طَبَقٌ

A thing that is the equal of another thing (Msb, K) of any kind (K) in its measure so that it covers the whole extent of the latter like the lid: this is its primary signification: (Msb:) [whence] one says, هٰذَا الشَّىْءُ طَبَقُ هٰذَا, like طِبْقُهُ, q. v.: (IAar, O, K:) and [hence] it signifies The cover, or lid, (Mgh, K,) of a jar, (Mgh,) or of anything: (K:) plural أَطْبَاقٌ (S, * O, * K) [and طِبَاقٌ, mentioned in the Msb as a plural of طَبَقٌ in another, but similar, sense, which will be found in what follows, but better known as a plural of طَبَقَةٌ], and أَطْبِقَةٌ is added as another plural in the K, but [SM says] this is strange; I have not found it in the [other] lexicons; and it may be that the right reading is وَأَطْبَقَهُ, as synonym with what immediately there follows it, i. e. وَطَبَّقَهُ. (TA.) وَافَقَ شَنٌّ طَبَقَهْ is [a prov.] explained (O, K, TA) by As (O, TA) as said of a company of men who had a receptacle of skin [i. e. a water-skin] that had become old and worn out, wherefore they made a طَبَق [or cover] for it: (O, K, TA:) [so that the meaning is, A water-skin that had become old and worn out suited its cover:] or شَنٌّ and طَبَقٌ [in the O طبقه] were two tribes; (S, * O, K * TA;) and, as ISd says, شَنٌّ does not here mean a water-skin, for this has no طَبَق: (TA:) or [طَبَقَهٌ is for طَبَقَةَ, and] طَبَقَةُ was an intelligent woman, whom an intelligent man took as his wife. (O, K, TA. [See Freytag's Arab. Prov., ii. 800.])

Also A certain household utensil; (Msb;) [i. e. a dish, or plate; perhaps thus called because the cover of a cooking-vessel is often used as a dish or plate;] the thing upon which one eats, (K, TA,) and in which one eats; and the thing upon which fruit is placed [i. e. a dish, or plate, used for that purpose; and likewise a round tray, and the like]: (TA:) plural أَطْبَاقٌ and طِبَاقٌ. (Msb.)

(tropical:) The surface of the earth [considered as a cover]. (K, TA.) [And in like manner applied to A layer, or stratum, of earth. دَفَنْتُ الشَّىْءَ is explained in the Msb as meaning أَخْفَيْتُهُ تَحْتَ أَطْبَاقِ التُّرَابِ I concealed it beneath the layers, or strata, of the earth, or dust. See also طَبَقَةٌ.]

(tropical:) The exterior part of the pudendum muliebre [considered as a cover]. (Ibn-'Abbád, O, K, TA.)

A fold, a ply, or an overlapping part, of a thing. (PS. [See حَفِثٌ.])

[And hence, apparently, (tropical:) A roller of the sea: see اذِىٌّ.]

A thin bone [or cartilage] that forms a division between any two vertebræ: (S, O, K:) what is between any two vertebræ of a horse [&c.]: plural أَطْبَاقٌ: (Kr:) and some say, the vertebræ altogether: and some say, a vertebra, in any particle (TA.) It is said in a tradition respecting the day of resurrection, تَبْقَى أَصْلَابُ المُنَافِقِينَ طَبَقًا وَاحِدًا, meaning [The backbones of the hypocrites shall be (lit. continue to be) as though they were] one vertebra: or, as some say, ↓ طَبَقَةً; and [they say that] طَبَقٌ is the plural [or coll. gen. n.]. (O. [See also 1 in article عقم.])

[And Any of the successively-superimposed cartilages of the windpipe: plural أَطْبَاقٌ. (See حَنْجَرَةٌ, in article حجر; and see also حُلْقُومٌ.)]

