חפי, חָפָה (b. h.; cmp. חפף I) 1) to cover, spread over. Ḥull. III, 7 וכנפיו חוֹפִין וכ׳ and whose wings cover the largest portion of its body. Sot. IX, 15 (49ᵃ) וחָפוּ ראשם and covered their heads (in shame).—Part. pass. חָפוּי. Esth. R. to VI, 12 וחֲפוּי ראש וכ׳ and his head covered (in shame) over what had happened to him; Meg. 16ᵃ —2) to bend, curve. Yoma 47ᵃ חוֹפֶה שלש וכ׳ he bends three of his fingers (grasping with them) up to &c.; cmp. חָפַן.
Pi. - חִיפָּה 1) to cover, strew over. Tosef. Kil. I, 15 המְחַפֶּה who covers up (mixed seeds with earth); M. Kat. 2ᵇ; Macc. 21ᵇ. Ib. החופה ed. (Ms. M. המח׳). Y. Kil. VII, 31ᵇ לא במחפה is it not because in plowing over he covers the seeds up? Shebi. IV, 5 לא יְהַפֵּהוּ בעפר he must not cover it (the cut) with loose ground, opp. to (כסה) covering with stones. Y. Taan. II, beg. 65ᵃ אבותינו חִיפּוּ … חִיפִּינוּ וכ׳ our ancestors covered it (the reader’s desk) with gold, and we with dust. Nidd. 16ᵃ ותְחַפֶּנָּהּ וכ׳ and semen virile may have covered it up; a. e. —2) to cover over, to protect from justice, to be partial. Shebu. 39ᵃ מפני שמְחַפִּין עליו because they (the publican’s or robber’s relations) protect him. Ex. R. s. 30 היו מְחַפִּין אותו tried to protect him; a. e. —3) (cmp. גָּבַב) [to heap up words,] to invent fictions (v. II Kings XVII, 9). Gen. R. s. 94 (play on הפים, ib. XLVI, 21) שחִיפּוּ עליו דברים וכ׳ about whom they invented a fiction (Gen. XXXVII, 3).