I.v. a., to roll or tumble down (class.).
I. Lit.: “saxa in musculum,” Caes. B. C. 2, 11, 1, and 2; cf. “saxa (amnis),” Quint. 12, 10, 61: “auratas trabes,” Verg. A. 2, 449: tonitrua, i. e. to imitate it (by rolling down balls behind the scenes), Phaedr. 5, 7, 23: “clipeos e muris,” Curt. 4, 3 fin.: “panem ex igne,” Cat. 59, 4: “corpora in humum,” Ov. M. 7, 574: “se toris,” Val. Fl. 1, 235 et saep.—Poet.: “fusis mollia pensa,” i. e. to spin off, Verg. G. 4, 349.—
b. Pass. in mid. force, to roll itself down, to roll or tumble down, to fall headlong: “monte praecipiti devolutus torrens,” Liv. 28, 6; cf. Col. 1, 5, 2; Curt. 5, 3: “jumenta cum oneribus devolvebantur,” Liv. 21, 33: “ex praecipiti,” Curt. 7, 11.—
II. Trop.: “aliquem vitā suā, to remove from,” i. e. to deprive of, Plaut. Men. 5, 5, 5: “per audaces nova dithyrambos Verba devolvit (the figure being taken from a river),” Hor. Od. 4, 2, 11.—
b. Mid., to sink down, fall into: ad spem inanem pacis devoluti, * Cic. Phil. 7, 4, 13: “retro ad stirpem,” Liv. 1, 47: “ad otium et inertiam,” Col. 1 prooem. § 29:“ devolvuntur,” hasten down, Amm. 15, 10, 4.