I.grasping, greedy of plunder, rapacious.
I. Lit. (class.; “syn. furax): vos rapaces, vos praedones,” Plaut. Men. 5, 7, 26; id. Pers. 3, 3, 6: “olim furunculus, nunc vero etiam rapax,” Cic. Pis. 27, 66; so with fur, Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 2, § 4: “inopiā rapax,” Suet. Dom. 3: “procuratorum rapacissimum quemque,” id. Vesp. 16; cf. Tac. H. 1, 20: “Cinara,” i. e. eager for presents, Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 33; so Tib. 1, 5, 59; 2, 4, 25: “cervi, luporum praeda rapacium,” Hor. C. 4, 4, 50; id. Epod. 16, 20; cf. “Harpyiae,” id. S. 2, 2, 40.— As subst.: răpax , ācis, comm., a beast of prey, Plin. 11, 45, 101, § 247.—
2. Of things, rapacious, ravenous (mostly poet.): “falces rapaces,” Lucr. 3, 650: “ventus,” Ov. A. A. 1, 388: “ignis,” id. M. 8, 837: “mors,” Tib. 1, 3, 65; cf. “Orcus,” Hor. C. 2, 18, 30: “fortuna,” id. ib. 1, 34, 14: “dentes,” fangs, tusks, Veg. 6, 1, 1.—With gen.: “chryselectrum rapacissimum ignium,” very ignitible, Plin. 37, 3, 12, § 51.—As a poet. epithet of floods: “amnes,” Lucr. 5, 341: “fluvii,” id. 1, 17: “unda, Cic. poët. N. D. 3, 10, 24: undae,” Ov. M. 8, 550: “Danubius,” id. ad Liv. 397.— Hence, transf., an appellation of the twenty-first legion and the soldiers composing it (qs. that sweeps every thing before it), Tac. H. 2, 43; 100; 3, 14; 18; 22.—
II. Trop. (rare), with gen., grasping, seizing eagerly or quickly, greedy, avaricious: “nihil est rapacius quam natura,” Cic. Lael. 14, 50: “rapacia virtutis ingenia,” Sen. Ep. 95, 36: “nostri omnium utilitatum et virtutum rapacissimi,” Plin. 25, 2, 2, § 4.
