מַלְבֵּן, press, frame, mould. Sot. 11ᵃ (ref. to Ex. I, 11) הביאו מ׳ וכ׳ they brought a brick mould and suspended it from Pharaoh’s neck; Ex. R. s. 1. Zeb. 54ᵃ מ׳ שהוא שלשים וכ׳ a frame of thirty-two by thirty-two cubits (which was filled with stones, cement &c.). Y. Sabb. XII, beg. 13ᶜ כנוטל מ׳ וכ׳ like taking a frame and putting it over the piled up bricks (which cannot be called building). Tosef. Sabb. XIII (XIV), 15 מ׳ של מיטה the frame (bottom) of a bedstead. Tosef. Erub. XI (VIII), 17 מ׳ של ספקלריא a window frame. Tosef. B. Bath. II, 14 מ׳ או צורת וכ׳ a window frame or the shape of a door; B. Bath. III, 6. Tosef. Kel. B. Mets. V, 9 מ׳ להיות נותנו וכ׳ a bedstead bottom intended to be moved from one bed to another, opp. intended for one particular bed. Tosef. Ohol. XIII, 5 [read:] מ׳ שהוא מלובש וכ׳, v. לָבַשׁ. Tosef. Kel. B. Bath. I, 8 מ׳ של מסר הגדול the frame of a large saw. Neg. XIII, 3 מ׳ הבנוי וכ׳ a casing to protect that portion of the beam which rests on the wall.—Gen. R. s. 38; Yalk. Prov. 961 (ref. to Prov. XXVII, 22) כזה שהוא … במ׳ like one undertaking to crush barley in a frame; a. fr.—Pl. מַלְבֵּנִים, מַלְבֵּנִין, מַלְבֵּנוֹת, מַלְבֵּי׳. Neg. l. c. B. Bath. 69ᵃ מ׳ של פתחים door frames; מ׳ של חלונות window frames; מ׳ של כרעי המטה sockets for the legs of a bedstead. Kel. XVIII, 3 מֵלְבְּנֵי בני לוי stands for the musical instruments of the Levites; Tosef. Kel. B. Mets. V, 9 מ׳ לוי ed. Zuck. (corr. acc.); a. e.—2) (from its shape) a small garden-bed, a plot (of three hand-breadths in width).—Pl. as ab. Peah III, 1. Ib. 4 מ׳ הבצלים שבין הירק plots of onions between vegetables. Ib. VII, 2 ג׳ שורות של שני מ׳ three rows at a distance of two malbenim (six hand-breadths) from one another; Tosef. ib. III, 10. Ter. IV, 8 המ׳ (sub. דבלי) figs pressed in quadrangular moulds, opp. עגולים.
