ضن

ضِنٌّ ذ an inf. n. of 1 [q. v.]. (S, &c.) ― -b2- Also A thing highly esteemed, of which one is tenacious. (TA.) ― -b3- [Hence] one says, هُوَ ضِنِّى He is the person of whose affection I am tenacious; as also ↓ ضِنَّتِى and ↓ ضَنِينِى: (TA:) or he is my particular, or special, friend, (K, TA,) مِنْ بَيْنِ اـِخْوَانِى [ chosen from among my brethren ]; (S, TA;) as though I appropriated him specially to myself, and were tenacious of him because of the place that he held in my estimation: as is said in the S, it is like special appropriation [of the person to oneself]. (TA.) [And as ضِنٌّ is originally an inf. n., it is used as an epithet applied to a pl. number:] it is said in a trad., اـِنَّ لِلّٰهِ ضِنًّا مِنْ خَلْقِهِ يُحْيِيهِمْ فِى عَافِيَةٍ وَيُمِيتُهُمْ فِى عَافِيَةٍ, (S, TA,) or مِنْ خلقه ↓ ضَنَائِنَ, (K, * TA,) accord. to different relations thereof, (TA,) i. e. [ Verily God has ] specially-distinguished individuals [ of his creatures, whom He causes to live in a state of freedom from disease, or from disease and trial, and whom He causes to die in a state of freedom &c.]: (K, TA:) the sing. of ضَنَائِن is ↓ ضَنِينَةٌ, of the measure فَعِيلَةٌ in the sense of the measure مَفْعُرلَةٌ, and meaning a thing that one specially appropriates to himself, and of which he is tenacious because of the place that it holds in his estimation. (TA.)