kneecap

[The patella, or knee-pan;] the round bone which moves about in the head of the knee; (S, K;) or which turns aside and moves about above the رَضْف of the knee [which are said to be certain bones in the knee, like fingers put together, holding together one another]: (TA:) or the bone in the inside of the knee, on the right and left of which are the ligaments (العَصَب [app. meaning the internal and external lateral ligaments of the knee-joint, between which is the patella]): (IDrd, TA:) or a bone having at its extremity (فِى طَرَفِهِ [perhaps a mistake for فِى طَرَفَيْهِ at its two extremities]) two ligaments (عَصَبَتَانِ [app. the tendon of the extensor muscles of the leg and the ligamentum patellæ]), at the head of the وَابِلَة [a bone in the knee-joint]: (TA:) it is a subst., like كَاهِلٌ and غَارِبٌ: (TA:) also [explained as signifying] the piece, or portion, of fat beneath the skin that is above the knee: or, as some say, the ligament (عَصَبَة) [in that part]. (TA.) ― -b2- Also Compact flesh: pl. دَوَاغِصُ. (TA.) You say of a man whose flesh is compact, كَأَنَّهُ دَاغِصَةٌ [As though he were a داغصة]. (TA.) -A2- Also Clear, shallow, water: (IDrd, K:) pl. as above. (K.)