I.to make thin, slender, meagre, fine, rare; to dilute, rarefy, attenuate, etc. (poet. and in post-Aug. prose; syn.: rarefacio, minuo).
I. Lit.: “assiduo vomer tenuatur ab usu,” Ov. P. 2, 7, 43: “hoc (tempus) tenuat dentem aratri,” id. Tr. 4, 6, 13: “sol matutinum aëra spissum et umidum ortu suo tenuat,” Sen. Q. N. 5, 3, 2; so, “aëra,” to rarefy, Stat. Th. 1, 338: “auras,” Ov. M. 14, 399: “ipsā autem macie tenuant armenta volentes,” make lean, Verg. G. 3, 129: “tenuatum corpus,” Hor. S. 2, 2, 84: “corpus parvo victu tenuatum,” Tac. A. 15, 63: “exiles videor tenuatus in artus,” Prop. 2, 22 (3, 15), 21: “se in undas,” to dissolve into water, Ov. A. A. 1, 761; so, “artus in undas,” id. M. 15, 551; cf.: “tenuatus in auras, Aëraque umor abit,” id. ib. 15, 246: “vocis via est tenuata,” narrowed, contracted, id. ib. 14, 498: “flumina per multos rivos,” id. R. Am. 445: “chartam interpolatione,” Plin. 13, 12, 23, § 75: “adipes,” Quint. 2, 10, 6: “luna quater plenum tenuata retexuit orbem,” i. e. waning, Ov. M. 7, 531: ne ad spadonum exilitatem vox nostra tenuetur, Quint. 11, 3, 19; so, “vocem,” id. 11, 3, 32.—
II. Trop., to make small or trifling, to lessen, diminish, reduce, weaken, enfeeble: “utque meae famam tenuent oblivia culpae,” Ov. Tr. 3, 11, 65: “iram,” id. H. 20, 73: “vires amoris,” id. M. 5, 374: “magna modis tenuare parvis,” to lessen, degrade, Hor. C. 3, 3, 72: “gesta tanti viri enumerando,” Pac. Pan. ad Theod. 5; Claud. IV. Cons. Hon. 127: “dicite, quo pariter carmen tenuastis in antro,” have spun out a slight elegiac poem, Prop. 3 (4), 1, 5. cf.: “Maximo carmen tenuare tanto,” Stat. S. 4, 7, 2; v. tenuis, II. B.
