raresco

rāresco, ĕre, v. inch. n. [rarus], to grow thin, lose its density, to become rare, be rarefied ( poet. and in post-Aug. prose).

I.

Lit.:

fulgit item cum rarescunt quoque nubila caeli,

Lucr. 6, 214; cf. id. 6, 513; Stat. S. 1, 2, 186:

umor aquai ab aestu,

Lucr. 6, 875; cf.:

rarescit terra calore,

becomes loose, id. 6, 841:

corpus,

id. 4, 865; 892:

resolutaque tellus In liquidas rarescit aquas,

Ov. M. 15, 246:

quadrupedibus senectute lanae rarescunt,

Plin. 11, 39, 94, § 231.—

II.

Transf.:

rarescunt alta colonis Maenala,

i. e. become empty, depopulated, Stat. Th. 4, 284; cf.:

moenia densae Romae,

id. S. 4, 4, 14: rarescit multo laxatus vulnere miles, the ranks grow thin, Sil. 17, 423; 5, 382; and:

rarescunt cuspide pugnae,

Val. Fl. 6, 617:

umbrae rarescentes,

Stat. Th. 1, 343; 11, 74: ubi angusti rarescent claustra Pelori, i. e. shall open themselves, grow wider, i. q. laxabuntur, patebunt, * Verg. A. 3, 411; so,

colles paulatim rarescunt,

Tac. G. 30.—

III.

Trop.:

sonitus rarescit,

becomes feeble, diminishes, dies away, Prop. 3, 15 (4, 14), 35:

quod justitia rarescit, iniquitas increbrescit,

Tert. Apol. 20:

ita justitia rarescet, ita impietas et avaritia crebrescent,

Lact. 7, 15, 8:

Ibis efficit, ut rarescant mortiferae pestes absumptae,

become rare, Amm. 22, 15, 25; 26, 3, 1. (In Ov. M. 15, 246, the read. varies between rarescit and rorescit.)