نقب

نِقَابٌ ذ [ A woman's face-veil; ] (S, K;) a veil that is upon [or covers ] the soft, or pliable, part of the nose; (AZ;) [ not extending higher: ] a woman's veil that extends as high as the circuit of the eye: (Msb:) it is of different modes: Fr says, When a woman lowers her نقاب to her eye, it [the action] is termed وَصْوَصَةٌ; and when she lowers it further, to [the lower part of] the circuit of the eye, it [the veil] is called نقاب; and if it is on the extremity of the nose, it is [properly] called لِفَامٌ: (T:) the نقاب, with the Arabs, is that [ kind of veil ] from out of which appears the circuit of the eye: and the meaning of the saying in a trad. النِّقَابُ مُحْدَثٌ is, that women's shewing the circuits of the eyes is an innovation; not that they used not to veil their faces: the [kind of] نقاب which they used reached close to the eye, and they showed one eye while the other was concealed; whereas the [kind of] نقاب, which only shows both the eyes [without their circuits] was called by them وَصْوَصَةٌ [a mistake for وَصْوَاصٌ] and تُرْقُعٌ: [in the original, والنقاب لا يبدومنه الّا العينان وكان اسمه الخ: but the و before كان is erroneously introduced, and perverts the sense, which is otherwise plain, and agreeable with what is said before:] then they innovated the [veil] properly called] نقاب: (A'Obeyd:) pl. نَقُبٌ. (Msb.) -A2- نِقَابٌ and ↓ مِنَقَبٌ A road through a rugged tract of ground: (K:) the former word used both as a sing and a pl. (TA.) -A3- نِقَابٌ (a strange form of epithet, MF,) (tropical:) A man of great knowledge; very knowing: (S, K:) or possessing a knowledge of things, or affairs: or, as also ↓ مِنعقَبٌ, mentioned by I Ath and Z, a man possessing a knowledge of things, who scrutinizes or investigates them much; who is intelligent, and enters deeply into things. (TA.) -A4- نقَابٌ The bello, Hence the proverb, فَرْخَانِ فِى نِقَابٍ [ Two young birds in one belly ]: applied to two things that resemble one another, (K.) In like manner one says كَانَا فِى نقاب وَاحد [ They were in one belly ]; meaning they were like each other, (A.)