I.a.
I. To fight eagerly, fight out; to contend, combat violently.
A. Prop. (freq. and class.): “collatis signis,” Plaut. Cas. 2, 5, 44; cf. Liv. 34, 46: “acie instructā, * Caes, B. G. 7, 28: multi depugnant gemitusque edunt,” Lucr. 4, 1015: “haud procul moenibus,” Liv. 10, 37; cf. id. 34, 46; 40, 34: “adversus aliquem,” Front. Strat. 2, 4, 6 et saep.: “Torquatus cum Gallo apud Anienem depugnavit,” Cic. Fin. 2, 22, 73: “ad depugnandum,” Nep. Them. 4, 4; “so of single combat,” Cic. Tusc. 4, 22; id. Fin. 2, 22, 73; Suet. Caes. 39; “and as a t. t. of gladiatorial combats,” id. ib. 2, 17 fin.; Asin. Pollio, ap. Cic. Fam. 10, 32, 3; Quint. 8, 5, 12 Spald.; “in the latter sense also with an object: feram,” Dig. 3, 1, 1, § 6; cf. “bestias,” ib. 48, 8, 11.—Pass. impers.: “ante depugnabitur,” Cic. Att. 16, 11, 6: so, “depugnarier,” Plaut. Cas. 2, 5, 36: “depugnatum est,” Liv. 7, 26; 9, 39.—
B. Transf. out of the milit. sphere: “cum animo suo,” Plaut. Trin. 2, 2, 29: “cum fame,” id. Stich. 4, 2, 47: “morti,” Sil. 10, 475.—And in a figure borrowed from the lang. of gladiators: “unum par, quod depugnet, reliquum est voluptas cum honestate,” Cic. Ac. 2, 46; cf.: “natura atque luxuria depugnant (flores),” rival one another, Plin. 21, 8, 22, § 46: indocti stolidique et depugnare parati, * Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 184.—*
II. To fight to the end, stop fighting: depugnato proelio, "the day after the fair," Plaut. Men. 5, 6, 31.