imminuo

immĭnŭo ( inm- ), ŭi, ūtum, 3, v. a. [inminuo], to lessen, diminish a thing (class.; esp. freq. in the trop. signif.; cf. diminuo, comminuo).

I.

Lit.

A.

In gen.:

si istas exiguas copias quam minime imminueris,

Cic. Fam. 3, 3, 2:

pondus,

Plin. 33, 3, 13, § 47.—

B.

Pregn., to weaken, impair, enfeeble:

corpus otio, animum libidinibus imminuebant,

Tac. H. 2, 93; cf.:

Gauda, morbis confectus, et ob eam caussam mente paululum inminuta,

Sall. J. 65, 1:

vires (Venus),

Lucr. 5, 1017; cf. ib. 626.—In mal. part.:

virginem,

App. Flor. p. 350; Lact. 1, 10 fin. —

II.

Trop.

A.

In gen., to lessen, diminish, abate:

aestivorum tempus comitiorum mora imminuerat,

Sall. J. 44, 3:

quod populi semper proprium fuit, quod nemo imminuit, nemo mutavit,

Cic. Agr. 2, 7, 19:

imminuitur aliquid de voluptate,

id. de Or. 1, 61, 259:

nihil ex consuetudine luxus atque desidiae,

Suet. Ner. 42:

postquam se dolor imminuit,

Ov. H. 15, 113:

verbum imminutum,

contracted, Cic. Or. 47, 157.—

B.

In partic., pregn., to encroach upon, to violate, injure, subvert, ruin, destroy:

nullum jus tam sanctum atque integrum, quod non ejus scelus atque perfidia violarit et imminuerit,

Cic. Rosc. Am. 38, 109:

cupiditas imminuta ac debilitata,

id. Phil. 12, 3, 7:

bellum attenuatum atque imminutum,

id. de Imp. Pomp. 11, 30:

pudicitiam,

Plaut. Cist. 1, 1, 90:

auctoritatem,

Cic. Att. 1, 18, 5; cf. id. Verr. 2, 4, 27, § 60:

jus legationis,

id. ib. 2, 1, 33, §

84: laudem alicujus,

id. Att. 14, 17, A, 2:

libertatem,

id. Caecin. 12, 35:

Bocchi pacem,

Sall. J. 81, 4:

mentes hominum (ebrietas),

Gell. 15, 2, 4:

Agrippa discidio domum imminuerat,

Tac. A. 2, 86.—With acc. pers. only in Tac.:

quamquam Augusta se violari et imminui quereretur,

Tac. A. 2, 34:

perculso Seneca, promptum fuit Rufum Fenium imminuere,

id. ib. 14, 57.—Hence, immĭnūtus, a, um, P. a., diminished, smaller, weak:

mens,

Tac. A. 6, 46:

modus intercalandi interdum cumulatior, interdum imminutior,

Sol. 1, § 44 [p. 893]