خَفِيرٌ

A protector; one who protects, grants refuge, preserves, saves, rescues, or liberates; (S, A, Msb, K;) from one who seeks or pursues; (Msb;) as also خُفَرَةٌ: (A, K, TA:) a protector of a people, in whose safeguard they are as long as they remain in his district: (Lth:) plural خُفَرَاءُ. (A.) One who guards seed-produce from the birds. (TA.)

Oae who is protected, to whom refuge is granted, who is preserved, saved, rescued, or liberated. (K.) The K might be thought to imply that خُفَرَةٌ is also used in this sense; but it is not. (TA.)