I.to tear, pull, or pluck out (class.).
I. Lit.: “linguam se evellisse M. Catoni,” Cic. Sest. 28: ferrum, * Caes. B. G. 1, 25, 3: “arborem,” Liv. 33, 5: “dentes,” Plin. 30, 3, 8, § 25 et saep.: “spinas agro,” Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 5; cf.: “ebulum, cicutam e segete,” Plin. 17, 9, 6 § “55: clavos sepulcris,” id. 34, 15, 44, § 151: “statuam de monumento,” Dig. 47, 12, 2.— Poet.: “odorem e turis glebis (with divellere),” Lucr. 3, 327: “castra obsessa (sc. ex obsidione),” i. e. to relieve, Sil. 7, 335.—
B. To drag away, tear away: “ab altari eum,” Vulg. Exod. 21, 14; cf.: lucos tuos de medio tui, id. Micah, 5, 13.—
II. Trop., to tear out, root out, eradicate, erase (a favorite word of Cicero): “radicitus mala,” Lucr. 3, 310: “consules non modo ex memoria sed etiam ex fastis evellendi,” Cic. Sest. 14 fin.: “scrupulum ex animo,” id. Rosc. Am. 2, 6; cf.: “aculeum severitatis,” id. Clu. 55, 152: “omnem eorum importunitatem ex intimis mentibus,” id. de Or. 1, 53, 230; cf. id. Clu. 1 fin.: “iras (e pectore),” Sil. 14, 183.
