I. Act., to bend downwards or aside, to turn aside or in another direction.
A. Lit.: “ramum olivae,” Col. 5, 11, 14; cf.: “palmitem,” id. 4, 26, 3; Catull. 62, 51; Plin. 17, 23, 35, § 204: “tela (Venus),” Verg. A. 10, 331: “amnis in alium cursum,” Cic. Div. 1, 19 fin.: cursum ad Romanos. Liv. 10, 27: “vultum ab aliqua re ad aliquid,” Val. Max. 5, 10, 1: “carinam quolibet,” Luc. 5, 789; cf.: “rapidum iter,” id. 3, 337; “novam viam,” to turn off, construct in another direction, Liv. 39, 27 fin.—
B. Trop.
1. In gen.: “lumina,” Ov. M. 7, 789; cf.: “oculos a cura,” Val. Fl. 8, 76: “cum ipsos principes aliqua pravitas de via deflexit,” Cic. Rep. 1, 44: “aliquem ab institutis studiis,” Quint. 10, 1, 91: “ut declinet a proposito deflectatque sententiam,” Cic. Or. 40: “si ad verba rem deflectere velimus,” id. Caecin. 18, 51: “quaedam in senectute deflexit (for which, shortly before, mutavit), Cels. praef.: in ipsos factum deflectitur,” Quint. 7, 2, 23: “adversarios in suam utilitatem deflectere,” id. 4, 1, 71; cf.: “dotes puellae in pejus,” Ov. R. Am. 325: “tragoediam in obscenos risus,” id. Tr. 2, 409: “perniciosa consilia fortuna deflexit in melius,” Sen. Ben. 6, 8, 1: “virtutes in vitia,” Suet. Dom. 3: “se de curriculo petitionis,” to withdraw, id. Mur. 22 fin.—
2. Esp. (late Lat.), gramm. t. t., to inflect, to vary the form of a word: “non solet sic deflecti,” August. in Psa. 140, 25.—
II. Neutr., to turn off, turn aside.
A. Lit.: “vulgus militum deflectere viā,” Tac. H. 2, 70; cf. “without via,” Suet. Aug. 93 fin.: “in Tuscos,” Plin. Ep. 4, 1, 3.—
B. Trop. (freq., but almost exclusively in Cicero): “deflexit jam aliquantulum de spatio curriculoque consuetudo majorum,” Cic. Lael. 12; so, “de via (consuetudo),” id. Off. 2, 3, 9: “de recta regione,” Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 68: “a veritate,” id. Rosc. Com. 16: “oratio redeat illuc unde deflexit,” id. Tusc. 5, 28, 80: “a Domino,” Vulg. Sirach 36, 28; 2, 7.
