ثَوْبٌ

A garment, (M, Mgh, Msb, K,) [or piece of cloth or stuff,] that is worn by men, composed of linen, cotton, wool, fur, خَزّ [q. v.], (Mgh, Msb,) silk, or the like; (Msb;) but [properly] not what is cut out of several pieces, such as the shirt, and trousers, or drawers, &c.; (Mgh;) [though often applied to a shirt or shift (قَمِيص or دِرْع) and to a جُبَّة &c.:] it seems to be so called because the wearer returns to it, or it to the wearer, time after time: (Mgh:) [also a garment worn by women and girls over the shift; (see أُصْدَةٌ;) apparently, as in the present day, a long gown, reaching to the feet, with very wide sleeves:] plural ثِيَابٌ [the plural of mult.] (T, S, M, A, Mgh, Msb, K) and أَثْوَابٌ [a plural of pauc.] (S, M, Msb, K) and أَثْوُبٌ and أَثْوءُبٌ, (S, M, K,) the last two being pls. of pauc., and the latter of them being thus pronounced with ء by some of the Arabs because the dammeh immediately after و is deemed difficult of utterance; for which reason they substitute ء for و in all instances like this. (S.)

Curtains, and the like, are not [properly] called ثِيَاب; but أَمْتِعَةُ البَيْتِ: (Mgh, Msb:) though Es-Sarakhsee uses the phrase ثِيَابُ البَيْتِ. (Mgh.) تَعَلَّقَ بِثِيَابِ اللّٰهِ (tropical:) [He clung to the curtains of the House of God], i. e., to the curtains of the Kaabeh, is a tropical expression. (A.)

Sometimes, ثَوْبٌ is used metonymically to signify (tropical:) A thing [of any kind] that veils, covers, or protects: as in the saying of a poet,

كَثَوْبِ ابْنِ بِيضٍ وَقَاهُمْ بِهِ

فَسَدَّ عَلَى السَّالِكِينَ السَّبِيلَا

[Like the means of protection adopted by Ibn-Beed: he protected them by it, and closed the way against the passengers]. (TA.) Ibn-Beed was a wealthy merchant of the tribe of 'Ád, who hamstrung his she-camel upon a mountain-road, and stopped the way [to his abode] with it. (K in article بيض.)

In the same manner, also, ثِيَابٌ is used to signify (tropical:) Weapons. (Ham p. 63.)

And أَثْوَابٌ is sometimes employed to signify (assumed tropical:) The wearers of garments; the wearers' bodies. (R, TA.) Esh-Shemmákh says, (T,) or Leylà, describing camels, (TA,)

وَمَوْهَا بِأَثْوَابٍ خِفَافٍ فَلَا تَرَى

لَهَا شَبَهًا إِلَّا النَّعَامَ المُنَفَّرَا

i. e. They mounted them, namely, the travellingcamels, (T,) with their [light, or agile,] bodies: [and thou seest not anything like them, except ostriches scared away.] (T, TA.) And in like manner, also, the dual is employed to signify (assumed tropical:) The wearer's body, or self; or what the garments infold: and ثِيَاب is employed in the same manner. (TA.) You say, لِلّهِ ثَوْبَاهُ, i. e. (tropical:) To God be he [meaning his excellence] attributed! [for nothing but what is excellent is to be attributed to God:] (A:) or it means لِلّهِ دَرُّهُ [To God be attributed the good that hath proceeded from him! or his good deed! &c.: see arts. اله and در]. (K.) And فِى ثَوْبَىْ أَبِى أَنْ أَفِيَهُ meaning (tropical:) [On me and on my father it rests, or lies, or be it, that I pay it: or] فِىذِمَّتِى وَذِمَّةِأَبِى [on my responsibility and the responsibility of my father]. (K, TA.) And اُسْلُلْ ثِيَابَكَ مِنْ ثِيَابِى (tropical:) Withdraw, or separate, thyself from me. (A.)

[The following exs. are mostly, or all, tropical.]

إِنِّ المَيِّتَ لَيُبْعَثُ فِى ثِيَابِهِ الَّتِى يَمُوتُ فِيهَا, (K, * TA,) a saying of Mohammad, repeated by Aboo-Sa'eed El-Khudree, when, being about to die, he had called for new garments, and put them on: (TA:) it means Verily the dead will be raised in his garments in which he dies; according to some; and was used in this sense by Aboo-Sa'eed: (ElKhattábee, MF, TA:) or (assumed tropical:) [agreeably with] his works (K, TA) with which his life is closed: (TA:) or (assumed tropical:) in the state in which he dies, according as it is good or evil. (TA.)

وَثِيَابَكَ فَطَهِّرْ, in the Qur'an, 74:4, means And purify thy garments: (Abu-l-'Abbás, T:) or shorten thy garments; for the shortening them is a means of purity: (T:) or (assumed tropical:) put not on thy garments in a state of disobedience or unrighteousness: (I'Ab, T:) or (assumed tropical:) be not perfidious; for [figuratively speaking,] he who is so pollutes his garments: (Fr, T:) or, as some say, (assumed tropical:) purify thy heart: (Abu-l-'Abbás, T, K:) or (assumed tropical:) purify thyself (IKt, T, TA) from sins, or offences: (IKt, TA:) or (assumed tropical:) rectify thine actions, or thy conduct. (TA.)

You say, فُلَانْ نَقِىُّ الثَّوْبِ, meaning (tropical:) Such a one is free from vice, or fault: (A:) and طَاهِرُ الثَّوْبِ (tropical:) [the same; or pure in heart, or conduct, or reputation]. (TA in article نصح.) And دَنِسُ الثِّيَابِ (tropical:) Vicious, or faulty: (A:) or perfidious: (Fr, T:) or foul, or evil, in reputation, (T, TA,) in conduct, or actions, and in the way that he follows [with respect to religion and morality]. (TA.)

كَلَابِسِ ثَوْبَىْ زُورٍ: see مُتَشَبِّعٌ.

أَعْرَضَ ثَوْبُ المَلْبَسِ and المِلْبَسِ &c.: see عَرُضَ.

ثَوْبُ المَاءِ (assumed tropical:) [The membrane called] السَّلَى and الغِرْسُ. (K. See these two words.)