devolvo

dē-volvo, volvi, vŏlūtum, 3, v. a., to roll or tumble down (class.).

I.

Lit.:

saxa in musculum,

Caes. B. C. 2, 11, 1, and 2; cf.

saxa (amnis),

Quint. 12, 10, 61:

auratas trabes,

Verg. A. 2, 449: tonitrua, i. e. to imitate it (by rolling down balls behind the scenes), Phaedr. 5, 7, 23:

clipeos e muris,

Curt. 4, 3 fin.:

panem ex igne,

Cat. 59, 4:

corpora in humum,

Ov. M. 7, 574:

se toris,

Val. Fl. 1, 235 et saep.— Poet.:

fusis mollia pensa,

i. e. to spin off, Verg. G. 4, 349.—

b.

Pass. in mid. force, to roll itself down, to roll or tumble down, to fall headlong:

monte praecipiti devolutus torrens,

Liv. 28, 6; cf. Col. 1, 5, 2; Curt. 5, 3:

jumenta cum oneribus devolvebantur,

Liv. 21, 33:

ex praecipiti,

Curt. 7, 11.—

II.

Trop.:

aliquem vitā suā, to remove from,

i. e. to deprive of, Plaut. Men. 5, 5, 5:

per audaces nova dithyrambos Verba devolvit (the figure being taken from a river),

Hor. Od. 4, 2, 11.—

b.

Mid., to sink down, fall into: ad spem inanem pacis devoluti, * Cic. Phil. 7, 4, 13:

retro ad stirpem,

Liv. 1, 47:

ad otium et inertiam,

Col. 1 prooem. §

29: devolvuntur,

hasten down, Amm. 15, 10, 4.