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con-trecto (contracto ), āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. tracto,
I.to touch, handle, come in contact with, feel (class.; most freq. after the Aug. per.).
I. Lit.
A. In gen.: “nudum corpus aquaï,” Lucr. 6, 854: “pectora,” Ov. M. 8, 607: “omnes partes corporis inspectare et contrectare,” Sen. Contr. 1, 2; cf.: “membra mortuae,” Suet. Ner. 34: “obscena,” Sen. Const. 13, 2: “filium Demaeneti,” Plaut. As. 3, 1, 17: librum manibus, * Hor. Ep. 1, 20, 11: “vulnus,” to meddle with, Ov. P. 2, 2, 60: “pocula vel cibos,” Col. 12, 4, 3: “pecuniam,” Suet. Calig. 42; cf.: pecunias vetitas, Cod. Th. 9, 23, 1, § 2.—
B. In partic.
1. To touch in examining, to search: “ne feminae praetextatique pueri et puellae contrectarentur,” Suet. Claud. 35.—
2. To touch carnally, to have illicit intercourse with, Plaut. Poen. 5, 5, 32; id. Mil. 4, 2, 61: “multorum uxores,” Suet. Dom. 1; Just. 7, 3, 4.—
b. Transf.: “contrectata filiarum pudicitia,” violated, dishonored, Tac. A. 14, 35.—
3. In the Lat. of the jurists, to appropriate: rem alienam, Gai Inst. 3, 195; Dig. 13, 1, 20.—
b. Esp.: “aliquid,” to take by stealth, to steal, purloin, Dig. 41, 2, 3; 25, 2, 3 al.—
II. Trop., to contemplate, look at, consider, dwell upon: “nudare corpus et contrectandum vulgi oculis permittere,” Tac. A. 3, 12: “mente varias voluptates,” Cic. Tusc. 3, 15, 33; cf. id. de Or. 3, 6, 24: “studia et disciplinas philosophiae,” to apply one's self to, Gell. 17, 19, 3.
A Latin Dictionary. Founded on Andrews' edition of Freund's Latin dictionary. revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten by. Charlton T. Lewis, Ph.D. and. Charles Short, LL.D. Oxford. Clarendon Press. 1879.

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hide References (16 total)
  • Cross-references in general dictionaries from this page (16):
    • Ovid, Metamorphoses, 8.607
    • Plautus, Poenulus, 5.5
    • Suetonius, Domitianus, 1
    • Suetonius, Nero, 34
    • Tacitus, Annales, 14.35
    • Tacitus, Annales, 3.12
    • Plautus, Asinaria, 3.1
    • Plautus, Miles Gloriosus, 4.2
    • Cicero, On Oratory, 3.6
    • Lucretius, De Rerum Natura, 6.854
    • Suetonius, Caligula, 42
    • Suetonius, Divus Claudius, 35
    • Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes, 3.15
    • Gellius, Noctes Atticae, 17.19.3
    • Ovid, Ex Ponto, 2.2
    • Seneca the Elder, Controversiae, 1.2
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