جُعَلٌ

[The species of black beetle called cantharus;] a certain insect (دُوَيْبَّة); (S, K;) a certain black insect, found in moist places, (TA,) that rolls along a little ball [of dung] called دُحْرُوجَة [in which it deposits its eggs]: (S and K in article دحرج:) [see also خُنْفَسَاءُ: it is strangely explained in the Msb as the حِرْبَاء, which is the male of the أُمُّ حُبَيْن:] plural جِعْلَانٌ. (S, Msb, K.)

Hence, as being likened thereto, (TA,) A black and ugly and small man: or one who is wont to persist, or to persist obstinately, or to persist in contention or litigation, or to contend or litigate: and (as some say, TA) i. q. رَقِيبٌ [a watcher, an observer, &c.]. (K, TA.)