Jastrow: לֶחִי II

לֶחִי II, לְחִי m. (b. h.; לחה; cmp. לוֹעָא) [joint,] 1) jaw. Tanḥ. Ki Thissa 18 לוחות שיגיעתן בל׳ the tablets are called luḥoth, because they must be studied with weariness of the leḥi (jaw).—Du. לְחָיַיִם. Erub. 54ᵃ (play on לחת, Ex. XXXI, 18) אם משים אדם לְחָיָיו כאבן וכ׳ Ms. M. (v. Rabb. D. S. a. l. note) if one will make his jaws as (untiring in repeating lessons as) a stone &c. Cant. R. to IV, 15; ib. to V, 12 (ref. to ib. 13) זה מלחים … עד שתהא הלכה יוצאה כמין ל׳ one scholar inserts one thing, another another thing, until the halakhah (decision) comes forth like jaws (well adjusted). Sabb. 57ᵇ (expl. סרביטין, ib. VI, 1) המגיעין לה עד לְחָיֶיהָ ed. (Ms. M. המגיעין עד הלחיים) ornaments of the head which hang down so as to reach her cheeks. Y. Taan. IV, 68ᵈ bot.; Lam. R. to II, 2 יעלו עשבים בלְחָיֶיךָ וכ׳ grass will grow through thy jaws (thou shalt be dead and buried), and the son of David shall not yet have appeared. Tosef. Ohol. I, 6 והלְחָיַיִן עמהן (ed. Zuck. והלחי) and the jaw-bones count among them. Ḥull. X, 1; a. fr. —2) various objects resembling a jaw, or attached to another object; a) that part of the bridle which encompasses the jaw. Kel. XI, 5.—b) the cheek-pieces of a casque. Ib. 8 (v. Maim. comment. ed. Dehr.).—c) inserted sticks, with which the plough is guided. Ib. XXI, 2.—Esp. 3) leḥi, a stake fastened in the ground by the side of a wall, serving as a mark or as a fictitious partition (enclosure) for the purpose of enabling the inmates of an alley to move objects, on the Sabbath, within the space thus enclosed (v. עֵירוּב). Erub. 12ᵇ ל׳ משום מחיצה a leḥi is to serve the place of a partition (palisade), contrad. to משום היכר a mark to distinguish the alley from the public road. Ib. I, 2 הכשר מבוי … ל׳ וקורה the means of fitting an alley for movements on the Sabbath … are a stake and a beam on top; ר׳ אל׳ אומר לְחָיַיִן R. E. says two stakes. Ib. 6 לחיין שאמרו וכ׳ the stakes about which they speak must be ten hand-breadths high &c. Ib. 15ᵃ ל׳ העומד מאליו … הוי ל׳ a pole put up accidentally (not with the intention of making it a Sabbath mark) … serves the ritual purposes of a leḥi. Ib. 12ᵇ הִכְשִׁירוֹ בל׳ if the alley has been made available for Sabbath movements by means of a leḥi; a. v. fr.