may be disputed

quaestĭo, ōnis, f. [quaero], a seeking.

In gen. (Plautin.):

cave, fuas mi in quaestione,

lest you suffer yourself to be to seek, lest I have to look after you, Plaut. Pers. 1, 1, 52:

tibi ne in quaestione essemus,

id. Capt. 2, 2, 3; id. Ps. 2, 2, 68.—

In partic., an inquiry, investigation, a questioning, question, subject of inquiry:

quaestio est appetitio cognitionis, quaestionisque finis inventio,

Cic. Ac. 2, 8, 26; 2, 36, 115:

quae veri simillima (sententia sit), magna quaestio est,

id. Tusc. 1, 11, 23; id. Fin. 2, 11, 34:

rem in disceptationem quaestionemque vocare,

to investigate, id. de Or. 3, 32, 129:

res in quaestione versatur,

is under investigation, id. Clu. 58, 159:

de moribus ultima fiet quaestio,

Juv. 3, 141:

res in quaestionem venit,

comes under investigation, Quint. 5, 14, 16:

modo aliquam quaestionem poëticam ei proponeret,

Nep. Att. 20, 2; cf. Cic. Att. 7, 19 fin.; Sen. Ben. 5, 8, 6; id. Ep. 48, 1; Suet. Tib. 56:

quaestionem instituere,

to institute an investigation, Quint. 7, 1, 6:

quaestionem solvere,

Sen. Ep. 48, 11; Quint. 5, 10, 26.—

A public judicial investigation, examination by torture, a criminal inquiry, inquisition; the crime is usu. constr. with de:

cum praetor quaestionem inter sicarios exercuisset,

instituted a trial for assassination, Cic. Fin. 2, 16, 54:

verberibus ac tormentis quaestionem habuit pecuniae publicae,

id. Phil. 11, 2, 5:

quaestionem mortis paternae de servis paternis habere,

id. Rosc. Am. 28, 78:

quaestionem fugitare,

id. ib. 28, 78:

servos in quaestionem polliceri,

id. ib. 28, 77:

quaestionem ferre in aliquem,

to appoint, institute, make a motion for, id. de Or. 1, 53, 227:

habere ex aliquo,

Liv. 33, 28:

facere alicui,

against any one, Dig. 34, 3, 20:

quaestionem de furto constituere,

Cic. Clu. 64, 181:

quaestionem instituere de morte alicujus,

id. ib. 64, 181:

quaestionem de morte viri habere,

id. ib. 65, 182;

63, 176: quaestionem habere de servis in caput filii,

id. ib. 63, 176:

ad quaestionem abripi,

to examination by torture, id. ib. 33, 89:

alicui servum in quaestionem ferre,

id. ib. 64, 181:

postulare servum in quaestionem,

id. ib. 64, 181:

quaestiones severius exercere,

Liv. 9, 34:

quaestioni praeesse,

to conduct a trial as judge, Cic. Rosc. Am. 4, 11: quaestiones perpetuae, the inquisitions concerning certain crimes (repetundarum, majestatis, de falso, de sicariis, de injuriis, etc.), conducted annually, after 605 A. U. C., by a standing commission, and presided over by the prætor, Cic. Brut. 27, 106:

judex quaestionis,

the director of the criminal court under the presidency of the prætor, id. Clu. 54, 148; 33, 89; id. Brut. 76, 264:

quaestiones extraordinariae,

trials out of the common course, held under a special commission, Liv. 39, 14; so,

quaestio nova,

Cic. Mil. 5, 13:

A QVAESTIONIBVS,

an attendant in examinations, a torturer, inquisitor, Inscr. Grut. 545, 6; 560, 1. —

Transf.

The court, the judges:

dimittere eo tempore quaestionem,

Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 30, § 74:

totam quaestionem a severitate ad clementiam transtulit,

Val. Max. 8, 1, 6.—

The subject of investigation, the matter, case, question:

perdifficilis et perobscura quaestio est de naturā deorum,

Cic. N. D. 1, 1, 1:

dividere totam de dis immortalibus quaestionem in partis quattuor,

id. ib. 2, 1, 3:

quaestio proposita,

Quint. 9, 2, 39.—

In partic., in rhet.

