I. Prop. (acc. to circumscribo, I.), an encircling, and (concrete) a circle: “ex circumscriptione excedere,” Cic. Phil. 8, 8, 23.—
II. (Acc. to circumscribo, II. A.) A boundary, limit, outline, contour, circuit, compass (most freq. in Cic.): terrae situm, formam, circumscriptionem, Cic. Tusc. 1, 20, 45: “aeternitas, quam nulla temporis circumscriptio metiebatur,” id. N. D. 1, 9, 21: “corporeae forma circumscriptionis,” Arn. 2, 93; 3, 135.—
2. In rhet.
(α).
A period: “verborum,” Cic. Or. 61, 204: “ipsa enim natura verborum quādam circumscriptione comprehendit concluditque sententiam,” id. Brut. 8, 34; cf. Quint. 9, 4, 124.—
(β).
A compendious statement, summing up, Quint. 9, 3, 91.—
(γ).
A figure of speech, prob. the limitation of a question by the removal of a circumstance in dispute, Quint. 9, 1, 35 Halm (dub.; cf. id. 9, 4, 9).—
B. (Acc. to circumscribo, II. C.) A deceiving, cheating, overreaching, defrauding (esp. in pecuniary transactions, and by judicial artifice, by pettifogging): “adulescentium,” Cic. Off. 3, 15, 61: “praediorum proscriptiones cum mulierculis apertā circumscriptione fecisti,” id. Fl. 30, 74; Sen. Ira, 3, 2, 1.—In plur., Cic. Clu. 16, 46; Sen. Ira, 2, 9, 4.—In gen., of deception, deceit, fraud, Sen. Ep. 82, 22; Tert. Pat. 5.