خَدَمَةٌ

A thong, (JK, S, K,) plaited, (TA,) thick and strong, like a ring, (JK, K,) which is fastened upon the pastern of a camel, (JK, S, K,) and to which is attached the سَرِيحَة [or thong] of the نَعْل [or leathern shoe with which the foot is sometimes protected], (S,) or to which are attached the سَرَايءِح [or thongs] of the نعل: (K:) [it is the n. un. of ↓ خَدَمٌ: and its plural is خِدَامٌ; as below: in the TA, said to be tropical; but this is pro- bably a mistake: the other significations here following are all tropical:] according to AA, [the plural] خِدَامٌ signifies shackles, or hobbles; synonym قُيُودٌ. (TA.)

Hence, (S,) (tropical:) i. q. خَلْخَالٌ [meaning An anklet]; (JK, S, Mgh, K;) because sometimes made of thongs, with gold and silver affixed thereon: (S:) plural خِدَامٌ, (S,) and [coll. gen. n.] ↓ خَدَمٌ. (Ham p. 612.) كَالْمَمْهُورَةٍ إِحْدَى خَدَمَتَيْهَا is a prov. [meaning (assumed tropical:) Like her who has been dowered with one of her two anklets]. (JK, TA. [See also مَهْمُورَةٌ.])

[And hence, (assumed tropical:) A ring of white a little above the hoof of a horse &c.] You say of a horse, لَهُ خَدَمَتَانِ مِنْ خِلَافٍ, meaning (assumed tropical:) He has a whiteness [or rather a ring of white a little above the hoof] in his fore leg [or right fore leg] and another in his left fore leg [probably a mistake of a copyist for his left kind leg]. (TA in article خلف.) [The coll. gen. n. ↓ خَدَمٌ is used in the Deewán of the Hudhalees, as stated by Freytag, in the sense of (assumed tropical:) A place where the colour differs, like an anklet, on the foot: and a whiteness on the foot of a bull, surrounding it like a circle: and خِدَامٌ as meaning whiteness: or, as some say, streaks (“striæ”). See also خُدْمَةٌ.]

[Hence, also,] (assumed tropical:) The place where each foot comes forth from the trousers. (TA.)

Also (assumed tropical:) The shank; (K;) because it is the place of the خَدَمَة, i. e. the anklet: (TA:) plural خِدَامٌ and [coll. gen. n.] ↓ خَدَمٌ. (K.) Hence, in a tradition of Selmán, كَانَ عَلَى حِمَارٍ وَعَلَيْهِ سَرَاوِيلُ وَخَدَمَتاهُ تُذَبْذِبَانِ [He was upon an ass, and upon him were trousers, and his shanks were dangling]: or, as some say, the meaning here is, the parts from which his two feet came forth, of the trousers. (TA.) And one says, أَبْدَتِ الحَرْبُ عَنْ خِدَامِ المُخَدَّرَاتِ (tropical:) [The war made apparent the shanks, or the anklets, of the girls that had been kept behind the curtains]; meaning the war became vehement. (A, TA.)

Also (assumed tropical:) A ring of people; (S, K;) a compact ring thereof: likened to the thong described in the first sentence of this paragraph. (TA.) Hence the saying of Khálid Ibn-El-Weleed, in a letter that he wrote to the Satraps of Persia, (TA,) الحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ الَّذِى فَضَّ خَدَمَتَكُمْ, meaning [Praise be to God,] who hath dispersed, or broken up, your congregation: (S, * K, * TA:) for when the thong above mentioned is broken, or parted, the سَرَايءِح [or thongs of the leathern shoe] become loosed, and the shoe falls off: so says IAth, and A'Obeyd says the like. (TA.)