فَرْعٌ

The upper, or uppermost, part of anything; (S, O, Msb, K;) the فَرْع being what branches forth (يَتَفَرَّعُ) from the lower, or lowest, part thereof: (Msb:) plural فُرُوعٌ only. (TA.) It is said in a tradition أَىُّ الشَّجَرِ أَبْعَدُ مِنَ الخَارِفِ قَالُوا فَرْعُهَا قَالَ وَكَذٰلِكَ الصَّفُّ الأَوَّلُ [What part of trees is furthest from the plucker of the fruit? they said, The uppermost part thereof; he said, And such like is the first row of the persons worshipping in the mosque]. (TA.) Thus فَرْعُ الأُذُنِ signifies The upper, or uppermost, part of the ear; (K, * MF, TA;) plural as above. (TA.) And فُرُوعُ المُقْلَتَيْنِ The upper, or uppermost, parts of the two eyeballs. (TA.)

[Hence,] A branch of a tree or plant: (KL, TA:) or the head of a branch: or a great branch: and a branch of anything. (MA.)

[And hence, (assumed tropical:) A branch, or subdivision, or derivative, of anything that is regarded as a fundamental or a whole;] a thing that is built, or founded, upon another thing; opposed to أَصْلٌ: (K, TA:) [the plural فُرُوعٌ, as opposed to أُصُولٌ meaning “ fundamentals, ” signifies, in the conventional language of the lawyers and the men of science in general, the derivative institutes of the law, &c.: see 2:] عِلْمُ الفُرُوعِ [the science of the derivative institutes of the law] is what is commonly known by the appellation of عِلْمُ الفِقْهِ [the science of jurisprudence; because it is mainly concerned with institutes derived from fundamentals]. (Hájjee Khaleefeh.)

And (tropical:) The hair of a woman: plural as above [apparently used in a collective sense like the French “ cheveux ”]: (K, TA:) one says اِمْرَأَةٌ طَوِيلَةُ الفُرُوعِ [meaning (tropical:) A long-haired woman]. (TA.) And (K) (tropical:) Full [or abundant] hair. (S, O, K, TA.)

And (tropical:) The noble, or man of eminence, of a people or party: (S, O, K, TA:) plural as above: (TA:) one says, هُوَ فَرْعُ قَوْمِهِ (tropical:) He is the noble, or man of eminence, of his people or party, (S, O, TA, *) and مِنْ فُرُوعِهِم of their nobles, &c. (TA.)

And [apparently from the same word as signifying “ a branch of a tree, ”] (assumed tropical:) A valley branching off. (TA.) And (assumed tropical:) A channel in which water runs to the شِعْب (K, TA) i. e. the وَادِى [here meaning the water-course in a low tract or between the two acclivities of two mountains]: (TA:) [but] in this sense its plural is فِرَاعٌ. (K, TA.)

-A2- Also [or قَوْسٌ فَرْعٌ] A bow that is made from the extreme portion of a branch, (As, S, O, K, TA,) from the head thereof: (As, TA:) and (K) a bow that is not [made from a branch] divided lengthwise (S, O, K, TA) is called قَوْسٌ فَرْعٌ; (S, O, TA;) such as is [made from a branch] divided lengthwise being called قَوْسٌ فِلْقٌ: (S, O:) or the فَرْع is [one] of the best of bows: (AHn, K, TA:) and [this word is used as an epithet, i. e.] one says قَوْسٌ فَرْعٌ and فَرْعَةٌ. (K.)

-A3- Also, i. e. فَرْعٌ, Property that is beneficial, or serviceable, and made ready, or prepared: (O, K, TA:) or, according to the S, it is ↓ فَرَعٌ which has this signification; but this is said by Sgh [apparently in the TS], and after him by the author of the K, to be a mistake; and a verse in which it occurs with the ر quiescent is cited in the O and K as an example of it in this sense: it may be, however, that the poet has made the ر quiescent of necessity [by poetic license, for the sake of the metre]; or it may here [properly] signify “ a branch, ” and be metonymically used as meaning recent property. (TA.)

-A4- See also the next paragraph, latter half.