الفِدَاوِيَّةُ

is the appellation of A class, or rect, of the خَوَارِج of the دُرْزِيَّة [or دُرُوز, whom we call the Druses; it is a coll. gen. n., of which the n. un. is فِدَاوِىُّ; the و being a substitute for ء: it is used to signify those who undertake perilous adventures, more particularly for the destruction of enemies of their party; as though they offered themselves as ransoms or victims; and hence it is applied to the sect called in our histories of the Crusades “ The Assassins ”]. (TA.)