رَقَبَةٌ

The neck: or the base of the hinder part thereof: (A, K:) or the hinder part of the base of the neck: (JK, S:) or the upper part of the neck: (TA:) plural [of mult.] رِقَابٌ (JK, S, Msb, K) and [coll. gen. n.] ↓ رَقَبٌ (JK, S, K) and [plural of pauc.] أَرْقُبٌ (IAar, K) and رَقَبَاتٌ. (S, Msb, K.)

By a synecdoche, it is applied to (tropical:) The whole person of a human being: as in the saying, ذَنْبُهُ فِى رَقَبَتِهِ (tropical:) [His sin, or crime, &c., be on his own neck; meaning, on himself]. (IAth, TA.) [Hence also] one says, هٰذَا الأَمْرُ فِى رِقَابِكُمْ (tropical:) [This affair is upon your own selves], and فِى رَقَبَتِكَ (tropical:) [upon thine own self]. (A.) And أَعْتَقَ اللّٰهُ رَقَبَتَهُ (tropical:) [May God emancipate him]. (A.) And لَكَ رِقَابُهُنَّ وَمَا عَلَيْهِنَّ, in a tradition, relating to camels, (tropical:) They themselves, and the burdens that are upon them, are thine. (TA.) And [hence], in another tradition, لَنَا رِقَابُ الأَرْضِ (tropical:) To us belongs the land itself. (TA.)

Hence also, i. e. by a synecdoche, (IAth, Mgh, TA,) (tropical:) A slave, (S, IAth, Mgh, K, TA,) male and female: (IAth, TA:) and a captive: (TA:) plural رِقَابٌ. (Mgh.) You say, أَعْتَقَ رَقَبَةً (tropical:) He emancipated a slave, male or female. (IAth, TA.) And فَكَّ رَقَبَةً (tropical:) He released a slave, or a captive. (TA.) الرِّقَاب in the Qur'an, 9:60 means (tropical:) Those slaves who have contracted with their owners for their freedom. (T, Mgh, Msb, TA.)

رِقَابُ المَزَاوِدِ (tropical:) [lit. The necks of provision-bags] is a nickname which was applied to the عَجَم [or Persians, or foreigners in general]; because they were red; (S, A;) or because of the length of their necks; (El-Karáfee, TA in article زود;) or rather because of the thickness thereof, as though they were full. (MF in that article)