Acûmen, pen. prod. acúminis, n.g. The sharpenes, edge or point òf a thing. Also subtiltie: wittinesse: fine iudgement: sometime slightnesse: craftinesse: wilinesse: subtill deuise.Acumen rostri auium. Plin. The point of, &c: Acumen ingenij. Colum. Cic.Finenesse of witte. Acumen saporis. Plin. Sharpnesse of taste. Acumen, pro Astu. Horat. Sine acumine homo.Cic.A dolt: one that hath no witte.Acumen naturale. Quint. Naturall quickuesse of witte.Argutum iudicis acumen, Id est ingenium subtile. Hor. AcumÊ Stertinij delirat, Id est, Stertinius homo acutus. Ho. Sub Acumen styli subire & succedere.Cic.To be written or noted with diligence.Admouete acumen chartis Græcis. Horat. To apply his wit vuto the Greeke.Acuminibus suis se compungunt dialectici.Cic.With their subtilties.Habet acumen hæc interpretatio.Cicer.This erposition is subtill and wittie.Illudere alicuius acumen.Cic.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
ăcūmĕn, ĭnis, n. [acuo], a point to prick or sting with; diff. fr. cacumen, which designates merely the summit or extremity of a thing, Doed. Syn. 2, 108. I.Lit.: tum clupei resonunt et ferri stridit acumen, Enn. ap. Prisc. p. 838 P. (Ann. v. 369 ed. Vahl.): coni, Lucr. 4, 431: nasi, id. 6, 1193 (i.e. the pointed contraction of the nose before death; cf. Bentl. ad Hor. S. 1, 3, 29): stili, Cic. de Or. 1, 33: ferrum Diana volanti abstulerat jaculo: lignum sine acumine venit, Ov. M. 8, 353; 3, 84.—Hence, also, the sting of an animal: scorpii, Cic. Arat. 685:—auspicium ex acuminibus, a military omen of victory, when the spears stuck in the ground suddenly begin to burn or shine at the points, Cic. Div. 2, 36, 77, and id. N. D. 2, 3; cf. Liv. 22, 1; 43, 13.—In Plin., of the taste: sharpness or pungency, 14, 20, 25.—II. Fig., of the mind, like acies. A.Acuteness, shrewdness, keenness, acumen: sermonis leporem, ingeniorum acumen, dicendi copiam, Cic. Fl. 4; so Nep. Alc. 11; Plin. 2, 27, 27, 97.—Also without a gen.: ubi est acumen tuum?Cic. Tusc. 1, 6; so Lucr. ap. Cic. Fam. 5, 14, 2: Empedocles an Stertinium deliret acumen, Hor. Ep. 1, 12, 20.—Poet. also in plur.: serus Graecis admovit acumina chartis, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 161.—B.Cunning, subtlety: argutiae et acumen Hyperidis, Cic. Or. 31; so id. de Or. 2, 63.—Also in plur.: dialectici ipsi se compungunt suis acuminibus, id. de Or. 2, 38: meretricis acumina, Hor. Ep. 1, 17, 55. —Hence,