O, K,) not spinning it well: (O:) applied to the stupid person who finds property and wastes it; (O, K;) or to him who finds that of which he knows not the value, and wastes it. (Z, TA.) And one says, فُلَانٌ يَلْبَسُ الصُّوفَ وَالقُطْنَ, meaning Such a one wears what is made of wool and of cotton. (A, TA.) In the saying of a poet,

حَلْبَانَةٍ رَكْبَانَةٍ صَفُوفِ

تَخْلِطُ بَيْنَ وَبَرٍ وَصُوفِ

[Of one that is milked and ridden, that yields a row of bowls of her milk, (but see صَفُوفٌ, of which other explanations have been given,) that mingles camels' fur and wool], the latter hemistich means, as Th says, according to IAar, that is sold, and with the price whereof are purchased camels and sheep: or, according to As, that is quick in her pace; the drawing back of her fore legs being likened to [the motion of] the bow of the نَدَّاف who mixes camels' fur and wool. (M.) One says also, أَخَذْتُ بِصُوفِ رَقَبَتِهِ (S, M, K, but in the M أَخَذَ,) and بِصُوفَتِهَا (M, O) and ↓ بِصَافِهَا, (M, K,) and بِطُوفِ رَقَبَتِهِ and بِطَافِهَا, and بِظُوفِ زَقَبَتِهِ and بِظَافِهَا, and بِقُوفِ رَقَبَتِهِ and بِقَافِهَا, (S, O,) meaning (tropical:) [I laid hold upon] the pendent hair in the hollow of the back of his neck: (IDrd, S, M, O, K:) or the downy hairs upon the back of his neck: (M, O:) or the skin of his neck: (IAar, S, O, K:) or the back of his neck, altogether: (Fr, S, O, K:) or I took him by force: (Abu-l-Ghowth, S, O, K:) or I followed him, thinking that I should not reach him, and overtook him; and this one says whether he lay hold upon his neck or not. (Abu-s-Semeyda', S, O, K.) And أَعْطَاهُ بِصُوفِ رَقَبَتِهِ (tropical:) [He gave it altogether]; like أَعْطَاهُ بِرُمَّتِهِ: or (as explained by A' Obeyd, S, O) he gave it gratuitously; not taking a price. (S, O, K.)

صُوفُ البَحْرِ [lit. The wool of the sea] is a thing [or substance] in the form of the animal صُوف [i. e., of wool; evidently meaning sea-weed resembling wool; such as is found in abundance thrown up on the beaches of the Red Sea: and that this is generally, if not in every instance, meant by the identical Hebrew word סוּף, as used in the Bible, has been most satisfactorily shown in article “ Red Sea ” (by my deeply-lamented nephew Edward Stanley Poole) in Dr. William Smith's “ Dictionary of the Bible ”]: it is said in one of the أَبَدِيَّات, [see article ابد,] لَا اتِيكَ مَا بَلَّ بَحْرٌ صُوفَةً [I will not come to thee as long as a sea wets a portion of صُوف], or, as Lh relates it, مَا بَلَّ البَحْرُ صُوفَهُ [as long as the sea wets its صُوف; meaning, ever]. (M, TA.)