رَبٌّ

A lord, a possessor, an owner, or a proprietor, synonym مَالِكٌ, (T, IAmb, S, M, A, Msb, K,) of a thing, (T,) of anything, (S, M, A, K,) or of an irrational thing; (Msb;) a person who has a right, or just title or claim, to the possession of anything; or its صَاحِب [which is synonym with مَالِك]; (M, A, K;) رَبٌّ and مَالِكٌ and صَاحِبٌ all signifying in Pers. خُدَاوَنْد: (KL:) and a lord, master, or chief; (Msb, TA;) or a lord, master, or chief, to whom obedience is paid: (IAmb, TA:) and a lord, ruler, governor, regulator, or disposer; (TA;) an orderer, a rectifier, or a reformer: (IAmb, TA:) a rearer, fosterer, bringer-up, feeder, or nourisher: and a completer, or an accomplisher: (TA:) it is an epithet, like نَمٌّ from نَمَّ: or a verbal noun used as an intensive epithet; like عَدْلٌ; (Ksh and Bd * in i. l;) originally signifying the “ bringing (a thing) to a state of completion by degrees;” (Bd, ibid.;) then used in the sense of مَالِكٌ: (Ksh and Bd ibid.:) the plural [of pauc.] is أَرْبَابٌ and [of mult.] رُبُوبٌ, (M, K,) and according to Sh, رِبَابٌ also, (TA,) signifying أَصْحَابٌ, (K,) and ↓ رَبُوبٌ is apparently a quasi-plural n.: (M:) the feminine is ↓ رَبَّةٌ; of which the plural is رَبَّاتٌ. (T.) Whoever possesses a thing is its رَبّ: you say, هُوَ رَبُّ الدَّابَّةِ [He is the possessor, or owner, or master, of the beast], and الدَّارِ [of the house], (T,) and المَالِ [of the property, or cattle]; (Msb;) and البَيْتِ ↓ هِىَ رَبَّةُ [She is the owner, or mistress, of the house or tent]. (T.) With the article ال, it is [properly] applied only to God: (T, S, M, A, Msb, K:) He is رَبُّ الأَرْبَابِ [The Lord of lords]. (T. [Thus the plural with the article ال is applied to created beings.]) To any other being it is not [properly] applied but as a prefixed noun governing another noun as its complement in the gen. case [or in a similar manner]. (S.) The pagan Arabs, however, sometimes applied it to A king, (S,) or to a lord as meaning a master or chief: (Msb:) El- Hárith says, (S, Msb,) i. e. Ibn-Hillizeh, (S,)

وَهُوَ الرَّبُّ وَالشَّهِيدُ عَلَى يُوْ

مِ الحِيَارَيْنِ وَالبَلَاءُ بَلَاءُ

(S, Msb,) i. e. And he (meaning El-Mundhir Ibn-Má-es-Semà, or, as some say, 'Amr Ibn-Hind,) was the king [or lord] and witness of our fighting on the day of El-Hiyárán (the name of a place), and the trial was a hard trial. (EM, p. 285: [in which الحَيَارَيْنِ is erroneously put for الحِيَارَيْنِ.]) Some forbid that a man should be called the رَبّ of his slave: (Msb:) it is said in a tradition that the slave shall not say to his master, رَبّى, because it is like attributing a partner to God: (TA:) but رَبّ is sometimes used in the sense of lord as meaning master or chief prefixed to a noun signifying a rational being governed by it in the gen. case: thus in the saying of the Prophet, حَتَّى تَلِدَ الأَمَةُ رَبَّهَا [So that the female slave shall bring forth him who will become her master], or ↓ رَبَّتَهَا [her mistress], according to different transmitters; (Msb;) relating to the signs of the hour of resurrection: i. e., the female slave shall bring forth to her master a child that shall be as a master [or mistress] to her because like his [or her] father in rank: meaning that captives and concubines shall be numerous. (TA.) As to the phrase in the Qur'an, 12:42, اُذْكُرْنِى عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ [Mention thou me in the presence of thy lord], Joseph thus addressed his fellow-prisoner agreeably with the acceptation in which he [the latter] understood the words. (TA.) A similar instance also occurs in the same chapter, in the verse immediately preceding. (Msb.) In another verse, [23 of the same ch.,] إِنَّهُ رَبِّى [Verily he is my lord] may refer to Joseph's master or to God. (M, TA.) The words of the Qur'an, 89:28 and 29], اِرْجِعِى إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَرْضِيَّةً فَادْخُلِى فِى عَبْدىِ, as some read, [instead of عِبَادِى,] may mean Return to thine owner, [approving, approved,] and enter into my servant. (M, TA.)

Without the article ال, as some say, (L, TA,) it is sometimes written and pronounced ↓ رَبٌ, without teshdeed; (L, K;) as in the following verse, cited by El-Mufaddal,

وَقَدْ عَلِمَ الأَقْوَامُ أَنْ لَيْسَ فَوْقَهُ

رَبٌ غَيْرُ مَنْ يَعْطِى الحُظُوظَ وَيَرْزُقُ

[And the peoples have known that there is not above him a lord beside Him who gives the portions of mankind and of others and grants the means of subsistence]. (L.) And Ahmad Ibn-Yahyà [i. e. Th] mentions the phrase لَا وَرَبِيكَ لَا أَفْعَلُ, for لَا وَرَبِّكَ [i. e. No, by thy Lord, I will not do such a thing]; the [latter] ب being changed into ى because of the reduplication. (M, K: * in the CK رَبْيِكَ.)