بيت bait pl. بيوت buyūt, بيوتات buyūtāt house, building; tent (of nomads); room; apartment, flat; (garden) bed; family; case, box, covering, sheath; pl. بيوتات large, respectable houses; respectable families; (pl. ابيات abyāt) verse│ بيت الابرة b. al-ibra (navigator’s) compass; اهل البيت ahl al-b. family, specif., the family of the Prophet; اهل البيوتات people from good, respectable families; بيوتات تجارية (tijārīya) commercial houses; البيت الحرام (ḥaram) the Kaaba; بيت الخلاء b. al-ḳalā’ and بيت الادب b. al-adab toilet, water closet; بيت الداء origin or seat of the disease; بيت ريفى (rīfī) country house; بيت القصيدة and بيت القصيد (the essential, principal verse of the kasidah, i.e.) the quintessence; the gist, the essential, the hit of s.th.; s.th. that stands out from the rest, the right thing; بيت لحم baitalaḥm2 Bethlehem; البيت الملك the ruling house; بيت المال treasure house; fisc, treasury, exchequer (Isl. Law); (Tun.) administration of vacant Muslim states