I.to cut around, to cut away or off, to lop off, prune.
I. Lit., esp. of plants: amputata id est circum putata, Paul. ex Fest. p. 24 Müll.: “vitem ferro,” Cic. Sen. 15: “mergum,” Col. 4, 15, 4: “cacumen (ulmi),” Plin. 16, 32, 57, § 132.— “Of other things: praeceidit caulem testīsque una amputat ambo,” Lucil. 7, 22 Müll.: “pestiferum in corpore,” Cic. Phil. 8, 5: “umeros,” to mutilate, Sen. Thyest. 761: “ex ipso vertice capillos,” Plin. Ep. 7, 27, 12: “caput,” Suet. Galb. 20: “manus,” id. ib. 9: “pollices,” id. Aug. 24 et saep.—In Pliny also of things that are bitten off: “caudas mugili,” Plin. 9, 62, 88, § 185.—
II. Trop., to lop off, curtail, shorten, diminish: “amputata inanitas omnis et error,” removed, banished, Cic. Fin. 1, 13: “volo esse in adulescente, unde aliquid amputem,” id. de Or. 2, 21: “licet hinc quantum cuique videbitur circumcidat atque amputet,” id. ib. 1, 15, 65: “longa colloquia,” Sen. Med. 530: “numerum legionum,” Tac. H. 2, 69.—In rhet.: “amputata loqui,” in a disconnected manner, in abrupt sentences, Cic. Or. 51: “amputata oratio et abscisa,” concise, Plin. Ep. 1, 20, 18.
