ضل

ضَالَّةٌ ذ an epithet in which the quality of a subst. is predominant, (IAth, TA,) A stray; i. e. a beast that has strayed: (S, O, TA:) or a camel remaining in a place where it is lost, without an owner (K, TA) that is known: (TA:) or a lost animal (IAth, Msb, TA) or other thing, whatever it be: (IAth, TA:) applied to the male and to the female, (S, O, Msb, K,) and to two and to a pl. number: (TA;) and it has for its pl. ضَوَالُّ, (Msb, TA,) like دَوَابُّ pl. of دَابَّةٌ. (Msb.) It is said in a trad., ضَالَّةُ المُؤْمِنِ حَرَقُ النَّارِ [expl. in art. حرق]. (TA.) And one says, الحِكْمَةُ ضَالَّةُ المُؤْمِنِ (assumed tropical:) [ Wisdom is the object of persevering quest of the believer ]; meaning that the believer ceases not to seek wisdom like as a man seeks his stray. (TA.)