Jastrow: חָסֵר II

חָסֵר II, חֲסֵרָה, חֲסֵי׳ f. 1) wanting, defective; less. Sabb. VII, 2 ארבעים ח׳ אחת forty (labors) less one. B. Bath. VII, 2, v. הֵן. Ib. 89ᵇ מדה ח׳ וכ׳ a measure too small or too large. Tosef. Taan. I, 2 אם … השנה ח׳ if the year had a deficiency of rain; Y. ib. I, 64ᵇ; a. fr.—Pl. חֲסֵירִים, … רִין; חֲסֵירוֹת. Macc. 23ᵃ חֲסֵירֵי כח of feeble physics; a. fr.—Esp. a) (calendar) חָסֵר a defective month (of 29 days), opp. מלא of thirty days. B. Mets. 59ᵇ ואיחליף מלא לח׳ … and he made a mistake between a full and a defective month (thought it was the thirtieth day of the preceding month). R. Hash. 19ᵇ; a. fr.—Pl. as ab. Ib.— b) (orthogr.) a defective writing, omission of the vowel letter, opp. מלא (plene), e. g. חֹדֶשׁ, plene חוֹדֶשׁ.—Pl. f. חֲסֵירוֹת. Erub. 13ᵃ; Kidd. 30ᵃ ח׳ ויתרות the rules concerning defective and plene; a. fr. —2) creating a defect. Ḥag. 3ᵇ (ref. to Koh. XII, 11) אי מה … ח׳ וכ׳ you might think, as the nail (driven in) creates a hole and not an addition, אף ד"ת חֲסֵירִין וכ׳ so do the words of the Law &c.; Yalk. Koh. 989 end אף ד"ת מְחַסְּרִין וכ׳.