fossor

fossor, ōris, m. [id.], a digger, delver, ditcher.

I.

Lit.

A.

In gen. ( poet. and in post-Aug. prose):

et labefacta movens robustus jugera fossor,

Verg. G. 2, 264:

squalidus in magna compede fossor,

Juv. 11, 80; Hor. C. 3, 18, 15; Mart. 7, 71, 4; Col. 11, 2, 38:

ceu septa novus jam moenia laxet Fossor,

i. e. a miner, sapper, Stat. Th. 2, 419.—

B.

In partic.

1.

A miner, workman in a mine, Vitr. 7, 8, 1; Calp. Ecl. 4, 118 (cf. aurifossor).—

2.

[p. 775] In late Lat., a grave-digger, Inscr. Orell. 4925 al.; cf. fossa, I. B. 3.—

3.

In mal. part., a fornicator, Aus. Ep. 49; cf. fossa, I. B. 4.—

II.

Transf., in gen., in a contemptuous signif., a common laborer, a clown, Cat. 22, 10:

cum sis cetera fossor,

Pers. 5, 122.