Asellus, Diminutiuum. Mart. A litle asse.Auritus asellus.Ouid.That hath great eares.Miserandæ sortis alellus.Ouid.Lente gradiens asellus.Ouid.Slow.Pandus.Ouid.Crooked: crooke backed.Rudens.Ouid.Broying.Tard us.Virg.Agitator aselli.Virg.The driuer of. Asellus, Piseis, dictus quòd sit colore cineritio. Plin. A fish of dunne colour like an asse: some take it to be a kinde of stockesith: some a haddocke. Aselli, asellorum, Stellæ in signo Cancri. Plin.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
ăsellus, i, m.dim. [asinus], a little ass, an ass's colt.I.Lit.: dossuarius, Varr. R. R. 2, 6 fin.: asellus onustus auro, Cic. Att. 1, 16: tardus, Verg. G. 1, 273: lente gradiens, Ov. M. 11, 179; so id. ib. 4, 27; Hor. S. 1, 9, 20; Vulg. Num. 16, 15; ib. Joan. 12, 14 al.—Prov.: narrare fabellam surdo asello,
to preach to deaf ears
, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 199 (an imitation of a Greek proverb, *)/onw| tis e)/lege mu=qon: o( de\ ta\ w)=ta e)ki/nei; cf. Schmid ad Hor. l. c.).—II.Transf.A. Of a man addicted to sensuality, Juv. 9, 92; Petr. 24 fin.; Hier. Vit. S. Hilar.—B. Aselli, two stars in Cancer: Sunt in signo Cancri duae stellae parvae, Aselli appellati, Plin. 18, 35, 80, 353; cf. Hyg. Astr 2, 23.—C.A sea-fish much prized by the Romans, perh. cod or haddock, Varr. L. L. 5, 77, p. 31 Müll.; cf. Plin. 9, 17, 28, 61.—Prov.: post asellum diaria non sumo,
after delicious fare I take no common food
, Petr. 24.—D. Asellus, a Roman cognomen, Cic. de Or. 2, 64, 258; Liv. 27, 41 al.