I.to free from a burden, to disburden, unload, discharge (not freq. till after the Aug. per.; in Cic. and Caes. not at all).
I. Lit.: “navem,” Plaut. Stich. 4, 1, 26; Auct. Afr. 8, 1; cf.: “navigia jactu,” Sen. Contr. 4, 4: “alvum,” Plin. 10, 44, 61, § 126; cf. “ventrem,” Suet. Vesp. 2; Mart. 10, 48, 7: “stomachum nausea gravem,” Petr. 103: “vesicam,” id. 27: “morbidum corpus (profluvio sanguinis),” Plin. 8, 26, 40, § 96: “velut exoneratus sentinā (nautilus),” id. 9, 29, 47, § 88: “nec amnes tantum sed lacus quoque in Padum sese exonerantes,” id. 3, 16, 20, § 118: “plenas exonerare colos,” to empty, spin off, Ov. F. 3, 818: “ut eam ex hoc exoneres agro,” i. e. to send off, Plaut. Epid. 3, 4, 34; cf.: “exonerata plebe coloniis deductis,” Liv. 10, 6, 3: “multitudo proximas in terras exonerata,” Tac. H. 5, 2.—
II. Trop., to relieve, free: “exonera civitatem vano forsitan metu,” Liv. 2, 2, 7; cf.: “parte curae senatum,” id. 10, 21, 5: “animum sollicitudine,” Curt. 4, 13: “exonerata fide mea, quid ultra facere possum, quam uti? etc.,” exonerated, Liv. 42, 13 fin.: “conscientiam suam,” Curt. 6, 8: “se,” id. 6, 9: “aliquid in quaslibet aures,” to confide, Sen. Ep. 3; cf.: “exonerari laborum meorum partem fateor,” is discharged, removed, Tac. A. 3, 54: “dolorem convicio,” to vent, Petr. 123: “aes alienum,” to clear off, pay off, Dig. 23, 3, 5, § 10.