Jastrow: אָבָק

אָבָק m. (b. h.; v. אֲבַק, , (thick, whirling) dust, powder. Sabb. III, 3 אֲבַק דרכים the (heated) sand on the roads. Ḥull. 91ᵃ. Cant. R. to III, 6; a. fr.—הסופרים א׳ the refuse of writing material, or the colored sand strewn over the writing. Sabb. XII, 5 וכ׳ כתב במשקין if one writes (on the Sabb.) with a fluid or sap of fruits (instead of ink), or in the sand on roads or in the writer’s powder.—Trnsf. (cmp. אֲבַק) connection, something akin to, shade of, as א׳ לשון הרע a shade of slander; רבית א׳ a shade of usury; א׳ של שביעית an agricultural occupation indirectly related to those forbidden in the Sabbath year; v. infr.—Pl. אֲבָקוֹת. Tosef. Ab. Zar. I, 10 ארבע א׳ הן (ed. Zuck. אבקאות) the word abak in its figur. sense is applied to four things; cmp. B. Bath. 165ᵃ; B. Mets. 61ᵇ; 67ᵃ; Succ. 40ᵇ