سدّفهُ, (M, TA,) inf. n. تَسْدِيفٌ, (TA,) He cut it in pieces; namely, a camel's hump. (M, TA.)

اسدف It (the night) became dark; (Ṣ, M, Ḳ;) accord. to some, after the جِنْح [app. as meaning the first part thereof; or about the half; or a great, or the greater, part]: (M:) or let down its curtains, and became dark: and ازدف and اسدف signify the same. (AO, TA.)

And اسدف القَوْمُ The people, or party, entered upon the [period of the night called] سُدْفَة. (M.)

And اسدف He slept; (AA, Ḳ, TA;) as also ازدف. (AA, TA.)

And ‡ His eyes became dark by reason of hunger or age: (Ḳ, TA:) said of a man. (TA.)

Also, said of the daybreak, or dawn, It shone: (Ṣ, Ḳ, TA:) [thus,] as AO says, it has two contr. significations. (TA.)

And He lighted the lamp: (Ḳ:) or one says, in the dial. of Hawázin, أَسْدِفُوا, i. e. أَسْرِجُوا [Light ye a lamp, or with a lamp]; from السِّرَاجُ: (Ṣ, TA:) or one says in that dial., أَسْدَفُوا لَنَا, i. e. أَسْرَجُوا [They lighted for us a lamp, or with a lamp]. (M.)

Also He moved away or aside [in order that the light might enter a place]. (Ḳ.) When a man is standing at a door or an entrance, one says to him, أَسْدِفْ, i. e. Move thou away or aside from the door, or entrance, in order that the chamber, or tent, may become light. (AA, TA. [See also the last sentence of this paragraph.])

[In all of these senses, perhaps excepting one, it is intrans.: in others, trans.]

You say of a woman, اسدفت القِنَاعَ, (Ṣ, TA,) and الحِجَابَ, (TA,) She let down [the head-covering, and the veil, or curtain]. (Ṣ, TA.)

And اسدف السِّتْرَ He raised [the veil, or curtain]. (Ḳ.)

One says also, أَسْدِفِ البَابَ Open thou the door, or entrance, in order that the chamber, or tent, may become light. (Ṣ.)

سَدَفٌ: see سُدْفَةٌ, in three places.

Also The night. (Ṣ, TA.)

And The daybreak, or dawn: (AA, Ṣ, Ḳ:) and the advent thereof: (Fr, Ṣ, Ḳ:) and the whiteness of day. (TA.)

Also A ewe: (Ibn-ʼAbbád, Ḳ:) or such as has a blackness like that of night. (TA.)

And سَدَفْ سَدَفْ is A call to the ewe to be milked. (Ḳ.)

سُدْفَةٌ andسَدْفَةٌ↓ i. q.سَدَفٌ↓, (Aṣ, Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) as meaning The darkness, (Aṣ, Ṣ, Ḳ,) in the dial. of Nejd, (Aṣ, Ṣ,) or of Temeem; (Ḳ;) or as meaning the darkness of night; or, as some say, after the جِنْح [which here app. means the first part of the night; or about the half; or a great, or the greater, part]: (M:) and also as meaning the light, (Aṣ, Ṣ, Ḳ, and M in explanation of the first word,) in the dial. of others, (Aṣ, Ṣ,) or of Keys: (Ḳ:) thus having two contr. significations; (Ṣ, Ḳ;) or the darkness and the light are called by one and the same name because each of them comes upon the other: (Ḳ:) or the first, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) and second, (Ḳ,) the commingling of the light and the darkness, (Ṣ, M, Ḳ,) as in the time between the rising of the dawn, (Ṣ,) or as in the time between the prayer of the dawn, (M,) and that when the sun becomes white, (Ṣ, M,) accord. to some, as is said by AʼObeyd; (Ṣ;) or, as 'Omárah says, the first signifies darkness in which is light, of the former part of the night and of the latter part thereof, between the redness after sunset and the darkness and between the dawn and the prayer [of the dawn]; And Az says that this is the correct explanation: (TA:) and the first and second, a portion of the night: (M, Ḳ:) or the first, a remaining portion of the night: (Ibn-Ḥabeeb, TA:) or the first of five divisions of the night: (TA in art. خدر: see خُدْرَةٌ, voce خَدَرٌ:) and the first, (Ḳ, TA,) i. e. with damm, (TA,) or the second, (CK,) as alsoسَدَفٌ↓, the blackness of night: (Ḳ:) the pl. of the first is سُدَفٌ; as in the saying of ʼAlee, كَشَفْتُ عَنْهُمْ سُدَفَ اللَّيْلِ I removed from over them the darknesses of night: (TA:) and the pl. ofسَدَفٌ↓ is أَسْدَافٌ. (M, TA.) You say also, رَأَيْتُ سُدْفَةَ شَخْصِهِ مِنْ بُعْدٍ ‡ I saw the blackness of his body, or form, from a distance. (TA.)

Also the first, A door, or an entrance: (M, Ḳ:) or its سُدَّة [i. e. vestibule, or porch,, &c.]: (Ḳ:) and a sort of covering over a door to protect it from the rain. (Ḳ,* TA.)

سُدُوفٌ [a pl. of which the sing. is app. سَدَفٌ, like شَدَفٌ,] The corporeal forms or figures or substances of men or other things which one sees from a distance: (Ḳ:) accord. to Ṣgh, (TA,) correctly with ش: (Ḳ, TA:) but the truth is, that they are two dial. vars. (TA.)

سَدِيفٌ A camel's hump: (Ṣ:) or a camel's hump cut into pieces: (M, TA:) or pieces [or slices] of a camel's hump: (Ḥam p. 258:) or the fat of a camel's hump: (M, Ḳ, and Ḥam p. 257:) [or a very fat hump of a camel: (Freytag, from the Deewán of Jereer:)] pl. سَدَائِفُ and سِدَافٌ. (TA.)

سِدَافَةٌ A veil, or covering; a thing that veils, conceals, covers, or protects: whence the saying of Umm-Selemeh to ʼÁïsheh, (O, Ḳ, TA,) when she desired to go forth to El-Basrah, (TA,) قَدْ وَجَّهْتِ سِدَافَتَهُ i. e. هَتَكْتِ السِّتْرَ i. e. أَخَذْتِ وَجْهَهَا [i. e. وَجْهَ سِدَافَتِهِ (JM in art. وجه) Thou hast rent open his veil, or covering, meaning the Prophet's, as is shown in the TA]: (O, Ḳ, TA:) or thou hast removed his veil, or covering: (O, TA:) or thou hast removed his veil, or covering, from its place, to which thou wast commanded to keep, and hast placed it before thee: (O, Ḳ, TA:) but the saying is also related otherwise, i. e. وَجَّهْتِ سِجَافَتَهُ, mentioned before [in art. سجف]. (TA.) One says also, وَجَّهَ فُلَانٌ سِدَافَتَهُ, meaning Such a one quitted his veil, or covering, and came forth from [behind] it. (TA.)

أَسْدَفُ, as an epithet applied to night, Dark, (M, [as also مُسْدِفٌ,]) or black. (Ḳ.)

مُسْدِفٌ Dark: [like أَسْدَفُ:] and also light: having two contr. significations. (M, TA.)

And Entering upon the [period called] سُدْفَة. (TA.).

سَنَامٌ مُسَدَّفٌ A camel's hump cut into pieces [or slices]. (M.)

حِجَابٌ مَسْدُوفٌ A veil, or curtain, let down. (TA.)