عظلم
Q. 2 تَعَظْلَمَ, [from عِظْلِمٌ as signifying a certain plant or dye,] said of the night, It was, or became, dark, and very black; (
K,
TA;) i. e. it became like the عِظْلِم. (
TA.) عِظْلِمٌ, (
S,
Msb,
K,) of which عَظْلَمٌ is a
dial. var., (
MF,
TA,) The expressed juice of a species of tree or plant, (
Az,
K,
TA,) the colour of which is like نِيل [or indigo], green (أَخْضَر) inclining to duskiness: (
Az,
TA:) or a certain plant, (
S,
K,) or thing, (
Msb,) with which one dyes, (
S,
Msb,
K,) said to be (
Msb) called in
Pers\. نِيل [i. e. the indigo-plant]: (
Msb, and so in some copies of the
S; other copies of which, for نيل, have تفل:) or
i. q. وَسْمَةٌ [an appellation now applied to woad; as is also عِظْلِم]: (
S,
Msb,
K:)
AHn says, one of the Arabs of the desert told me that the عظلم is the male وَسْمَة: he also says that it is a small tree or plant, (شُجَيْرَةٌ), of the [class called] رِبَّة, that grows in a late season, and the greenness of which is lasting: and in one place he says, an Arab of the desert, of the Saráh (السَّرَاة), told me that the عِظْلِمَة [which is the
n. un.] is a tree or plant (شَجَرَةٌ) that rises upon a stem about a cubit [in height] and has branches at the extremities of which are what resemble the blossoms of the كُزْبَرَة [or coriander], and it (the tree or plant) is dustcoloured: (
TA:) some say that it is the بِقَّم [or Brazil-wood]: (
Msb:)
MF says, it is the خَطْمِىّ [or marsh-mallow]: (
TA:) thus says El-Hareeree; but El-'Okbaree says that it is not that: (
Har p. 625:) and some say that it is a certain red dye. (
TA.) Hence the
prov., بَيْضَآءُ لَايُدْجِى سَنَاهَا العِظْلِمُ i. e. [A white, or fair, female,] whose whiteness [or brightness] عظلم will not blacken [or darken]: applied to that which is notable, which nothing will conceal. (
Meyd,
TA.)
b2: Hence, as being likened thereto, (
S,) it signifies also The dark night: (
S,
K:) one says لَيْلٌ عِظْلِمٌ. (
TA.) عَظْلَمَةٌ Darkness. (
K.) عِظْلَامٌ Dust;
syn. قَتَرَةٌ and غَبَرَةٌ. (
K.)
