describo

dē-scrībo, psi, ptum (in MSS. and edd. often confounded with discribo, q. v.), 3, v. a.

I.

To copy off, transcribe any thing from an original (freq. in Cic.;

elsewh. rare): scripsit Balbus ad me, se a te (i. e. e tuo exemplo) quintum de Finibus librum descripsisse,

Cic. Att. 13, 21; cf. id. Ac. 2, 4, 11:

epistolam,

id. Att. 8, 9; id. Fam. 12, 17, 2;

12, 7, 22: legem,

Suet. Cal. 41; id. Dom. 20; so, to write down, write out:

carmina in foliis,

Verg. A. 3, 445;

in carved letters: in viridi cortice carmina,

id. E. 5, 14.— Class. and far more freq.,

II.

To sketch off, to describe in painting, writing, etc.: delineare, definire.

A.

Lit.:

non potuit pictor rectius describere ejus formam,

Plaut. As. 2, 3, 22; so,

geometricas formas in harena,

Cic. Rep. 1, 17 fin.:

formas in pulvere,

Liv. 25, 31; cf. Cic. Fin. 5, 19; id. Clu. 32, 87; id. Sen. 14, 49:

sphaeram,

id. Rep. 1, 14; cf.

caelum,

Varr. R. R. 2, 1, 7:

caeli meatus radio,

Verg. A. 6, 851; cf. id. E. 3, 41:

vitam votivā tabellā,

Hor. S. 2, 1, 33 et saep.—

B.

Trop.

1.

To represent, delineate, describe:

malos mores,

Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 165; cf.:

hominum sermones moresque,

Cic. Or. 40, 138:

definienda res erit verbis et breviter describenda,

id. Inv. 1, 8 fin:

qualem (mulierem) ego paulo ante descripsi,

id. Cael. 20, 50; id. Phil. 2, 44; id. Sull. 29 fin.:

me latronem ac sicarium,

id. Mil. 18, 47:

si quis erat dignus describi, quod malus ac fur, etc.,

Hor. S. 1, 4, 3:

malo carmine,

id. Ep. 2, 1, 154; Quint. 3, 4, 3:

vulnera Parthi,

Hor. S. 2, 1, 15:

lucum, aram Dianae, flumen Rhenum, pluvium arcum,

id. A. P. 18 et saep.:

praecepta,

id. S. 2, 3, 34:

facta versibus,

Nep. Att. 18, 6. —Rarely

(β).

with acc. and inf.:

nec qui descripsit corrumpi semina matrum,

Ov. Tr. 2, 415; Gell. 9, 1.— Part. subst.: dēscrip-ta, ōrum, n.:

recitari factorum dictorumque ejus descripta per dies jussit,

the diary, Tac. A. 6, 24.—

2.

To mark off, define, divide, distribute into parts. (But whenever the notion of distribution or division is implied, the form discribo seems to have been used by class. writers; and is now restored where de-scr. is found in earlier edd., e.g. Cic. Rep. 2, 8; id. de Or. 2, 71, 288; id. Sest. 30, 66 et saep.) Cf.:

libertinos in quatuor urbanas tribus,

Liv. 45, 15:

annum in duodecim menses,

Liv. 1, 19; Flor. 1, 2, 2. —Without in.:

commode omnes descripti, aetates, classes, equitatus,

Cic. Rep. 4, 2; and:

classes centuriasque et hunc ordinem ex censu descripsit,

Liv. 1, 42:

terram,

Vulg. Jos. 18, 6 al. et saep.—

3.

Aliquid (alicui), to ascribe, apportion, appoint, assign to any one (cf. remark, no. 2 supra); cf.: vecturas frumenti finitimis civitatibus, * Caes. B. C. 3, 42, 4; Liv. 1, 32 al.:

officia,

to define, Cic. Ac. 2, 36; id. Fam. 12, 1:

vices (poetae),

Hor. A. P. 86:

munera pugnae,

Sil. 9, 267 et saep.—Hence, dēscrip-tus, a, um, P. a., qs. marked out, i. e. precisely ordered, properly arranged (ap. Cic.):

materies orationis omnibus locis descripta, instructa ornataque,

Cic. de Or. 2, 34, 145; cf.:

ordo verborum,

id. Or. 59, 200:

natura nihil est aptius, nihil descriptius,

id. Fin. 3, 22, 74.— Neutr. plur. as subst.: dēscrip-ta, orum, things recorded, writings, Tac. A. 6, 24.— Sup. does not occur.—

* Adv.: dē-scriptē, distinctly, precisely:

descripte et electe digerere, opp. confuse et permixte dispergere,

Cic. Inv. 1, 30, 49.