I. Act., to make dry, to day, to dry up.
A. In gen. (freq. and class.): “venti et sol siccare prius confidunt omnia posse,” Lucr. 5, 390; cf.: “sol siccaverat herbas,” Ov. M. 4, 82: “siccabat rorantes capillos,” id. F. 4, 141: “sole capillos,” id. M. 11, 770; Plin. 27, 9, 55, § 79: “aliquid in sole,” Col. 12, 46, 5; Plin. 12, 13, 27, § 47: “aliquid ad lunam,” id. 21, 11, 36, § 62: “lina madentia,” Ov. M. 13, 931: “retia litore,” id. ib. 11, 362: “vellera,” Verg. E. 3, 95: “veste cruores,” id. A. 4, 687: “cruorem,” Gell. 5, 14, 22: “lacrimas,” Prop. 1, 19, 23; Ov. M. 8, 469; 9, 395; id. F. 3, 509: “jocis lacrimas siccare,” Quint. 11, 1, 6 al.: “genas,” Ov. M. 10, 362: “frontem sudario,” Quint. 11, 3, 148.—
B. Esp.
1. To dry up, drain land, marshes, springs, etc.: “paludes,” Cic. Phil. 5, 3, 7; so, “paludem,” Quint. 3, 8, 16; Suet. Caes. 44: “amnes,” Ov. M. 2, 257: “fontes,” id. ib. 13, 690; cf.: “palustria aestate siccantur,” Plin. 12, 22, 48, § 104: “agri siccati,” drained lands, lands uncovered by draining, Suet. Claud. 20: “dea Sidereo siccata sitim collegit ab aestu,” parched, Ov. M. 6, 341.—
2. To exhaust, drain dry, etc. (poet.): “ovis ubera,” Verg. E. 2, 42; so, “distenta ubera,” Hor. Epod. 2, 46; “for which, transf.: distentas siccant pecudes,” Luc. 4, 314; so, “siccata ovis,” i. e. milked, Ov. Am. 3, 5, 14: “calices,” i. e. to drain, empty, Hor. S. 2, 6, 68; “so. cadis siccatis,” id. C. 1, 35, 27; cf.: cum siccare sacram largo Permessida posset Ore, to drink deeply from the fountain of the Muses, i. e. to be a great poet, Mart. 8, 70, 3.—In Gr. construction: “Arethusa virides manu siccata capillos,” Ov. M. 5, 575.—
3. To dry up, heal up, remore an unwholesome humor; or, to heal up, free some part of the body from an unwholesome humor (poet. and in the elder Pliny): ad pituitam oris siccandam. Plin. 23, 1, 13, § 17: suppurata, id. 36, 17, 28, § 133: “strumas,” id. 24, 4, 6, § 11: “corpora,” id. 31, 6, 33, § 62: “os,” id. 12, 12, 26, § 43: “arterias umidas,” id. 20, 14, 53, § 148; cf.: corpus pilā, i. e. to strengthen, invigorate, Lucil. ap. Non. 394, 29; “v. siccitas, I. B. 3.: vulnera,” Ov. M. 10, 187; cf.: “ad fluminis undam Vulnera siccabat lymphis,” Verg. A. 10, 834; “for which, in a Gr. construction: juvenes siccati vulnera lymphis,” Stat. Th. 1, 527.—
II. Neutr., to become dry, get dry (very rare): “quotiens flumina et stagna siccaverint,” Lact. 7, 3, 8: tundis cuminum et postea infundis in aceto; “cum siccaverit, etc.,” Apic. 3, 18, § 105; 4, 2, § 132 al.—Impers.: “ubi pluerit et siccaverit,” Cato, R. R. 112, 2.
