I.to cut out or off, to hew out, to cut or hew down (class.).
I. Lit.: “lapides e terra,” Cic. Off. 2, 3 fin.: “omnes arbores longe lateque,” Caes. B. C. 2, 15, 1; cf.: “excisa enim est arbor, non evulsa,” Cic. Att. 15, 4, 2: exciditur ilex (with percellunt magnas quercus), Enn. ap. Macr. S. 6, 2 (Ann. 194 ed. Vahl.): “arborem e stirpe,” Dig. 43, 27, 1: “ericium,” Caes. B. C. 3, 67 fin.: “radicem,” Plin. 17, 11, 16, § 82: “columnas rupibus,” Verg. A. 1, 428; cf.: “rubos arvis,” Quint. 9, 4, 5: linguam alicui, Crassus ap. Cic. de Or. 3, 1 fin.: “partum mulieri,” Dig. 11, 8, 2: “os,” Cels. 8, 3: “virilitatem,” i. e. to castrate, geld, Quint. 5, 12, 17; “for which also, se,” Ov. F. 4, 361; cf. Dig. 48, 8, 4 fin.: “vias per montes,” Plin. 36, 15, 24, § 125: “latus rupis in antrum,” Verg. A. 6, 42; cf.: “vasa anaglypta in asperitatem,” i. e. wrought with raised figures, Plin. 33, 11, 49, § 139: exciderat eum (sc. obeliscum) rex, majusque opus in devehendo statuendove multo quam in excidendo, i. e. cut out in the quarry, Plin. 36, 8, 14, § 67; absol., id. ib. § 65.—
B. Transf., in gen., to raze, demolish, lay waste, destroy: “qui domos inimicorum suorum oppugnavit, excidit, incendit,” Cic. Sest. 44: “Numantiam,” id. Off. 1. 22, 76; cf. “Trojam,” Verg. A. 2, 637: “urbem,” id. ib. 12, 762: “oppida,” Lact. 1, 18, 8: “Germaniam,” Vell. 2, 123 fin.: “agrum,” id. 2, 115: “exercitum,” i. e. to cut to pieces, annihilate, id. 2, 120, 3.—