The rhetorical subject of debate: quaestionum duo sunt genera: alterum infinitum, alterum definitum. Definitum est, quod hupothesin Graeci, nos causam: infinitum, quod thesin illi appellant, nos propositum possumus nominare, Cic. Top. 21, 79. —

The main point in a disputed matter, the issue in a cause: quaestio est quae ex conflictione causarum gignitur controversia, hoc modo: Non jure fecisti: jure feci. Causarum autem haec est conflictio, in quā constitutio constat;

ex eā igitur nascitur controversia, quam quaestionem dicimus, hoc modo: jurene fecerit,

Cic. Inv. 1, 13, 18; cf. id. ib. 1, 6, 8.—

A question, a disputed point, quaestio est, it is doubtful, may be disputed:

sapientia efficit sapientis sola per se: beatos efficiat necne sola per se quaestio est,

Cic. Top. 15, 60; id. Tusc. 4, 13, 29; id. Inv. 2, 20, 60:

quaestio est, an, etc.,

Quint. 7, 3, 22; cf.:

nulla quaestio est,

Aug. Retract. 1, 19, 6; cf.

also: in quaestione est,

Plin. 11, 17, 18, § 57; 10, 22, 27, § 52:

quaestionis est immensae,

id. 7, 28, 29, § 101; 28, 2, 3, § 10.

* * *

D, d (n. indecl., sometimes f. sc. littera), the flat dental mute, corresponding in character and sound to the English d and the Greek D, was the fourth letter of the Latin alphabet, and was called de: Ter. Maur. p. 2385 P., Auson. Idyll. 12, de Litt. Monos. 14. But at the end of a syllable, or after another consonant, its sound was sharpened, so that the grammarians often discuss the question whether d or t should be written, especially in conjunctions and prepositions. Illa quoque servata est a multis differentia, ut ad cum esset praepositio, d litteram, cum autem conjunctio, t acciperet (Quint. 1, 7, 5; cf. id. 1, 4, 16). Hence we may infer that some disputed this distinction, and that the sounds of ad and at must at least have been very similar (cf. also Terent. Scaur. p. 2250, Vel. Long. p. 2230 sq., Cassiod. p. 2287, 2291). Thus also aput, it, quit, quot, aliut, set, haut are found for apud, id, quid, quod, aliud, sed, haud. It would appear from the remarks of these authors that the last two words in particular, having a proclitic character, while they distinctly retained the d sound before an initial vowel in the following word, were pronounced before a consonant almost as set, haut (Mar. Vict. p. 2462 P., Vel. Long. l. l. v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 191 sq.). The use of t for d in the middle of a word, as Alexenter for Alexander, atnato for adnato, is very rare (cf. Wordsworth, Fragm. p. 486 sq.). On the other hand, the use of d for t, which sometimes appears in MSS. and inscrr., as ed, capud, essed, inquid (all of which occur in the Cod. palimps. of Cic. Rep.), adque, quodannis, sicud, etc., fecid, reliquid, etc. (all in inscriptions after the Augustan period), is to be ascribed to a later phonetic softening (cf. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 191 sq.).

