Mordeo, mordes, momordi, morsum, mordêre. To bite.Momordi.Ouid.Morsi aliquando fecit in præterito.Plaut.Latrant & mordent canes.Cic.Mordere humum.Plaut.To guaw the ground.Frænum mordere, Vide FRAENVM.Mordere heiba dicitur sapore acri. Pli. To haue a biting cast.Æstus momordit oleam. Horat. The heate hath parched the oliue. Amnis mordet rura aqua. Hor. Mordere, per translationem. Ter. To backbite: to detract: to speake ill of: to rebuke sharply: to griene.Mordere clanculum. Ter. To speake ill behind ones backe.Iniquo dente mordere.Ouid.To siaunder and backebite.Dente inuido mordeor. Hor. I am maliciously siaundered.Morderi dictis.Ouid.Opprobrijs falsis morderi. Horat. Si qua sunt in ruis literis quæ me mordeant.Cic.If there be any thing in your letters that nippe or taunt mee: or that may grieue me.Valde me momorderÛt epistolæ tuæ.Thy letters did much grieue me, or pinch me at the stomacke.Si pauperras momordit, si ignominia pupugit.Cic.Frigora mordent patum cautos. Horat. Morderi conscientia.Cicer.To haue a pricke and remorse of conscience.Morsus. Participium. Plin. Bitten: gnawne.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
mordĕo, mŏmordi (archaic memordi; v. in the foll.), morsum, 2, v. a. [root smard-; Sanscr. mard-, bite; Gr. smerdno/s, smerdale/os; (cf. Engl. smart)], to bite, to bite into (class.). I.Lit.: si me canis memorderit, Enn. ap. Gell. 7, 9, 3 (Sat. v. 36 Vahl.): canes mordere possunt, Cic. Rosc. Am. 20, 57: mordens pulex,
biting
, Mart. 14, 83: (serpens) fixum hastile momordit,
bit into
, Ov. M. 3, 68: mordeat ante aliquis quidquid, etc.,
taste
, Juv. 6, 632: terram, to bite the ground, bite the dust, of expiring warriors writhing on the ground: procubuit moriens et humum semel ore momordit, Verg. A. 11, 418; Ov. M. 9, 61.—Part. as subst.: morsi a rabioso cane, Plin. 29, 5, 32, 100: laneaque aridulis haerebant morsa labellis, Cat. 64, 316.—2. In partic., to eat, devour, consume (poet.): tunicatum cum sale mordens Caepe, Pers. 4, 30: ostrea, Juv. 6, 305: sordes farris mordere canini, id. 5, 11.—B.Transf.1.To bite into, take fast hold of, catch fast; to press or cut into (poet.): laterum juncturas fibula mordet,
takes hold of, clasps
, Verg. A. 12, 274: mordebat fibula vestem, Ov. M. 8, 318: id quod a lino mordetur,
where the thread presses in
, Cels. 7, 4, 4: locus (corporis), qui mucronem (teli) momordit, id. 7, 5, 4: arbor mordet humum,
takes hold of the ground, is rooted in the ground
, Stat. Th. 9, 499.—Hence, poet., of a river: non rura quae Liris quieta Mordet aqua, cuts or penetrates into, Hor. C. 1, 31, 7.—2.To nip, bite, sting: matutina parum cautos jam frigora mordent,
, Hor. Ep. 1, 16, 38: par pari referto, quod eam mordeat,
to vex, mortify
, Ter. Eun. 3, 1, 55: valde me momorderunt epistolae tuae, Cic. Att. 13, 12, 1: scribis, morderi te interdum, quod non simul sis,
that it grieves you, affects you
, id. ib. 6, 2, 8: dolore occulto morderi,
to be attacked, tormented
, Ov. M. 2, 806: nec qui detrectat praesentia, Livor iniquo Ullum de nostris dente momordit opus,
detracted
, id. Tr. 4, 10, 124; cf. id. P. 4, 14, 46: morderi conscientiā,
to feel the sting of conscience
, Cic. Tusc. 4, 20, 45: hunc mordebit objurgatio, Quint. 1, 3, 7.—B.To seize fast, hold firmly in the mind (cf. mordicus, II.): hoc tene, hoc morde, Sen. Ep. 78, 29. —C.To squander, dissipate: de integro patrimonio meo centum milia nummūm memordi, Laber. ap. Gell. 6, 9, 3 (Com. Rel. v. 50 Rib.).