I.the stem, stock, bole, or trunk of a tree (without regard to its branches).
I. Lit.: “cibus ... Per truncos ac per ramos diffunditur omnes,” Lucr. 1, 353: “quid? in arboribus, in quibus non truncus, non rami, non folia sunt denique, nisi, etc.,” Cic. de Or. 3, 46, 179; cf. id. Sen. 15, 52; id. N. D. 2, 47, 120; id. Lael. 13, 48; Caes. B. G. 4, 17; 7, 73, Verg. G. 2, 78; 3, 233; Hor S. 1, 8, 1; id. C. 2, 17, 27; 3, 4, 55; Ov. M. 2, 358; 8, 346; id. H. 9, 93; Col. Arb. 17, 1; Sen. Ep. 86, 17.—
B. Transf.
1. Of the human body, the trunk, the body, apart from the limbs: “status erectus et celsus, nullā mollitiā cervicum: trunco magis toto se ipse moderans,” Cic. Or. 18, 59: “nemo illum ex trunco corporis spectabat,” id. Rosc. Com. 10, 28: “recto pugnat se attollere trunco,” Ov. M. 2, 822; cf. id. ib. 7, 640: “et caput abscisum calido viventeque trunco,” Lucr. 3, 654: jacet litore truncus. Verg. A. 2, 557.—
2. Of a column.
(α).
The shaft, Vitr. 4, 1 med.—
(β).
The cubical trunk of a pedestal, the die or dado, Vitr. 3, 3; cf. Plin. 16, 40, 76, § 201.—
3. A piece cut off, as a branch of a tree for an our: “frondentes,” Val. Fl. 8, 287; “a piece of flesh for smoking (cf. trunculus),” Verg. M. 57.—