As an initial, the letter d, in pure Latin words, suffers only a vowel after it; the single consonantal compound dr being found only in borrowed words, such as drama, Drusus, Druidae, etc., and in the two onomatopees drenso and drindio. Accordingly, the d of the initial dv, from du, was rejected, and the remaining v either retained unaltered (as in v iginti for du iginti; cf. triginta) or changed into b (as in b ellum, b is, b onus, for du ellum, du is, du onus; v. those words and the letter B). So too in and after the 4th century A.D., di before vowels was pronounced like j (cf. J ovis for Dj ovis, and J anus for Di anus); and hence, as the Greek di ( di) passed into dz, i. e. z (as in z a for d ia, and z eta for di aeta), we sometimes find the same name written in two or three ways, as Diabolenus, Jabolenus, Zabolenus; Jadera, Diadora, Zara. In many Greek words, however, which originally began with a y sound, d was prefixed by an instinctive effort to avoid a disagreeable utterance, just as in English the initial j has regularly assumed the sound of dj: thus Gr. zugon, i. e. diugon = L. jugum; and in such cases the d sound has been prefixed in Greek, not lost in Latin and other languages (v. Curt. Griech. Etym. p. 608 sq.).b. As a medial, d before most consonants undergoes assimilation; v. ad, no. II.; assum, init., and cf. iccirco, quippiam, quicquam, for idcirco, quidpiam, quidquam; and in contractions like cette from cedite, pelluviae from pediluviae, sella from sedela. In contractions, however, the d is sometimes dropped and a compensation effected by lengthening the preceding vowel, as scāla for scand-la. D before endings which begin with s was suppressed, as pes from ped-s, lapis from lapid-s, frons from frond-s, rasi from radsi, risi from rid-si, lusi from lud-si, clausi from claud-si; but in the second and third roots of cedo, and in the third roots of some other verbs, d is assimilated, as cessi, cessum, fossum, etc. D is also omitted before s in composition when another consonant follows the s, as ascendo, aspicio, asto, astringo, and so also before the nasal gn in agnatus, agnitus, and agnosco, from gnatus, etc.: but in other combinations it is assimilated, as assentio, acclamo, accresco; affligo, affrico; agglomero, aggrego; applico, approbo, etc. In tentum, from tendo, d is dropped to avoid the combination ndt or ntt, since euphony forbids a consonant to be doubled after another.g. Final d stood only in ad, apud, sed, and in the neuter pronouns quid, quod, illud, istud, and aliud, anciently alid. Otherwise, the ending d was considered barbarous, Prisc. p. 686 P.

The letter d represents regularly an original Indo-Germanic d, in Greek d, but which in German becomes z, in Gothic t, and in Anglo-Saxon t: cf. Gr. hêdomai, Sanscr. svad, Germ. süss, Angl.-Sax. svēte (sweet), with Lat. suadeo; domare with Gr. damaô, Germ. zähmen, Eng. tame; domus with demô, timber, O. H. Germ. zimber; duo with duô, zwei, two. But it is also interchanged with other sounds, and thus sometimes represents—

An original t: mendax from mentior; quadraginta, quadra, etc., from quatuor.—

An original r: ar and ad; apur or apor and apud; meridies and medidies, audio and auris; cf. arbiter, from ad-beto; arcesso for ad-cesso.—

An original l: adeps, Gr. aleipha; dacrima and lacrima, dingua and lingua; cf. on the contrary, olere for odere, consilium and considere, Ulixes from Odusseus (v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 223).—

An original s: Claudius, from the Sabine Clausus, medius and misos; and, on the contrary, rosa and rhodon. —

A Greek th: fides, pistis; gaudere, gêtheô; vad-i-monium (from va-d-s, vadis), aethlon.

In the oldest period of the language d was the ending of the ablat. sing. and of the adverbs which were originally ablatives (cf. Ritschl, Neue Plaut. Excur. I.; Brix ad Plaut. Trin. Prol. 10): pu CNANDO, MARID, DICTATORED, IN ALTOD MARID, NAVALED PRAEDAD on the Col. Rostr.; DE SENATVOS SENTENTIAD (thrice) IN OQVOLTOD, IN POPLICOD, IN PREIVATOD, IN COVENTIONID, and the adverbs SVPRAD SCRIPTVM EST (thrice), EXSTRAD QVAM SEI, and even EXSTRAD VRBEM, in S. C. de Bacch. So intra-d, ultra-d, citra-d, contra-d, infra-d, supra-d; contro-d, intro-d, etc.; and probably interea-d, postea-d. Here too belongs, no doubt, the adverb FACILVMED, found in the last-mentioned inscription. But this use of the d became antiquated during the 3d century B.C., and is not found at all in any inscription after 186 B. C. Plautus seems to have used or omitted it at will (Ritschl, Neue Plaut. Excurs. p. 18: Corss. Ausspr. 1, 197; 2, 1008).

