I.v. dep. n., to fall, sink, slip down (freq. and class.).
I. Lit.: “signum, de caelo delapsum,” Cic. Phil. 11, 10, 24: “de manibus audacissimorum civium delapsa arma,” id. Off. 1, 22, 77; Caes. B. C. 2, 11: “sinus ab humero,” Quint. 11, 3, 144: “ex utraque parte (aqua),” Cic. de Or. 3, 46, 180: “ex equo,” Liv. 37, 34 fin.: ab aethere, to glide down, poet. for to fly down, sc. to the earth, Ov. M. 1, 608; cf.: “aetheriis ab astris,” Verg. A. 5, 838: “caelo,” id. ib. 5, 722: “summo Olympo,” Ov. M. 1, 212: “per auras,” id. ib. 3, 101; also absol.: “aquila leniter delapsa,” Suet. Aug. 94: “curru delapsus eodem,” Verg. A. 10, 596; cf. Ov. M. 15, 685: “serta capiti delapsa,” Verg. E. 6, 16: “in terram delabi,” Lucr. 6, 838: “in scrobes,” Caes. B. G. 7, 82: “de caelo in provinciam,” Cic. Q. Fr. 1, 1, 2: “in mare (flumen),” Hor. Od. 3, 29, 35: “sensit medios delapsus in hostes,” Verg. A. 2, 377: “te aequoream Lemnon,” Val. Fl. 2, 127: “voce delapsa a magnifica gloria,” Vulg. 2 Petr. 1, 17.—
II. Trop. (esp. freq. in Cic.), to come down, sink, descend; and with reference to the term. ad quem, to slide or fall into: “jam a sapientium familiaritatibus ad vulgares amicitias oratio nostra delabitur,” Cic. Lael. 21; cf. id. Cael. 7, 15; id. Q. Fr. 1, 1, 6, § 18; and: “aut a minoribus ad majora ascendimus, aut a majoribus ad minora delabimur,” id. Part. 4, 12: “in idem genus morbi delapsa,” Cic. Att. 7, 5; cf.: “in hoc vitium scurrile,” id. de Or. 2, 60, 246: “in amorem libertae,” Tac. A. 13, 12: “in ambitionem,” id. ib. 3, 63 et saep.: “cujus in similitudinem proclivi cursu delabitur,” Cic. Rep. 1, 28: “in istum sermonem,” id. de Or. 1, 21, 96: “in eas difficultates, ut, etc.,” id. Fat. 17; cf.: “eo, ut, etc.,” id. Ac. 2, 18, 59 al.: “ad aequitatem et ad rerum naturam,” id. Fam. 6, 10, 5: “ad impatientiam,” Tac. A. 15, 63: “ad inopiam,” id. ib. 2, 38 fin.—Of sounds, to descend, be derived: “atque etiam illa sunt ab his delapsa plura genera (vocum),” Cic. de Or. 3, 57, 216.—In epistolary style: eo magis delabor ad Clodiam, I incline to Clodia (i. e. to purchase her gardens), Cic. Att. 12, 47, 1.
