I.v. a.; pass.: lăbĕfīo , factus, fieri labo-facio, to cause to totter, to shake, loosen, to make ready to fall (Cic. uses only labefactus).
I. Lit.: “dentes alicui,” Ter. Ad. 2, 2, 36: “partem muri,” Caes. B. C. 2, 22: “labefactae aedes,” Tac. A. 1, 75: “labefacta ictibus arbor Corruit,” Ov. M. 8, 776; id. ib. 3, 69: “charta (i. e. epistola) a vinclis non labefacta suis,” loosened, opened, id. P. 3, 7, 6: “munimenta incussu arietis labefieri,” Sen. Const. Sap. 6.—Poet.: “ignes labefacti aëre multo,” weakened, Lucr. 5, 653: “membra voluptatis dum vi labefacta liquescunt,” id. 4, 1108: “calor labefacta per ossa cucurrit,” Verg. A. 8, 390.—
II. Trop.
A. To cause to waver, to shake a person in his mind, principles, or fidelity: aliquem, Laber. ap. Macr. S. 2, 7: “quem nulla umquam vis, nullae minae, nulla invidia labefecit,” Cic. Sest. 47, 101. primores classiariorum, to shake their fidelity, excite them to mutiny, Tac. A. 15, 51: “sic animus vario labefactus vulnere nutat,” Ov. M. 10, 375; cf. “in Greek construction: magno animum labefactus amore,” shaken, disquieted, Verg. A. 4, 395. —
B. To shake, weaken; to overthrow, ruin, destroy: “haec (res publica) jam labefacta,” Cic. Har. Resp. 27, 60: “quo, per contumeliam consulum, jura plebis labefacta essent,” Liv. 3, 64: “nihil hunc amicitia Sejani, sed labefacit haud minus ad exitia Macronis odium,” Tac. A. 6, 29 (35): “si priorem aetate et jam labefactum demovisset,” id. ib. 4, 60: “ne quis contagione ceteros labefaciat,” Col. 6, 5, 1; cf. Tac. H. 2, 93: fidem, to shake or weaken one's credit, Suet. Vesp. 4.
