מָסַס (b. h.) to melt, dissolve.
Nif. - נָמַס, נָמֵס, , נִימּוֹס, נִימַּס to melt, be liquefied; to fall away; to faint; to despair. Ex. R. s. 25 נִימּוֹסִּין (Var. נִימַּסִּין) they faint. Yalk. ib. 251 התחילו נְמַסִּין they began to lose heart; Mekh. B’shall., Shir., s. 9 לֵהָמֵס. Deut. R. s. 1, end תִּימַּס עינו וכ׳ may this man’s (thy) eye run out. Maasr. I, 2 הרמונים משיִמַּסּוּ pomegranates are subject to tithes when their core becomes pulpy; expl. Y. ib. 48ᵈ bot. משיתמעך אוכל וכ׳ (cmp. מִסְמֵס II) when the eatable portion (core) can be mashed under one’s fingers; [anoth. definition taking our w. in the sense of falling away, diminution; משיכניסו מחצה when the ripening core is reduced to half the capacity of the cavity,—upon which the remark is made, דילמא … הֵמַסּוּ … פלגון לבבנו perhaps he learned it from the homiletical teachers who interpret hemassu &c. (Deut. I, 28), they divided our hearts (an allusion to Num. R. s. 17)].
Hif. - הֵמֵס to cause to melt away. Deut. R. s. 2, beg. (ref. to Ps. XXXIX, 12) כל חמדה … הֵמַסְתָּ אותה וכ׳ (not אותו) all the delight which Moses longed for, to enter the land,—thou hast caused it to decay as a moth enters garments and makes them decay. V. מָסָה.