جَابَةٌ
1.
is a verbal noun of أَجَابَ, (Kr, TA,) or a simple subst. (A Heyth, S, TA) used in the place of a verbal noun (A Heyth, TA. See 4.) Hence, أَسَاءَ سَمْعًا فَأَسَاءَ جَابَةً [He heard ill, and therefore answered ill]: (S, A, K:) a prov., and therefore not to be rehearsed otherwise than in the original way, as above: [not to be altered by the substitution of إِجَابَةٌ or إِجَابًا for جَابَةً:] its origin is said to have been this: Sahl [or Suheyl] Ibn-' Amr had an insane son; and a man said to him, أَيْنَ
أَمُّكَ, i. e. “ Whither is thy tending? ” to which he (thinking that he said, أَيْنَ أُمُّكَ [“ Where is thy mother ! ”],) answered, “ She is gone to buy flour: ” whereupon his father uttered the words of this prov. (TA. [See also Freytag's Arab. Prov. i. 603.]) See also جَوَابٌ
2.
جَابَةُ المِدْرَى is a dialect var. of جَأْبَةُ المدرى: (K: [see article جأب:]) according to AO and Sh, it is without ء: according to the former, it means A doe-gazelle when her horn has come forth; and according to the latter, when her horn has cut the skin and come forth: (T, TA:) or it means having smooth horns; and if so, it has no [known] derivation. (TA.) [See also article درى.]