D final was also anciently found—

In the accus. sing. of the personal pronouns med, ted, sed: INTER SED CONIOVRASE and INTER SED DEDISE, for inter se conjuravisse and inter se dedisse, in the S. C. de Bacch. This usage was retained, at least as a license of verse, when the next word began with a vowel, even in the time of Plautus. But in the classic period this d no longer appears. —

In the imperative mood;

as estod,

Fest. p. 230. The Oscan language retained this ending (v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 206).—

In the preposition se-, originally identical with the conjunction sed (it is retained in the compound seditio); also in red-, prod-, antid-, postid-, etc. ( redire, prodire, etc.); and in these words, too, it is a remnant of the ancient characteristic of the ablative (v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 200 sq.; Roby, Lat. Gr. 1, 49).

As an abbreviation, D usually stands for the praenomen Decimus; also for Deus, Divus, Dominus, Decurio, etc.; over epitaphs, D. M. = Diis Manibus; over temple inscriptions, D. O. M. = Deo Optimo Maxumo; in the titles of the later emperors, D. N. = Dominus Noster, and DD. NN. = Domini Nostri. Before dates of letters, D signified dabam, and also dies; hence, a. d. = ante diem; in offerings to the gods, D. D. = dono or donum dedit; D. D. D. = dat, dicat, dedicat, etc. Cf. Orell. Inscr. II. p. 457 sq.

D, d (n. indecl., sometimes f. sc. littera), the flat dental mute, corresponding in character and sound to the English d and the Greek D, was the fourth letter of the Latin alphabet, and was called de: Ter. Maur. p. 2385 P., Auson. Idyll. 12, de Litt. Monos. 14. But at the end of a syllable, or after another consonant, its sound was sharpened, so that the grammarians often discuss the question whether d or t should be written, especially in conjunctions and prepositions. Illa quoque servata est a multis differentia, ut ad cum esset praepositio, d litteram, cum autem conjunctio, t acciperet (Quint. 1, 7, 5; cf. id. 1, 4, 16). Hence we may infer that some disputed this distinction, and that the sounds of ad and at must at least have been very similar (cf. also Terent. Scaur. p. 2250, Vel. Long. p. 2230 sq., Cassiod. p. 2287, 2291). Thus also aput, it, quit, quot, aliut, set, haut are found for apud, id, quid, quod, aliud, sed, haud. It would appear from the remarks of these authors that the last two words in particular, having a proclitic character, while they distinctly retained the d sound before an initial vowel in the following word, were pronounced before a consonant almost as set, haut (Mar. Vict. p. 2462 P., Vel. Long. l. l. v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 191 sq.). The use of t for d in the middle of a word, as Alexenter for Alexander, atnato for adnato, is very rare (cf. Wordsworth, Fragm. p. 486 sq.). On the other hand, the use of d for t, which sometimes appears in MSS. and inscrr., as ed, capud, essed, inquid (all of which occur in the Cod. palimps. of Cic. Rep.), adque, quodannis, sicud, etc., fecid, reliquid, etc. (all in inscriptions after the Augustan period), is to be ascribed to a later phonetic softening (cf. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 191 sq.).

