I.to gnaw (class.).
I. Lit.: rutabulum, Novat. ap. Fest. p. 262 Müll. (Com. Rel. p. 226 Rib.): “clipeos, etc. (mures),” Cic. Div. 2, 27, 59: praetextam, Poët. ap. Quint. 8, 3, 19: “dente pollicem,” Hor. Epod. 5, 48: “vivos ungues,” id. S. 1, 10, 71: “vitem (caper),” Ov. F. 1, 357: “saxa capellae,” id. M. 13, 691: “reliquias (mures),” Phaedr. 1, 22, 6: “rosus tineis,” Stat. S. 4, 9, 10. —
B. Transf., to eat away, waste away, corrode, consume: “ripas (flumina),” Lucr. 5, 256: “ferrum (robigo),” Ov. P. 1, 1, 71: “tophum (calx),” Plin. 36, 22, 48, § 166. —
II. Trop., to backbite, slander, disparage, etc. (syn. vellico): “in conviviis rodunt,” Cic. Balb. 26, 57: “absentem amicum,” Hor. S. 1, 4, 81: “libertino patre natum,” id. ib. 1, 6, 46: “cuncta robiginosis dentibus,” Mart. 5, 28, 7; cf.: “dentem dente,” i. e. to speak ill of each other, id. 13, 2, 6: murmura secum et rabiosa silentia rodunt, i. e. to mutter to one's self, Pers. 3, 81.
