قوس

Core meaning

The bow, and its length taken as a measure of distance.

Uses

1. قَوْسَيْنِ → "two bow-lengths" : two lengths of a bow: the measure of a very great nearness.

   • «فَكَانَ قَابَ قَوْسَيْنِ أَوْ أَدْنَىٰ» — "until he was at the distance of two bow-lengths, or nearer" (53:9)

Evidence from the text

The single use does not speak of a weapon: the bow serves as a unit of length, a measure everyone can picture, to say how near he came, "at the distance of two bow-lengths, or nearer" (53:9).

Distinctions

• قوب — the distance, the measure that the bow serves to count

See also

قرب (to be near)