praetendo

prae-tendo, di, tum ( part. praetensus, Anthol. Lat. 3, 168, 5), 3, v. a., to stretch forth or forward, to extend (syn. obtendo).

I.

Lit.:

praetenta Tela,

stretched forth, presented, Ov. M. 8, 341: propagines e vitibus altius praetentos, shooting forth, Fab. Pict. ap. Gell. 10, 15, 13: ubi visum in culice natura praetendit? set out, stationed (i. e. extendit, et posuit in anteriore oris parte), Plin. 11, 1, 2, § 2.—

B.

Transf.

1.

To spread before or in front:

membrana, quae praecordia appellant, quia cordi praetenditur,

Plin. 11, 37, 77, § 197; 9, 6, 5, § 15.—

2.

To spread, draw, hold, or place a thing before another:

segeti praetendere saepem,

Verg. G. 1, 270:

vestem tumidis praetendit ocellis,

holds before, Ov. Am. 3, 6, 79:

ramum praetendit olivae,

holds out, Verg. A. 8, 116:

fumosque manu praetende sequaces,

id. G. 4, 230:

decreto sermonem,

to prefix, Liv. 3, 47:

quicquid castrorum Armeniis praetenditur,

Tac. H. 2, 6:

ut adnexa classis et pugnae parata conversā et minaci fronte praetenderetur,

id. ib. 2, 14.—

b.

Of places: praetendi, to stretch out before or in front of, to lie over against or opposite to ( poet. and post - Aug.;

once in Liv.): praetentaque Syrtibus arva,

Verg. A. 6, 60:

tenue litus praetentum,

Liv. 10, 2, 5:

Armeniae praetentus Iber,

Val. Fl. 5, 167:

gens nostris provinciis late praetenta,

Tac. A. 2, 56:

Baeticae latere septentrionali praetenditur Lusitania,

Plin. 3, 1, 2, § 6: a tergo praetendantur Aethiopes, id. 5, 9, 9, § 48; 6, 27, 31, § 134:

Dardanis laevo Triballi praetenduntur,

id. 4, 1, 1, § 3:

extremis legio praetenta Britannis, i. e. opposita custodiae causa,

Claud. B. Get. 416.—

II.

Trop.

A.

To hold out or bring forward as an excuse, to allege, pretend, simulate (syn.:

causor, praetexo): hominis doctissimi nomen tuis immanibus et barbaris moribus (soles) praetendere,

to allege in excuse for, Cic. Vatin. 6, 14:

praetendens culpae splendida verba tuae,

Ov. R. Am. 240:

legem postulationi suae praetendere,

Liv. 3, 45, 1:

quid honestum dictu saltem seditioni praetenditur muliebri?

id. 34, 3, 8:

meminisse, quem titulum praetenderitis adversus Philippum,

id. 37, 54, 13:

decem legatorum decretum calumniae inpudentissimae,

id. 39, 28, 11: vultum, et tristitiam, et dissentientem a ceteris habitum pessimis moribus praetendebant, Quint. prooem. § 15; Plin. Ep. 4, 16, 3:

ignorantia praetendi non potest,

Quint. 7, 1, 35:

haec a se factitari praetendebat,

Tac. A. 6, 18:

praetendere fessam aetatem et actos labores,

id. ib. 3, 59; Flor. 3, 5, 3:

plebeiam facie tenus praetendens humanitatem,

App. M. 10, 23, p. 250, 9.—

B.

To put forward, hold out, allege, assert a thing:

nec conjugis umquam Praetendi taedas,

I never pretended to be your husband, Verg. A. 4, 338:

debitum,

to demand a debt, sue for payment of a debt, Dig. 2, 14, 9.