As an initial, the letter d, in pure Latin words, suffers only a vowel after it; the single consonantal compound dr being found only in borrowed words, such as drama, Drusus, Druidae, etc., and in the two onomatopees drenso and drindio. Accordingly, the d of the initial dv, from du, was rejected, and the remaining v either retained unaltered (as in v iginti for du iginti; cf. triginta) or changed into b (as in b ellum, b is, b onus, for du ellum, du is, du onus; v. those words and the letter B). So too in and after the 4th century A.D., di before vowels was pronounced like j (cf. J ovis for Dj ovis, and J anus for Di anus); and hence, as the Greek di ( di) passed into dz, i. e. z (as in z a for d ia, and z eta for di aeta), we sometimes find the same name written in two or three ways, as Diabolenus, Jabolenus, Zabolenus; Jadera, Diadora, Zara. In many Greek words, however, which originally began with a y sound, d was prefixed by an instinctive effort to avoid a disagreeable utterance, just as in English the initial j has regularly assumed the sound of dj: thus Gr. zugon, i. e. diugon = L. jugum; and in such cases the d sound has been prefixed in Greek, not lost in Latin and other languages (v. Curt. Griech. Etym. p. 608 sq.).b. As a medial, d before most consonants undergoes assimilation; v. ad, no. II.; assum, init., and cf. iccirco, quippiam, quicquam, for idcirco, quidpiam, quidquam; and in contractions like cette from cedite, pelluviae from pediluviae, sella from sedela. In contractions, however, the d is sometimes dropped and a compensation effected by lengthening the preceding vowel, as scāla for scand-la. D before endings which begin with s was suppressed, as pes from ped-s, lapis from lapid-s, frons from frond-s, rasi from radsi, risi from rid-si, lusi from lud-si, clausi from claud-si; but in the second and third roots of cedo, and in the third roots of some other verbs, d is assimilated, as cessi, cessum, fossum, etc. D is also omitted before s in composition when another consonant follows the s, as ascendo, aspicio, asto, astringo, and so also before the nasal gn in agnatus, agnitus, and agnosco, from gnatus, etc.: but in other combinations it is assimilated, as assentio, acclamo, accresco; affligo, affrico; agglomero, aggrego; applico, approbo, etc. In tentum, from tendo, d is dropped to avoid the combination ndt or ntt, since euphony forbids a consonant to be doubled after another.g. Final d stood only in ad, apud, sed, and in the neuter pronouns quid, quod, illud, istud, and aliud, anciently alid. Otherwise, the ending d was considered barbarous, Prisc. p. 686 P.

The letter d represents regularly an original Indo-Germanic d, in Greek d, but which in German becomes z, in Gothic t, and in Anglo-Saxon t: cf. Gr. hêdomai, Sanscr. svad, Germ. süss, Angl.-Sax. svēte (sweet), with Lat. suadeo; domare with Gr. damaô, Germ. zähmen, Eng. tame; domus with demô, timber, O. H. Germ. zimber; duo with duô, zwei, two. But it is also interchanged with other sounds, and thus sometimes represents—

An original t: mendax from mentior; quadraginta, quadra, etc., from quatuor.—

An original r: ar and ad; apur or apor and apud; meridies and medidies, audio and auris; cf. arbiter, from ad-beto; arcesso for ad-cesso.—

An original l: adeps, Gr. aleipha; dacrima and lacrima, dingua and lingua; cf. on the contrary, olere for odere, consilium and considere, Ulixes from Odusseus (v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 223).—

An original s: Claudius, from the Sabine Clausus, medius and misos; and, on the contrary, rosa and rhodon. —

A Greek th: fides, pistis; gaudere, gêtheô; vad-i-monium (from va-d-s, vadis), aethlon.

In the oldest period of the language d was the ending of the ablat. sing. and of the adverbs which were originally ablatives (cf. Ritschl, Neue Plaut. Excur. I.; Brix ad Plaut. Trin. Prol. 10): pu CNANDO, MARID, DICTATORED, IN ALTOD MARID, NAVALED PRAEDAD on the Col. Rostr.; DE SENATVOS SENTENTIAD (thrice) IN OQVOLTOD, IN POPLICOD, IN PREIVATOD, IN COVENTIONID, and the adverbs SVPRAD SCRIPTVM EST (thrice), EXSTRAD QVAM SEI, and even EXSTRAD VRBEM, in S. C. de Bacch. So intra-d, ultra-d, citra-d, contra-d, infra-d, supra-d; contro-d, intro-d, etc.; and probably interea-d, postea-d. Here too belongs, no doubt, the adverb FACILVMED, found in the last-mentioned inscription. But this use of the d became antiquated during the 3d century B.C., and is not found at all in any inscription after 186 B. C. Plautus seems to have used or omitted it at will (Ritschl, Neue Plaut. Excurs. p. 18: Corss. Ausspr. 1, 197; 2, 1008).

