رضع

مُرْضِعٌ ذ and مُرْضَعَةٌ A mother [or other woman] suckling: (Msb:) or one having with her a child which she suckles: the former epithet may with reason be applied to the mother because suckling is performed only by females, like as the epithets حَائِضٌ and طَامِثٌ are applied to a woman; and if مُرْضَعَةٌ were applied to her who has with her a child, it would be correct: (Fr, TA:) [but see another saying ascribed to Fr in what follows:] or the former, a woman having a child which she suckles; (Kh, S, IB, K;) after the manner of a possessive epithet; (IB;) i. e. having a رَضِيع; (Kh, IB;) like اِمْرَأَةٌ مُطْفِلٌ “ a woman having a طِفْل; ” (Kh;) or ظَبْيَةٌ مُشْدِنٌ “ a doe-gazelle having a شَادِن; ” though مُرْضِعٌ has a verb bearing a signification agreeing with this; and it sometimes occurs as meaning having milk, though not having a child that is suckled: (IB:) but the latter is used in describing a woman as performing an action; (Kh;) signifying suckling a child: (S, K:) the former is used when the [abstract] quality is meant: the latter, when the action is meant: but God knows: (Akh:) or the former signifies one who is near to suckling, but has not yet suckled: and one having with her the child that is suckled [ by her ] (الصَّبِىُّ الرَّضِيعُ): and the latter, [in the TA the former, but this is a mistranscription, as is shown by what follows,] one who is suckling, her teat being in the mouth of her child; and in this sense it is used in the Kur, in a passage which see below: (AZ in the TA:) Th says, the latter signifies one who suckles, though she have not a child, or if she have a child: and the former, one who has not a child with her, and sometimes having with her a child: and in one place he says, when the action is meant, the latter is used, and it is made an epithet: and when the ة is not added, it is meant as a subst: (TA:) Fr and some others say that it is without ة when the proper signification of suckling is meant: and with ة when the tropical signification of a subject of the attribute of suckling in time past or future is meant: (Msb:) the pl. [of both, though said in the Mgh and TA to be that of the former,] is مَرَاضِعُ (Mgh, Msb, TA) and مَرَاضِيعُ. (Msb, TA.) The saying in the Kur [xxii. 2], يَوْمَ تَرَوْنَهَا تَذْهَلُ كُلُّ مُرْضِعَةٍ عَمَّا أَرْضَعَتْ means [ On the day when ye shall see it, ] every woman that is suckling;, (AZ, Kh,) in the act of doing so, (Kh,) with her teat in the mouth of her child; (AZ,) [ shall neglect, or become heedless of or diverted from, that which she shall have been suckling: ] or مرضعة here has the last signification explained in the preceding sentence [so that the meaning is every woman who shall have been suckling or shall be going to suckle ]. (Msb.) ― -b2- It is said in a trad., نِعْمَتِ المُرْضِعَةُ وَبِئْسَتِ الفَاطِمَةُ, meaning (assumed tropical:) Excellent in the office of commander, or governor, and the profit, or advantage, which it brings to its possessor; and very evil is death, which destroys his delights, or pleasures, and stops the profits, or advantages, of that office. (TA.) ― -b3- The pl. مَرَاضِيعُ is metaphorically applied as an epithet to bees (جَوَارِس, i. e. نَحْل). (TA.)