Any of the stages of Hell [whereof every one except the lowest is imagined to be like a cover over another]. (TA.) [And in like manner, Any of the Seven Heavens:] one says, السَّمٰوَاتُ طِبَاقٌ, meaning The Heavens are [composed of stages] one above another; (S, O, Msb; *) every heaven [except the lowest] being like a طبق to another: (Msb:) or this is said because of their being conformable, one with another: (K:) and it is said in the Qur'an, 67:3, اَلَّذِى خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمٰوَاتٍ طِبَاقًا, meaning [Who hath created seven heavens] placed one above another; طباقا being the verbal noun of طَابَقْتُ النَّعْلَ [q. v.], used as an epithet; or for طُوبِقَتْ طِبَاقًا; or ذَاتَ طِبَاقٍ, plural of طَبَقٌ or of ↓ طَبَقَةٌ. (Bd.)

[Any of the bones of the head; because they compose a covering: or] أَطْبَاقُ الرَّأْسِ means the bones of the head because they suit one another and have certain parts of them inserted and infixed into other parts. (TA. [See 8 in article شجر.])

Any joint of a limb: plural أَطْبَاقٌ. (As, TA.)

A collective number of men, and of locusts; (S, O, K;) as also ↓ طِبْقٌ, (K,) which is thus explained by As in relation to men: (TA:) or a multitude of men, and of locusts: (K:) [apparently considered as covering a space of ground:] or a company of men that are equal with a company like them. (ISd, TA.)

A generation of mankind; or the people of one time; synonym قَرْنٌ and عَالَمٌ; as in the saying of El- 'Abbás,

إِذَا مَضَى عَالَمٌ بَدَا طَبَقُ

[metre مُنْسَرِح] i. e. إِذَا مَضَى قَرْنٌ بَدَا قَرْنٌ [When a generation passes away, a generation appears in its place]: the قَرْن being called طَبَق because they are a طَبَق [i. e. cover] to the earth: then they pass away and another طَبق comes: (O, TA:) or, as IAar says, طَبَقٌ signifies a people after a people. (TA.) And (TA) A قَرْن [i. e. generation] of time: or twenty years: (K, TA:) or, as in the book of El-Hejeree, on the authority of I'Ab, ↓ طَبَقَةٌ has this latter meaning. (TA.)

(tropical:) A rain such as fills and covers the earth, or land; (TA;) or such as is general, (S, O, K, TA,) and of wide extent; termed by a poet (namely, Imra-el-Keys, O, TA) طَبَقُ الأَرْضِ: (S, O, TA:) or a lasting rain, consecutive in its falls. (Msb.) And أَصْبَحَتِ الأَرْضُ طَبَقًا وَاحِدًا means (assumed tropical:) [The land became, or became in the morning,] covered with water over its surface. (TA.)

A main portion of the night and of the day: (S, O, K:) or, according to the Mufradát [of Er-Rághib], طَبَقُ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ signifies سَاعَاتُهُ المطابقة [apparently a mistranscription for المُتَطَابِقَةُ, and meaning the commensurate, or similar, or equal, portions of the night and of the day]. (TA.) See also طِبْقٌ.

