I.a beating, striking (class.).
I. Lit.: “capitis percussiones,” beatings on the head, Cic. Tusc. 3, 26, 62: “digitorum,” a snapping, id. Off. 3, 19, 75. —
II. Transf., in music and rhetoric, a beating time; hence, concr., time: “percussiones numerorum,” Cic. de Or. 3, 47, 182: “percussionum modi,” id. Or. 58, 198; Quint. 9, 4, 51; 11, 3, 108 al.