I.adj. dim. [pusus], very little, very small, petty, insignificant (class.).
I. Lit.: “pueri,” Cato, R. R. 157, 10: “testis,” Cic. de Or. 2, 60, 145; cf. Hor. S. 1, 5, 69: “terra homines nunc educat pusillos,” Juv. 15, 70: “mus,” Plaut. Truc. 4, 4, 15: “villula valde pusilla,” Cic. Att. 12, 27, 1: “folia (herbae),” Plin. 25, 13, 103, § 162: epistula, Cic. Att. 6, 1, 23: “pusilli et contempti libelli,” Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 75, § 185: “cui satis una Farris libra foret, gracili sic tamque pusillo,” Hor. S. 1, 5, 69: “vox,” small, thin, weak, Quint. 11, 3, 32: “habuimus in Cumano quasi pusillam Romam,” Cic. Att. 5, 2, 2.—Comp.: “maritus quovis puero pusillior,” App. M. 5, p. 163, 5: “pusillo animo,” Vulg. Col. 3, 21.— Absol.: pŭsillum , i, n., a very little, a trifle: nactus pusillum laxamenti, Treb. ap. Cic. Fam. 12, 16, 3: “aphaca pusillo altior lenticula est,” a trifle taller, Plin. 27, 5, 21, § 38: “pusillum a vero discedere,” a little, Quint. 8, 6, 28; cf. Cato, R. R. 90: “post pusillum,” after a little, Vulg. Judith, 13, 11; id. Luc. 22, 58.—
II. Trop., little, small, petty, paltry: “animus,” a petty spirit, Cic. Fam. 2, 17, 7; Sen. Ira, 3, 43, 4: “Siculus ille capitalis, creber, acutus, brevis, paene pusillus Thucydides,” id. Q. Fr. 2, 11 (13), 4; Mart. 3, 62, 8: “pusilli animi,” little courage, diffidence, Hor. S. 1, 4, 17: “ingenium,” Mart. 9, 51, 1: “causa,” trifling, Ov. R. Am. 730: “res (opp. grandes),” Quint. 11, 3, 151: “quod dixi tamen, hoc leve et pusillum est,” Mart. 4, 43, 9: “causidicus,” Juv. 10, 121.