עִיסָה, (עסס) started dough (contrad. to בצק risen dough), quantity of flour used for one person’s meal. Erub. 83ᵇ כמה עִיסַת המדבר how much is the ʿisah of the desert? Makhsh. II, 8 פת ע׳ bread made of started dough (of pure flour), opp. פת קיבר. Tosef. Ḥall. I, 4 העושה ע׳ לאוכלה בבצק if one starts dough with the intention to eat it as dough when it is risen. Y. ib. II, end, 58ᵈ דרך ע׳ the way dough is made (of pure flour). Ib. עִיסָתוֹ מרובה his (the baker’s) dough is a large quantity. Ib. עינה יפה בעִיסָתָהּ, v. עַיִן; a. v. fr.—Pl. עִיסוֹת. Erub. l. c. (ref. to Num. XV, 20) כדי עִיסוֹתֵיכֶם a quantity large enough for your dough (for immediate use); וכמה עיסותיכם וכ׳ and how large is that quantity? As much as the ʿisa of the desert. Ab. Zar. 68ᵃ. Sot. 30ᵃ; a. fr.—Trnsf. a) the human body, sensuality. Lev. R. s. 13, v. נָשַׁף. Ber. 17ᵃ גלוי … ומי מעכב שאור שבע׳ it is revealed and known to thee, that it is our will to do thy will, and what prevents it? The leaven in the dough (the fermenting passion). Gen. R. s. 34 (ref. to Gen. VIII, 21) עלובה היא הע׳ שנחתומה וכ׳ it is poor dough which the baker (that sells it) declares to be bad; a. e.—b) a mixed family, a family suspected of containing an alien admixture, ʿisah, (opp. סולת נקיה, v. סֹלֶת). Y. Keth. I, 25ᵈ top; Tosef. Kidd. V, 2 איזוהי ע׳ (כשירה) כל וכ׳ what ʿisah is it the issue of which is admitted to priesthood? In which there is no suspicion of an admixture of n’thinim &c.; Keth. 14ᵃ איזוהי אלמנת ע׳ (strike out אלמנת, v. Tosaf. a. l.). Tosef. l. c. מפני מה אמרו ע׳ פסולה וכ׳ why, then, has it been declared that a woman of an ʿisah family is prohibited from marrying into priesthood? Because suspected ḥălalim (v. חָלָל II) are mixed up with it. Eduy. VIII, 3, a. fr. אלמנת ע׳ the widow of one belonging to an ʿisah family. Ib. ע׳ כשירה לטמא וכ׳ a member of an ʿisah family may serve (through intermarriage) to make clean as well as to make unclean, v. מִקְוֶה; a. fr.—Yalk. Deut. 808 עמדו … וערבו את הע׳ (not וערכו) the daughters of Lot arose and mixed the dough (had incestuous intercourse).