I. Lit., to bend, wind, curve; to bow, to swell out in curves (perh. not ante-Aug.; most freq. in the poets; “syn.: curvo, flecto): (anguis) sinuat immensa volumine terga,” Verg. A. 2, 208; cf.: “flexos corpus in orbes (anguis),” Ov. M. 9, 64: “(equus) sinuet alterna volumina crurum,” Verg. G. 3, 192: “imposito patulos calamo sinuaverat arcus,” i. e. had bent, stretched, Ov. M. 8, 30; so, “arcum,” id. ib. 8, 381: nervum, Sen. Herc. Fur. 1198: “Euphraten immensum attolli et in modum diadematis sinuare orbes,” Tac. A. 6, 37: “(anguis) immensos saltu sinuatur in arcus,” Ov. M. 3, 42; cf.: “gurges curvos sinuatus in arcus,” id. ib. 14, 51: “cornua Lunae sinuantur,” id. ib. 3, 682; 14, 501; Cels. 8, 1 med.: muri per artem obliqui aut introrsus sinuati, bent inwards, i. e. with retreating angles, Tac. H. 5, 11; cf.: “exercitus in cornua, sinuatā mediā parte, curvatur,” Sen. Vit. Beat. 4: “(Chaucorum gens) donec in Chattos usque sinuetur,” extends in a curve, Tac. G. 35: “Ionia se ambagibus sinuat,” Mel. 1, 17: “oceanum,” Claud. Rapt. Pros. 1, 271.—*
II. Transf., to hollow out, excavate: “adhuc sana rodendo,” Cels. 7, 2, § 21.