رَيْثٌ

A space, or measure, [of time,] synonym قَدْرٌ, (T, Msb,) or مِقْدَارٌ; (A, K;) or a time, a while, synonym سَاعَةٌ. (Mgh.) You say, أَمْهَلْتُهُ رَيْثَمَا فَعَلَ كَذَا, i. e. قَدْرَ مَا فَعَلَهُ (Msb) or سَاعَةَ فِعْلِهِ (Mgh) [I granted him a delay during the space of his doing such a thing]. And لَمْ يَلْبَثْ إِلَّا رَيْثَمَا قُلْتُ, i. e. قَدْرَ ذٰلِكَ [He tarried not save during the space that, or as long as, or while, I said such a thing]. (TA, from a tradition) And so in the saying, مَا قَعَدَ عِنْدَنَا فُلَانٌ إِلَّا رَيْثَ أَنْ حَدَّثَنَا بِحَدِيثٍ تُمَّ مَرَّ [Such a one sat not with us, or at our abode, save during the space that, or as long as, or while, he related to us a story, or tradition; then he went away]. (T, TA.) And it is used without ما and without ان: (TA:) Aashà Báhileh says,

لَا يُصْعِبُ الأَمْرَ إِلَّا رَيْثَ يَرْكَبُهُ

وَ كُلَّ أَمْرٍ سِوَى الفَحْشَاءِ يَأْتَمِرُ

[He finds not the affair difficult save while he is embarking in it; and every command but that which exceeds the bounds of rectitude he obeys]: (M, TA:) this mode of expression is common in the dialect of El-Hijáz; according to which one says, يُرِيدُ يَفْعَلُ, i. e. أَنْ يَفْعَلَ. (TA.) [See also an example in a verse cited voce رَاجِلَةٌ, and another in a verse cited voce رِيحٌ.]