I.white, hoary (mostly poet.).
I. Lit.: “fluctus,” Lucr. 2, 767; Cic. Arat. 71; “hence aqua,” foamy, frothy, Ov. H. 2, 16: “nix,” white, Lucr. 3, 21; Hor. S. 2, 5, 41: “gelu,” Verg. G. 3, 442: “montes,” id. ib. 1, 43: “pruina,” hoar-frost, Hor. C. 1, 4, 4: “grandine canus Athos,” Ov. Ib. 200: “salicta,” id. M. 5, 590: “segetes,” id. ib. 10, 655: “aristae,” id. ib. 6, 456: “lupus,” id. ib. 6, 527; “7, 550: favilla,” id. ib. 8, 524: “color equi,” Pall. Mart. 14, 4: “arborum villi,” Plin. 12, 23, 50, § 108: “situs,” id. 12, 25, 55, § 125.—
B. Esp. freq. of the gray hair of the aged: “cano capite atque albā barbā,” Plaut. Bacch. 5, 1, 15; id. As. 5, 2, 84; Cat. 68, 124; Tib. 1, 1, 72; Ov. F. 5, 57: “capilli,” Hor. C. 2, 11, 15; Ov. M. 1, 266; 2, 30; 4, 474; Phaedr. 2, 2, 10: “crinis,” Cat. 64, 350; Ov. M. 13, 427: “barba,” Mart. 4, 36 al.—Hence, subst. in plur.: cāni , ōrum, m. (sc. capilli), gray hairs: “non cani, non rugae repente auctoritatem arripere possunt,” Cic. Sen. 18, 62; Ov. M. 3, 275; in Aug. and post-Aug. poets (esp. freq. in Ovid) with adjj.: “falsi,” Ov. M. 6, 26: “honorati,” id. ib. 8, 9: “positi,” id. ib. 14, 655: “rari,” id. ib. 8, 567: “sui,” id. ib. 10, 391: “miseri,” Pers. 5, 65: venerandi. Sen. Herc. Fur. 1249.—Hence,
II. Transf., of age and of aged persons. old, aged: “senectus,” hoary, Cat. 108, 1: “anilitas,” id. 61, 162: “amator,” Tib. 1, 8, 29: cana veritas, venerable, Varr. ap. Non. p. 243, 1: “Fides,” Verg. A. 1, 292: “Vesta,” id. ib. 5, 744.
