combūrō (conb-)

com-būro ( conb-), ussi, ustum, ĕre, v. a. [root bur-, pur-; cf. burrus, Gr. purros, pruna, Gr. pimprêmi, and Lat. bustum], to burn up, consume (class.).

Prop.: quae potuere Nec cum capta capi, nec cum combusta cremari, Enn. ap. Macr. S. 6, 1 (Ann. v. 360 Vahl.):

fumo comburi nihil potest,

Plaut. Curc. 1, 1, 54:

flamma comburens impete magno,

Lucr. 6, 153:

is ejus (solis) tactus est, ut saepe comburat,

Cic. N. D. 2, 15, 40:

aedis,

Plaut. Aul. 2, 6, 12:

frumentum omne,

Caes. B. G. 1, 5:

naves,

id. B. C. 3, 101:

annales,

Cic. Div. 1, 17, 33; cf. id. N. D. 1, 23, 63; Liv 33, 11, 1: religiosas vestes, * Suet. Tib. 36:

aliquem vivum,

Cic. Tusc. 2, 22, 52; Auct. B. Hisp. 20;

so of persons: et patrem et filium vivos conburere,

Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 2, 2, § 6; Serv ap. Cic. Fam. 4, 12, 3; Cic. Att. 14, 10, 1.—Hence,

P. a., as subst. ' combu-stum, i, n., a burn, a wound made by burning combusta sanare, Plin. 20, 3, 8, § 17:

combustis mederi,

id. 22, 25, 69, § 141. —

Trop. comburere aliquem judicio, to ruin, destroy, Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 2, 2, § 6 (v. the passage in connection). So to be consumed by love, * Prop. 2 (3), 30, 29: diem to pass it in carousing, q. s. to bear it to its grave (the figure borrowed from burning dead bodies), Plaut. Men. 1, 2, 43.