And A state, or condition; (S, O, K, TA;) as also ↓ طَبَقَةٌ, of which the plural is طِبَاقٌ: the plural of the former in this sense is أَطْبَاقٌ. (TA.) Hence the phrase, لَتَرْكَبُنَّ طَبَقًا عَنْ طَبَقٍ, (S, O, K, TA,) in the Qur'an, 84:19, meaning [Ye shall assuredly enter upon] state after state, (S, * O, TA,) and predicament after predicament; as in the A; (TA;) on the day of resurrection; (S;) the state being termed طَبَق because it will fill the hearts [as though the dread thereof covered them], or will be near to doing so; (O, TA;) and عَنْ being put in this instance, as it is in many others, in the place of بَعْدَ: (TA:) or the meaning is, one after another of similar states of hardship: or it may be, degrees of hardship after degrees thereof; طَبَقٌ according to this rendering being regarded as plural [or coll. gen. n.] of ↓ طَبَقَةٌ: (Ksh and Bd:) or [ye shall assuredly mount upon] the heaven in one state after another state; for it (the heaven) shall be like مُهْل [i. e. molten brass or iron &c., as is said in the Qur'an, 70:8,] and then successively in other states: (O, TA:) so says Aboo-Bekr: according to Er-Rághib, it points to the various successive states of man in the present world from his creation, and in the world to come until his resting in one of the two abodes [Paradise or Hell]: or, according to Ibn-Abi-l- Hadeed, it means [ye shall assuredly enter upon] difficulty after difficulty; as is related by MF; and the same is said by Az on the authority of I'Ab: (TA:) some read لَتَرْكَبَنَّ, meaning thou, O Mohammad, shalt assuredly mount upon stage after stage of the stages (أَطْبَاق) of heaven; and I'Ab and Ibn-Mes-ood read لَتَرْكَبِنَّ, with kesr to the ب, which is according to the dialect of Temeem, and Keys and Asad and Rabee'ah pronounce the first letter of the future with kesr except when it is ى: 'Omar read لَيَرْكَبَنَّ, either as relating to the Prophet or as referring to him who is mentioned in verses 10-15 of the same chapter. (O, TA.) One says also, بَاتَ يَرْعَى طَبَقَ النُّجُومِ, meaning (tropical:) [He passed the night watching] the state of the stars in their course: (TA:) or طَبَقُ النُّجُومِ means the falling [or apparently setting] of stars after [other] stars: or, according to Es-Sadoosee, the rising of a star and the setting of another: and a collective number thereof after a collective number [of others]: and such, he says, are termed مِنَ النُّجُومِ ↓ طَبَقَاتٌ. (O.)

جَاءَتِ الإِبِلُ طَبَقًا وَاحِدًا means عَلَى خُفٍّ وَاحِدٍ [i. e. The camels came following one another, in a single line: see article خف]. (TA.) And one says, وَلَدَتِ الغَنَمُ طَبَقًا and ↓ طَبْقًا, meaning The sheep, or goats, brought forth one after another: (L:) El-Umawee says, when they do thus, one says, وَلَدَتْهَا الرُّجَيْلَاءِ and وَلَدَتْهَا طَبَقًا and ↓ طَبَقَةً [They brought them forth (i. e. their young ones) one after another]. (S, O.)

[The plural] الأَطْبَاقُ also signifies Those who are remote, and those who are remotely connected: so in a tradition respecting the signs of the resurrection, or of the time thereof; in which it is said, يُوْصَلُ الأَطْبَاقُ وَيُقْطَعُ الأَرْحَامُ [Those who are remote, and those who are remotely related, shall be brought into close connection, and the ties of relationship shall be severed]. (TA.)

بِنْتُ طَبَقٍ is an appellation of A female tortoise, [apparently because of the cover of her back,] which, (S, O, K,) as the Arabs assert, (S, O,) lays ninety-nine eggs, all of them [eventually] tortoises, and lays one egg which discloses (S, O, K) a serpent (K) [or a serpent such as is termed] an أَسْوَد; (S, O;) or, according to Az, sixty-nine [eggs], and the seventieth is [eventually] a viper. (So in a marg. note in one of my copies of the S; in which, also, the appellation is written بِنْتُ طَبَقَ, instead of بِنْتُ طَبَقٍ.) Hence the phrase إِحْدَى بَنَاتِ طَبَقٍ, meaning (tropical:) A calamity; (S, O, TA;) as also بِنْتُ طَبَقٍ: (TA:) بَنَاتُ طَبَقٍ meaning calamities [like مُطْبِقَاتٌ]: as well as tortoises: and serpents: (K:) and أُمُّ طَبَقٍ [in like manner] means calamity: (TA in article طرق:) or, according to EthTha'álibee, طَبَقُ [thus, imperfectly decl., as written in the L,) signifies a yellow serpent: (L, TA:) and أُمُّ طَبَقٍ and بِنْتُ طَبَقٍ are said to signify the serpent, because of its coiling itself round: or بَنَاتُ طَبَقٍ is an appellation applied to serpents because of their winding themselves round (لإِطْبَاقِهَا) upon him whom they bite; or, as some say, because the حَوَّاء [q. v.] confines them beneath the lids (أَطْبَاق) of the baskets (أَسْفَاط) covered with leather; or, as Z says, because they resemble the طَبَق [i. e. cover, or dish, or plate,] when they coil themselves round. (TA.)