دَفْعَةٌ
1.
A single impulsion; a push, a thrust, or single act of driving; and particularly, so as to remove a thing from its place; a single propulsion; a single repulsion: (S, * Msb, K, * TA:) [it is a verbal noun of un. of 1 in all its senses; and thus,] it signifies also a single act of pouring: [&c.:] plural دَفَعَاتٌ. (Msb.) You say, دَفَعَهُ دَفْعَةً, i. e. [He impelled, &c., him, or it,] once [or with a single impulsion, &c.]. (TK.) And دَفَعْتُ مِنَ الإِنَاءِ دَفْعَةً, i. e. [I poured forth from the vessel] a single pouring. (Msb.)
2.
[As a verbal noun of un. of 1,] it also signifies (assumed tropical:) A coming of the collective body of a people, or party of men, to a place at once. (TA.)
3.
[Also (assumed tropical:) A heat, a single course, or one unintermitted act, of running, or the like.]