D final was also anciently found—

In the accus. sing. of the personal pronouns med, ted, sed: INTER SED CONIOVRASE and INTER SED DEDISE, for inter se conjuravisse and inter se dedisse, in the S. C. de Bacch. This usage was retained, at least as a license of verse, when the next word began with a vowel, even in the time of Plautus. But in the classic period this d no longer appears. —

In the imperative mood;

as estod,

Fest. p. 230. The Oscan language retained this ending (v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 206).—

In the preposition se-, originally identical with the conjunction sed (it is retained in the compound seditio); also in red-, prod-, antid-, postid-, etc. ( redire, prodire, etc.); and in these words, too, it is a remnant of the ancient characteristic of the ablative (v. Corss. Ausspr. 1, 200 sq.; Roby, Lat. Gr. 1, 49).

As an abbreviation, D usually stands for the praenomen Decimus; also for Deus, Divus, Dominus, Decurio, etc.; over epitaphs, D. M. = Diis Manibus; over temple inscriptions, D. O. M. = Deo Optimo Maxumo; in the titles of the later emperors, D. N. = Dominus Noster, and DD. NN. = Domini Nostri. Before dates of letters, D signified dabam, and also dies; hence, a. d. = ante diem; in offerings to the gods, D. D. = dono or donum dedit; D. D. D. = dat, dicat, dedicat, etc. Cf. Orell. Inscr. II. p. 457 sq.

dē-cĭdo, cĭdi, 3, v. n. [cado], to fall off, fall down (class.).

Lit.

In gen.:

decido de lecto praeceps,

Plaut. Cas. 5, 2, 48; so,

anguis decidit de tegulis,

Ter. Ph. 4, 4, 26:

poma ex arboribus decidunt,

Cic. de Sen. 19 fin.; cf.:

e flore guttae,

Ov. M. 9, 345:

equo,

Caes. B. G. 1, 48, 6;

for which ex equo (in terram),

Nep. Eum. 4;

and ab equo (in arva),

Ov. Ib. 259:

summo toro,

id. F. 2, 350:

arbore glandes,

id. M. 1, 106:

caelo,

Plin. 37, 10, 59, § 164; so,

caelo,

id. 2, 52, 53, § 138:

in terras imber,

Lucr. 6, 497; so,

imber,

Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 29:

celsae turres graviore casu,

id. Od. 2, 10, 11:

comae,

id. ib. 4, 10, 3 et saep.:

montium decidentium moles,

Plin. Ep. 8, 17, 3:

(volucris) decidit in terram,

Ov. M. 12, 569;

so in terras sidus,

id. ib. 14, 847:

in puteum foveamve auceps,

Hor. A. P. 458:

in lacum fulmen,

Suet. Galb. 8:

in dolia serpens,

Juv. 6, 432:

in casses praeda,

Ov. A. A. 2, 2:

in laqueos suos auceps,

id. Rem. Am. 502:

in turbam praedonum hic fugiens,

Hor. S. 1, 2, 42:

in praeceps,

Ov. M. 12, 339:

ad pedes tunica,

Suet. Aug. 94. —

Pregn. (like cado and concido), to fall down dead, to sink down, to die (in class. Lat. only poet.):

morbo decidunt,

Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 143:

nos ubi decidimus, Quo pater Aeneas,

Hor. Od. 4, 7, 14:

scriptor abhinc annos centum qui decidit,

id. Ep. 2, 1, 36:

decidit exanimis vitamque reliquit in astris,

Verg. A. 5, 517; cf. Stat. Th. 8, 125; and id. ib. 9, 755: (nupta) Decidit;

in talum serpentis dente recepto,

Ov. M. 10, 10.

Trop., to fall, drop, fall away, fail, sink:

quanta de spe decidi!

