very ignitible

răpax, ācis, adj. [rapio], grasping, greedy of plunder, rapacious.

Lit. (class.;

syn. furax): vos rapaces, vos praedones,

Plaut. Men. 5, 7, 26; id. Pers. 3, 3, 6:

olim furunculus, nunc vero etiam rapax,

Cic. Pis. 27, 66; so with fur, id. Verr. 2, 3, 2, § 4:

inopiā rapax,

Suet. Dom. 3:

procuratorum rapacissimum quemque,

id. Vesp. 16; cf. Tac. H. 1, 20:

Cinara,

i. e. eager for presents, Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 33; so Tib. 1, 5, 59; 2, 4, 25:

cervi, luporum praeda rapacium,

Hor. C. 4, 4, 50; id. Epod. 16, 20; cf.

Harpyiae,

id. S. 2, 2, 40.— As subst.: răpax, ācis, comm., a beast of prey, Plin. 11, 45, 101, § 247.—

Of things, rapacious, ravenous (mostly poet.):

falces rapaces,

Lucr. 3, 650:

ventus,

Ov. A. A. 1, 388:

ignis,

id. M. 8, 837:

mors,

Tib. 1, 3, 65; cf.

Orcus,

Hor. C. 2, 18, 30:

fortuna,

id. ib. 1, 34, 14:

dentes,

fangs, tusks, Veg. 6, 1, 1.—With gen.:

chryselectrum rapacissimum ignium,

very ignitible, Plin. 37, 3, 12, § 51.—As a poet. epithet of floods:

amnes,

Lucr. 5, 341:

fluvii,

id. 1, 17:

unda, Cic. poët. N. D. 3, 10, 24: undae,

Ov. M. 8, 550:

Danubius,

id. ad Liv. 397.— Hence, transf., an appellation of the twenty-first legion and the soldiers composing it (qs. that sweeps every thing before it), Tac. H. 2, 43; 100; 3, 14; 18; 22.—

Trop. (rare), with gen., grasping, seizing eagerly or quickly, greedy, avaricious:

nihil est rapacius quam natura,

Cic. Lael. 14, 50:

rapacia virtutis ingenia,

Sen. Ep. 95, 36:

nostri omnium utilitatum et virtutum rapacissimi,

Plin. 25, 2, 2, § 4.