I.biting, given to biting, snappish (poet. and in postAug. prose).
I. Lit.: “canis,” Plaut. Bacch. 5, 2, 27: equus, Labeo ap. Gell. 4, 2: “asinus,” App. M. 8, p. 213 init.: Memmius, Auct. ap. Cic. de Or. 2, 59, 240.—Poet.: “fibula,” Sid. Carm. 5, 18.—
B. Transf., stinging, sharp, biting, pungent: “urtica,” stinging, Ov. A. A. 2, 417: “arista mordacior hordeo,” Plin. 18, 7, 10, § 61: “mordacissima marga,” id. 17, 8, 4, § 45: “mordaci icta ferro Pinus,” biting, deepcutting, Hor. C. 4, 6, 9: “pumex,” Ov. A. A. 1, 506: “pulvis,” corrosive, Plin. 15, 29, 37, § 123: “fel,” biting, sharp, Ov. P. 3, 3, 106: “acetum,” sharp, pungent, Pers. 5, 86: “sucus,” Plin. 25, 8, 50, § 89.—
II. Trop., biting, disposed to bite.
A. Of persons: “Cynicus,” biting, snarling, Hor. Ep. 1, 17, 18: “lividus et mordax,” id. S. 1, 4, 93.—
B. Of inanim. and abstr. things: “carmen,” Ov. Tr. 2, 563: “invidia,” Phaedr. 5 prol. 8: “verum,” Pers. 1, 107: “sollicitudines,” biting, carking, Hor. C. 1, 18, 4: “belle interim subicitur pro eo, quod neges, aliud mordacius,” a more stinging assertion, Quint. 6, 3, 74.—Hence, adv.: mordācĭter , bitingly (poet. and postclass. prose), Macr. S. 7, 3, 8.—Comp.: “neque enim in nobis febris alias partes mordacius impellit, sed per omnia pari aequalitate discurrit,” Sen. Q. N. 6, 15, 3: “limā mordacius uti,” more sharply, Ov. P. 1, 5, 19: “scribere,” Lact. 5, 2, 12.
