ربع

رَبْعٌ ذ A place where people remain, abide, or dwell, in the [ season called ] رَبِيع; (K, TA;) as also ↓ مَرْبَعٌ, (S, Msb, K,) and ↓ مُرْتَبَعٌ: (K, TA:) this is the primary signification: (TA:) and hence, (TA,) (tropical:) a place of alighting or abode, (Sh, S, Msb, K, TA,) of a people, or company of men; (Msb;) a settled place of abode; a place of constant residence; a dwelling; a home; whenever and wherever it be; as also ↓ مَرْبَعٌ, and ↓ مُرْتَبَعٌ: (TA:) and (assumed tropical:) a house, wherever it be: (S, Mgh, K:) [in Egypt, a range of distinct lodgings over shops or magazines, separate from the shops or magazines, but generally having one common entrance and staircase: ] pl. [of mult.] رِبَاعٌ and رُبُوعٌ (S, Mgh, Msb, K) and [of pauc.] أَرْبَاعٌ and أَرْبُعٌ: (S, Msb, K:) and the pl. of ↓ مَرْبَعٌ is مَرَابِعُ. (S.) You say, مَا أَوْسَعَ رَبْعَ بَنِى فُلَانٍ (tropical:) How ample, or spacious, is the place of alighting, or abode, of the sons of such a one! (S, TA.) ― -b2- Hence, also, (tropical:) The people of a place of alighting or abode; (Sh, Msb, TA;) the people of a house or tent: (Aboo-Málik, TA:) a company of men or people: (K:) a large number: (IB:) pl. as above: (Msb:) رُبُوعٌ signifies the people of places of alighting or abode: (Sh:) and also tribes. (TA.) You say, أَكَثَرَ ا@للّٰهُ رَبْعَكَ (tropical:) May God multiply the people of thy house or tent. (TA.) And هُمُ اليَوْمَ رَبْعٌ (tropical:) They now, or to-day, [ are a large number; or] have become many, and have increased. (TA.) ― -b3- [Hence, also,] (assumed tropical:) A bier; or a bier with a corpse upon it; syn. نَعْشٌ. (K, TA: [in the CK نَفْس.]) So in the saying, حَمَلْتُ رَبْعَهُ (assumed tropical:) [ I bore, or carried, his bier, or his bier with his corpse upon it ]. (TA.) ― -b4- (assumed tropical:) The extremity of a mountain. (TA.) [App. because travellers often stop and rest there.] -A2- Also i. q. ↓ رَبْعَةٌ, (L, Msb, K,) which signifies, (S, L, &c.,) as also ↓ رَبَعَةٌ, and ↓ مَرْبُوعٌ, (L, Msb, K,) or الخَلْقِ ↓ مَرْبُوعُ, (S, Mgh, L,) and ↓ مُرْتَبِعٌ, (S, L, K,) and ↓ مُرْتَبَعٌ, (L, K,) and ↓ مِرْبَاعٌ, (K, but this last [says SM] I have not seen in the lexicons, except applied by the author of the “ Mo- heet ” as an epithet to a rope, TA,) applied to a man, (S, L, &c.,) Of middling stature; (Msb;) neither tall nor short; (S, L;) between tall and short: (K:) and so, applied to a woman, ↓ رَبْعَةٌ (S, Mgh, L, Msb, K) and ↓ رَبَعَةٌ, (L, Msb,) though originally applied to a man, like خَمْسَةٌ &c.: (L:) the pl. of رَبْعٌ is رَبْعُونَ: (Fr:) and that of ↓ رَبْعَةٌ is رَبَعَاتٌ, applied to men and to women, (S, Mgh, L, K,) and رَبْعَاتٌ also; (IAar, Fr, L, K) the former of these two pls. being anomalous, because a word of the measure فَعْلَةٌ has not its medial radical movent when it is an epithet, but only when it is a subst. and has not و or ي for that radical; (S, O, K;) or the medial radical is movent in this instance because رَبْعَةٌ is originally a fem. subst. applied to a male and a female, and used as an epithet; (L;) or because it resembles a subst. in its being applied alike to a man and a woman. (Az.)