كَعْبٌ

Any joint, juncture, or place of division, of the bones. (K.)

Also, [and more commonly, The ankle-bone, or talus;] in a man, what projects above the tarsus, where the foot is set on; (TA;) what projects above the foot; (K;) the bone that projects at the place of junction of the shank and the foot; (AA, As, S, Msb;) each foot has two bones thus termed; one on the right and the other on the left; (Msb;) each of the two bones that project on either side of the foot; (K, TA:) or the anklejoint, or tarsal-joint; the joint that is between the shank and the foot: (IAar, &c., Msb:) As rejected the saying of the [common] people, that it is in the upper part (ظَهْر) of the foot: (S:) some persons say, that it is each of the two bones that are in the upper part (ظَهْر) of the foot: so say the Shee'ah: and in like manner Yahyà Ibn-El-Hárith speaks of the كِعَاب as in the middle of the foot: (TA:) plural [of pauc.] أَكْعُبٌ and [of mult.] كُعُوبٌ and كِعَابٌ. (K.)

جَارِيَةٌ دَرْمَاءُ الكُعُوبِ A girl the heads of whose bones are not big [or prominent].

Also employed with reference to any quadruped; meaning, in a horse, What is between each وَظِيف and سَاق: or between the bone of the وظيف and the bone of the ساق; which projects backwards: [by this is meant, not the fetlock-joint, or hind fetlock-joint, but the hock: for it has been shown, voce عُرْقُوب, that the term كَعْب, with reference to quadrupeds, is sometimes applied to what anatomists term the tarsus]. (TA.)

كَعْبٌ and ↓ كَعْبَةٌ [An ossicle] with which one plays; [a play-bone; a cockal-bone; the superior bone of the tarsus, called by anatomists astragalus or as tali, a little bone, somewhat oblong, taken from the foot of a sheep, or the like, thrown in play, like a die:] (Lh, K:) the die (فَصّ) that is used in the game of tables, or backgammon, (النَّرْد); (TA;) [any die that is used in play]: plural (of the former word, TA) كِعَابٌ and (of the latter, TA,) كُعْبٌ and كَعَبَاتٌ. (K: the last so written according to the TA; but in the CK كَعْبَاتٌ.) The playing with the كعب is forbidden (Qur'an, 5:92. (TA.)

A conventional term of arithmeticians [a cube]. (K.)

(tropical:) A piece of clarified butter; (S;) such [a lump, or compact piece] as is termed كُتْلَة, thereof: (K:) and [a lump] of dates [compacted together]: (M, voce فِدْرَةٌ:) a piece of clarified butter, or of fat or grease. (TA.)

(tropical:) What is termed a صُمَّة (or what is poured out at once, or what remains in a vessel, &c., or a small quantity,) of milk, (K,) or of clarified butter. (TA.)

(tropical:) [A knot, or joint, of a reed or cane;] what is between each two internodal portions of a reed or cane; (K;) the prominent part that is at the extremity of each of the internodal portions of a spear [of reed or cane]: (S:) or an internodal portion, or portion that is between each two knots, or joints, of a reed or cane: (Msb:) plural كُعُوبٌ and كِعَابٌ. (TA.)

By صاروا كعابا, in the following verse,

رَأَيْتُ الشَّعْبَ مِنْ كَعْبٍ وَكَانُوا

مِنَ الشَّنَْانِ قَدْ صَارُوا كِعَابَا

the poet means, they were divided and opposed in mind or opinion, so that each portion that was of one mind, or opinion, became a party by itself. (AAF.) [He seems to compare them to play-bones thrown on the ground; or to the several joints, or knots, of a reed, or cane; or to a spear not equal, or uniform, in the joints, or knots, of its cane-shaft.]

رُمْحٌ بِكَعْبٍ وَاحِدٍ A spear with equal, or uniform, knots, or joints; not having one knot, or joint, thicker than another. (TA.)

-A2- (tropical:) Eminence, or nobility, and glory. (K.)

رَجُلٌ عَالِى الكَعْبِ A man eminent, or noble, and successful in his enterprises. (TA.)

أَعْلَى اللّٰهُ كَعْبَهُ May God exalt his glory! (TA, from a tradition)

لَا يَزَالُ كَعْبُكَ عَاليًا May thy glory not cease to be exalted! See عَالٍ, in article علو. (TA.)

عَلَا كَعْبُكَ بِى Thy nobility, or glory, hath exalted me. (TA.)

This signification is taken from the كَعْب of a cane: and كَعْبٌ is applied to Anything elevated. (IAth.)