I.a ditch, trench, fosse (syn.: fovea, scrobs, fossio).
I. Lit.
A. In gen.: “salso suffudit gurgite fossas,” Lucr. 5, 482: “fodere fossam,” Liv. 3, 26, 9: “ut unus aditus maximo aggere objecto fossa cingeretur vastissima,” Cic. Rep. 2, 6: “(oppidum) vallo et fossa circumdedi,” id. Fam. 15, 4, 10: “pomarium circummunire fossă praecipiti,” Col. 5, 10, 1: “circumdare moenia vallo atque fossā,” Sall. J. 23, 1; “and, in a different construction: circumdare fossam latam cubiculari lecto,” Cic. Tusc. 5, 20, 59: “vallo fossaque munire,” Caes. B. G. 2, 5 fin.; cf.: “Rheni fossam immanissimis gentibus objicere et opponere,” Cic. Pis. 33, 81: “fossa et vallo aliquem septum tenere,” id. Att. 9, 12, 3: “fossam pedum XX. directis lateribus duxit,” Caes. B. G. 7, 72, 1; so, “fossam ducere,” id. ib. 7, 73, 2: “transversam fossam obducere,” id. ib. 2, 8, 3: “praeducere,” id. B. C. 1, 27, 3: “institutae fossae,” id. ib. 3, 46, 5: “ut flumen nullam in partem depressis fossis derivari posset,” sunk deeper, Hirt. B. G. 8, 40, 3: “deprimere fossam,” id. ib. 8, 9, 3; cf. Tac. A. 15, 42; 1, 65; Ov. F. 4, 821: “cruor in fossam confusus,” Hor. S. 1, 8, 28.—
B. In partic.
1. A gutter, waterway, = colliciae, Verg. G. 1, 326; 1, 372.—
2. A furrow drawn to mark foundations, etc.: “ipse humili designat moenia fossa,” Verg. A. 7, 157; Ov. F. 4, 839; cf. Varr. L. L. 5, 32, § 143.—
4. In mal. part.: “pudenda muliebria,” Auct. Priap. 84; cf.: “inter Socraticos notissima fossa cinaedos,” Juv. 2, 10.—
II. Trop., a boundary: “alicui fossam determinare,” Tert. adv. Haer. 10.
