الزَّوْبَعَةٌ The name of a certain devil; (Lth, Ḳ;) to which some add, insolent and audacious in pride and rebellion: (TA:) or a certain chief of the jinn, or genii: (Ṣ, Ḳ:) said to be one of those, nine or seven in number, spoken of in the Ḳur-án [xlvi. 28], as listening to the Ḳur-án. (TA.)

And hence, زَوْبَعَةٌ, (Ṣ, Ḳ,) and (Ḳ,) or as some say, (Ṣ, TA,) أُمُّ زَوْبَعَةٍ, (Ṣ, and so in some copies of the Ḳ,) or أُمُّ زَوْبَعَةَ, (as in other copies of the Ḳ,) and, (Ḳ,) as the children of the Arabs of the desert call it, (Lth,) أَبُو زَوْبَعَةٍ, or أَبُو زَوْبَعَةَ, (accord. to different copies of the Ḳ,) i. q. إِعْصَارٌ; (Lth, Ṣ, Ḳ;) i. e. A whirlwind of dust [or sand] rising into the sky; (TA;) a wind that raises the dust [or sand] and rises towards the sky as though it were a pillar: (Ṣ:) [I have measured several of these whirling pillars of dust or sand, with a sextant, in circumstances peculiarly favourable to accuracy, in Upper Egypt, and found them from five hundred to seven hundred and fifty feet in height:] it is said [in the present day] that in the زوبعة is a devil, insolent and audacious in pride and rebellion. (Ḳ.)

زَوَابِعُ [is the pl., and also] signifies Calamities, or misfortunes. (TA.)