Core sense — he undertook a task with difficulty; he affected, or pretended to have, a qualitygenerated
5.1
He [undertook a thing, or an affair, as imposed upon him: or] took upon himself, or undertook, a thing, or an affair, [as a task, or] in spite of difficulty, trouble, or inconvenience; synonym تَجَتَّمَهُ.
He constrained himself, or took pains, or made an effort, to do a thing that was difficult, troublesome, or inconvenient to him; or he affected the doing of a thing as a self-imposed task.
See تغزّل and see كَلَّفَهُ أَمْرًا.
5.1.1he affected, or endeavoured to acquire, a quality—تكلّف صِفَةً
So in the explanations of verbs of the measure تَفَعَّلَ, such as نَحَلَّمَ.
5.1.2he exercised self-constraint, or put himself to trouble or inconvenience—تَكَلَّفَ
Also: he affected, or pretended to have, a quality he did not have.
So in the explanations of verbs of the measure تَفَاعَلَ, such as تَجَاهَلَ; [and sometimes in verbs of the measure تَفَعَّلَ also, as تَكَسَّرَ, etc.].
5.1.3he affected what was not natural to him—تَكَلَّفَ
5.1.4he used forced efforts to do a thing, and to appear to have a quality—تَكَلَّفَ
He affected, or endeavoured to do or acquire, something; he constrained himself to do it; he applied himself to doing a thing as to a task.
he made himself courageous; he affected, or tried to acquire, courage—تكلّف الشَّجَاعَةَ
5.1.5he behaved with forced courage; he tried to be courageous—تكلّف الشَّجَاعَةَ
5.1.6he used a forced, or affected, manner in his Arabic speech—تكلّف فِى عَرَبِيَّتِهِ
5.1.7a straining of a point in lexicology—تَكَلُّفٌ
5.1.8he affected, or endeavoured to acquire, intelligence—تَعَقَّلَ
Explained by تكلّف العَقْلَ and تَعَاقَلَ: he pretended to be intelligent without really being so; see the article عقل.
تَكَلُّفٌ in a verb of the measure تَفَعَّلَ is as explained above, signifying a desire for an attribute to exist in oneself; in a verb of the measure تَفَاعَلَ it is different, and means pretending to be or to do something that one in reality is not or does not, as with تَجَاهَلَ, he pretended to be ignorant without really being so.
he did so on purpose—تَكَلَّفَ كَذَا
5.1.9he tasked himself—تَكَلَّفَ
5.1.10he vomited on purpose—تَكَلَّفَ القَىْءَ
See the article قىء.
Show Lane's original text
He [undertook a thing, or an affair, as imposed upon him: or] took, or imposed, upon himself, or undertook, a thing, or an affair, [as a task, or] in spite of difficulty, trouble, or inconvenience; (Msb;) syn. تَجَتَّمَهُ : (S, K:) he constrained, or tasked, or exerted, himself, or took pains, or made an effort, to do a thing; meaning, a thing that was difficult, troublesome, or inconvenient, to him: or he affected, as a self-imposed task, the doing of a thing. (The Lexicons, passim: see تغزّل : and see كَلَّفَهُ أَمْرًا .) تكلّف صِفَةً He affected, or endeavoured to acquire, a quality. So in the explanations of verbs of the measure تَفَعَّلَ ; as نَحَلَّمَ . (Sharh El-'Izzee, by Saad-ed-Keen.) Also, He affected, or pretended to have, a quality, not having it. So in the explanations of verbs of the measure تَفَاعَلَ , as تَجَاهَلَ : (idem:) [and sometimes in verbs of the measure تَفَعَّلَ also, as تَكَسَّرَ &c.]. And تَكَلَّفَ alone, He exercised self-constraint, or put himself to trouble or inconvenience. تَكَلَّفَ He affected what was not natural to him. تَكَلَّفَ He used forced efforts to do a thing, and to appear to have a quality. He affected, or endeavoured to do or acquire, &c.; he constrained himself to do, &c.; he applied himself, as to a task, to do a thing. تكلّف الشَّجَاعَةَ He made himself, or constrained himself to be, courageous; affected, or endeavoured to acquire, or characterize himself by, courage. تكلّف الشَّجَاعَةَ also, He acted, or behaved, with forced courage; endeavoured to be courageous. تكلّف فِى عَرَبِيَّتِهِ He used a forced, or affected, manner in his Arabic speech. تَكَلُّفٌ A straining of a point in lexicology. تَعَقَّلَ signifies He affected or endeavoured to acquire, intelligence; explained by تكلّف العَقْلَ : and تَعَاقَلَ , he pretended to be intelligent, not being really so. (S, art. عقل .) تَكَلُّفٌ in a verb of the measure تَفَعَّلَ is as above explained, signifying a desire for the existence of an attribute in one's self: in a verb of the measure تَفَاعَلَ it is different, and means the pretending to be or to do something which in reality one is not or does not; as in the instance of تَجَاهَلَ , he pretended to be ignorant, not being so in reality. (Sharh El-'Izzee, by Saad-ed-Deen.) تَكَلَّفَ كَذَا He did so purposely. تَكَلَّفَ He tasked himself. تَكَلَّفَ القَىْءَ He vomited intentionally. (TA, art. قىء .)