كَبَشَهُ, [aor. ـِ {يَكْبِشُ}, accord. to present usage,] inf. n. كَبْشٌ, He took it with his hand having the fingers contracted; (TA;) [he took by the handful, so used in the present day.]

كَبْشٌ A ram, or male sheep, whatever be his age: (M, TA:) or a male sheep [that has entered his third year,] when he has cast his central incisors: or when his tooth that is next to the central pair of incisors has come forth: (Lth, Ḳ:) [also applied in the present day to the wild sheep of the Arabian and Egyptian deserts and mountains; ovis tragelaphus:] pl. [of pauc.] أَكْبُشٌ and أَكْبَاشٌ (Ḳ) and [of mult.] كِبَاشٌ (Ṣ, A, Ḳ) [and app. كُبُوشٌ] and كُبُوشَةٌ, like صُقُورَةٌ from صَقْرٌ. (TA.) The female is not called كَبْشَةٌ, but نَعْجَةٌ. (IJ. [See رَاجِلَةٌ.])

[Hence,] ‡ The chief, or lord, of a people, or company of men; (Ṣ, Ḳ;) their leader: (Ḳ:) or their strenuous defender, or protector, and the one of them to whom others look. (TA.) You say, هُوَ كَبْشُ الكَتِيبَةِ (A, TA) ‡ He is the leader of the army, or troop: (TA:) and هُمْ كِبَاشُ الكَتَائِبِ ‡ [They are the leaders of the armies, or troops]. (A, TA.) And كِبَاشٌ also signifies ‡ Heroes, or brave men. (TA.) And † Aged and learned persons. (TA in art. خرف.)

[Hence also, ‡ A buttress: and a corbel which juts out from a wall to support a superstructure: so in the present day: pl. كُبُوشٌ.] You say, بَنَوْا سُورًا حَصِينًا وَوَثَّقُوهُ بِالكُبُوشِ ‡ [They built a strong town-wall, and made it firm with the buttresses]. (A, TA.) [See also another ex. voce فَصِيلٌ.]

كَبْشَةٌ [A handful: a heap: so applied in the the present day.]

[And hence, † A gang, or crew: thus, also, applied in the present day. Whence the sayings,] بَنُو فُلَانٍ كَبْشَةُ رُذَلَآءَ † [The sons of such a one are a gang of vile persons]: and كَبْشَةُ دُنَسَآءَ † [a gang of dirty, or filthy, persons]: thus they use this word to intimate dispraise: but [SM adds,] I know not how this is. (TA.) [Perhaps SM means that he doubts whether the word thus used be classical or not: for as to its signification, it is well known.]

كَبَّاشٌ An owner, [or a tender] of كِبَاش [or rams]. (TA.)