(دمو ر دمى)

دُمْيَةٌ دمي دميه دمية An image, or effigy, (S, M, Mgh, K,) of ivory and the like, (S,) or of marble, (M, K,) variegated, decorated, embellished, or coloured, (M, Mgh, K,) in which is redness like blood: (Mgh:) or an image, or effigy, in a general sense: (Kr, M, K:) accord. to Abu-I-'Alà, because originally painted with red, as though from الدَّمُ: and any beautiful female is likened thereto, because adorned: (TA:) metonymically applied to (tropical:) a woman: (IAar, T:) or anything that is deemed beautiful in respect of whiteness: (TA:) and an idol: (Lth, S, K:) said in the R to be so called because of the shedding of blood at the place thereof for the purpose of propitiation; but MF says that this derivation requires consideration: more probably because it is decorated: (TA:) pl. دُمًى. (S, Mgh, K.) Accord. to MF, it is also pronounced ↓ دِمْيَةٌ. (TA.) One says, أَحْسَنُ مِنَ الدُّمْيَةِ, meaning More beautiful than the image of ivory. (Har p. 611.) And لَاوَ الدُّمَى is an oath of the Pagan Arabs, meaning No, by the idols: or, as some relate, it is ↓ لَا وَ الدِّمَاآءِ meaning No, by the blood of what is sacrificed upon the stones set up to be worshipped: so in the Nh. (TA.) ― -b2- The pl., دُمًى, also signifies Garments upon which are pictures or effigies. (S.) ― -b3- See also دَمٌ, last sentence but two.