Ter. Heaut. 2, 3, 9;

for which quanta spe decidi!

id. ib. 4, 8, 11; Suet. Oth. 5;

and a spe societatis Prusiae,

Liv. 37, 26:

ex astris,

Cic. Att. 2, 21, 4 (cf.: astrum, no. II. B. fin.):

ego ab archetypo labor et decido,

Plin. Ep. 5, 10, 1:

eo decidit ut exsul de senatore fieret,

has fallen so low, id. ib. 4, 11, 1: oculis captus in hanc fraudem decidisti (cf. katapiptein), Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 45, § 101:

ad eas rei familiaris angustias decidit, ut, etc.,

Suet. Claud. 9 fin.; cf.:

huc decidisse cuncta, ut, etc.,

Tac. A. 3, 59:

ficta omnia celeriter tamquam flosculi decidunt,

perish, Cic. Off. 2, 12 fin.:

non virtute hostium sed amicorum perfidia decidi,

am fallen, defeated, Nep. Eum. 11 fin.:

an toto pectore deciderim,

wholly banished from her affections, Tib. 3, 1, 20 (cf. ek thumou peseein, Hom. Il. 23, 595):

qui huc deciderunt,

into this illness, Cels. 3, 21 fin.:

in hydropa,

id. ib. med.: in maximis necessitatibus, ad quas libidine deciderat, Schol. Juv. 5, 3.

dē-cīdo, cīdi, cīsum, 3, v. a. [caedo], to cut off.

Lit. (rare in ante-Aug. per.; more freq. abscīdo;

not in Caes.): taleas oleaginas tripedaneas,

Cato R. R. 45:

collum,

Plaut. Merc. 2, 2, 37:

aures,

Tac. A. 12, 14:

virgam arbori,

id. G. 10:

caput,

Curt. 7, 2;

prov.: pennas,

to clip the wings, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 50:

malleolum,

Plin. 17, 21, 35, § 162:

filicem nascentem falce,

Col. 2, 2, 13; Sil. 4, 389 et saep.—

Transf., to cudgel, beat soundly:

aliquem verberibus decidere,

Dig. 47, 21, 2.

Trop., to decide a disputed, or, indeed, any matter (qs. to cut the knot; cf.:

dirimo and secare lites, res,

Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 42; id. Sat. 1, 10, 15); to determine, settle, terminate, put an end to (class., most freq. in judic. lang.; cf.: transigo, paciscor).

With acc.: damnum, XII. Tab. 12, 4; Gai. Inst. 4, 37; 4, 45:

quibus rebus actis atque decisis,

Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 45 fin.; cf.:

decisa negotia,

Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 59:

res transactione decisa,

Dig. 5, 2, 29;

and jam decisa quaestio,

ib. 18, 3, 4:

decidis statuisque tu, quid iis ad denarium solveretur,

Cic. Quint. 4, 17; id. Rosc. Com. 11, 32; Dig. 47, 2, 63; cf. ib. 9, 4, 22, § 4:

hoc loco praeter nomen cetera propriis decisa sunt verbis,

i. e. decidedly, clearly expressed, Quint. 8, 6, 47: ego pol istam jam aliquovorsum tragulam decidero, I will now dispose of this dart one way or another, i. e. I will now put an end to this attack, these tricks, Plaut. Casin. 2, 4, 18.—

With praepp.:

cum aliquo,

Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 32, § [p. 520] 79; 2, 1, 48, § 125; id. Rosc. Am. 39, 114; Plin. 7, 40, 41, § 130:

non erit uncia tota, decidat tecum qua pater ipse deum,

for which Jupiter may compound with you, Mart. 9, 4, 6; cf.:

cum patrono pecuniā,

Dig. 12, 6, 26, § 12:

de rebus,

Cic. Quint. 5, 19; id. Rosc. Com. 12, 35 sq.; id. Att. 1, 8; Just. 31, 7: decidere jactu coepit cum ventis, to compound with the winds by throwing overboard (the cargo), Juv. 12, 33.—

Absol.:

in jugera singula ternis medimnis,

Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 48; id. Rosc. Com. 36; Aur. Vict. de Vir. Ill. 56, 4.—

To cut down, reduce, diminish:

ad tertiam partem vectigal,

Lampr. Alex. Sev. 38.