אבר

אבר

See also: אבֿר‎

Hebrew

Root
א־ב־ר‎ (ʾ-b-r)

Noun

אֵבֶר • ('éver) m [pattern: קֵטֶל]

1. limb, organ
   • a. 217 C.E., Mishnah, Ohalot 7:6:

     ‏הָאִשָּׁה שֶׁהִיא מַקְשָׁה לֵילֵד, מְחַתְּכִין אֶת הַוָּלָד בְּמֵעֶיהָ וּמוֹצִיאִין אוֹתוֹ אֵבָרִים אֵבָרִים, מִפְּנֵי שֶׁחַיֶּיהָ קוֹדְמִין לְחַיָּיו‎

     Ha-ishá she-hi maqshá leyléd, m'ḥatkhín et ha-valád b-me'éha u-motzi'ín otó evarím evarím, mipné she-ḥayyéha qodmín l-ḥayyáv.

     When a woman is having difficulty in childbirth, they cut up the fetus within her belly and remove it limb by limb, because her life comes before its life.

   • a. 500 C.E., Babylonian Talmud, Shekalim 22b:

     ‏מָה אֵבֶר מִן הַחַי אָסוּר — אַף דָּם מִן הַחַי אָסוּר.‎‎

     Mah éver min ha-ḥai asúr, af dam min ha-ḥai asúr.

     Just as the limb of a living animal is forbidden, so too the blood of a living animal is forbidden.

2. (literary) pinion, wing
   • Psalms 55:6, with translation of the Jewish Publication Society:

     ‏וָאֹמַר מִי־יִתֶּן־לִי אֵבֶר כַּיּוֹנָה אָעוּפָה וְאֶשְׁכֹּנָה׃‎‎

     va-omár mi yitén li éver ka-yoná, a'úfa v-eshkóna

     And I said: 'Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then would I fly away, and be at rest.

3. (colloquial) penis
   • a. 500 C.E., Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 107a:

     ‏אֵבָר קָטָן יֵשׁ בָּאָדָם מַשְׂבִּיעוֹ רָעָב וּמַרְעִיבוֹ שָׂבַע‎

     Éver qatán yesh ba-adám masbi'-o ra'áv u-mar'iv-o savá'.

     A little organ there is in a man, where when he feeds it, it starves, but when he starves it, it is fed.

References

• H83 in Strong, James (1979) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance to the Bible

Anagrams

• ארב‎, באר‎, ברא‎