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cardo , ĭnis, m. cf. κράδη, a swing; κραδαίνω, to swing, wave; Sanscr. kurd, a spring, a leap; old Germ. hrad, lively, and Germ. reit in bereit, ready (f., Gracch. ap. Prisc. p. 683 P.; Graius ap. Non. p. 202, 20; cf. infra in Vitr.),
I.the pivot and socket, upon which a door was made to swing at the lintel and the threshold, the hinge of a door or gate, Enn. Trag. 119 Vahl.: “paene ecfregisti foribus cardines,Plaut. Am. 4, 2, 6; id. As. 2, 3, 8: “postis a cardine vellit Aeratos,Verg. A. 2, 480: “cardo stridebat,id. ib. 1, 449; cf. id. Cir. 222: “num muttit cardo?Plaut. Curc. 1, 1, 94: “immoti,Plin. 16, 43, 84, § 230: “singuli,id. 36, 15, 24, § 117: “facili patuerunt cardine valvae,Juv. 4, 63: “versato cardine Thisbe Egreditur,opening the door, Ov. M. 4, 93; cf. Verg. A. 3, 448: “nec strepitum verso Saturnia cardine fecit,Ov. M. 14, 782 al.
B. Meton.
1. Cardines, in mechanics, beams that were fitted together; and specifically, cardo masculus, a tenon, Vitr. 9, 6, and cardo femina, a socket, a mortise, id. 9, 6: “cardo securiclatus,axeshaped tenon, a dovetail, id. 10, 15, 3.— Hence,
b. In garlands, the place where the two ends meet, Plin. 21, 4, 10, § 18.—
2. In astron., the point about which something turns, a pole. So of the North pole: “caeli,Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 4: “mundi,Plin. 4, 12, 26, § 89; cf.: extremusque adeo duplici de cardine vertex Dicitur esse polus, Cic. poët. N. D. 2, 41, 105; Ov. P. 2, 10, 45; Stat. Th. 1, 349: “cardo glacialis ursae,Sen. Herc. Fur. 1139: “Arctoae cardo portae,Stat. Th. 7, 35; “hence anal. to this, with the agrimensores,the line limiting the field, drawn through from north to south, Plin. 18, 33, 76, § 326; 17, 22, 35, § 169; cf. Fest. s. v. decimanus, p. 71 Müll., and accordingly the mountain Taurus is called cardo, i. e. line or limit, Liv. 37, 54, 23; cf. id. 40, 18, 8; 41, 1, 3.—Of the four cardinal points of the world, Quint. 12, 10, 67; so, Hesperius Eous, Luc. 5, 71; Stat. Th. 1, 157: “occiduus,Luc. 4, 672: “medius,id. 4, 673.— Of the earth as the centre of the universe, acc. to the belief of the ancients, Plin. 2, 64, 64, § 160; 2, 9, 6, § 44.—Of the intersection of inclined surfaces: “reperiuntur (aquae) ... quodam convexitatis cardine aut montium radicibus,Plin. 31, 3, 26, § 43.—Of the summer solstice: “anni,Plin. 18, 28, 68, § 264; and so of the epochs of the different seasons: “temporum,id. 18, 25, 58, § 218; 18, 25, 59, § 220.—Hence, of the time of life: “extremus,old age, Luc. 7, 381.—
II. Trop., that on which every thing else turns or depends, the chief point or circumstance (so not before the Aug. per.): “haud tanto cessabit cardine rerum,at such a turn of affairs, so great a crisis, in so critical a moment, decisive, Verg. A. 1, 672 (hoc est in articulo, Serv.; cf. Isid. Orig. 15, 7, 6; Gr. ἀκμἧ): “fatorum in cardine summo,Stat. Th. 10, 853: litium. Quint. 12, 8, 2: “causae,id. 5, 12, 3: “satellitem in quo totius dominationis summa quasi quodam cardine continetur,Val. Max. 3, 3, ext. 5: “unum eligamus in quo est summum ac principale, in quo totius sapientiae cardo versatur,Lact. 3, 7, 6.
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hide References (29 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (29):
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 14.782
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 4.93
    • Plautus, Curculio, 1.1
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 1.672
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 2.480
    • Vergil, Aeneid, 3.448
    • Vitruvius, On Architecture, 10.15.3
    • Vitruvius, On Architecture, 9.6
    • Plautus, Amphitruo, 4.2
    • Plautus, Asinaria, 2.3
    • Lucan, Civil War, 4.672
    • Lucan, Civil War, 4.673
    • Lucan, Civil War, 5.71
    • Lucan, Civil War, 7.381
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 21.18
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 2.44
    • Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia, 31.43
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 41, 1.3
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 37, 54.23
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 40, 18.8
    • Seneca, Hercules Furens, 1139
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 5, 12.3
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, 10.67
    • Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria, Book 12, 8.2
    • Ovid, Ex Ponto, 2.10
    • Statius, Thebias, 1
    • Statius, Thebias, 10
    • Statius, Thebias, 7
    • Valerius Maximus, Facta et Dicta Memorabilia, 3.3
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