I.v. a., to leave alone, to forsake, abandon, desert (not anteAug., perh. first used by Verg.; most freq. in the part. perf.).
(α).
Verb finit.: “desolavimus agros,” Verg. A. 11, 367: “agros profugiendo,” Col. 1, 3, 11: “urbes,” Stat. Th. 6, 917: “locum,” Vulg. Psa. 78, 7.—
(β).
Part. perf., forsaken, deserted, left alone: “desolatae terrae,” Ov. M. 1, 349; cf.: “tecta domorum,” Stat. Th. 1, 653: “manipli,” Verg. A. 11, 870.—So of persons, Stat. S. 2, 1, 233; Plin. Ep. 4, 21, 3; Tac. A. 1, 30; 16, 30 fin.; Just. 1, 7, 3 (dub.); cf. with abl., robbed, deprived of: “desolatus servilibus ministeriis,” Tac. A. 12, 26; Plin. 10, 12, 16, § 34: “agmen magistro,” Stat. Th. 9, 672: “aevo jam desolata senectus,” i. e. enfeebled by age, Petr. 124; 286. —With gen.: “virorum gentes,” Sil. 8, 590.
