Degener, pen. cor. om gen. in ablatiuo degénere, vel degeneri. pen. cor. Virg.That doth dishonesiie to his stocke: in manets vnlike to his auncetours. Base of linage: vnnoble.Degener humani ritus. Plin. That doth not after the fashion and maner of men.Iuuenis patrij nõ degener oris.Ouid.A yong man not vnlike his father in eloqueuce: or no lesse eloquÊt than his father.Degener altæ virtutis patrum. Sil. Whiche followeth not the noble vertue and worthie actes of his auncetours.Degener ad rem aliquam.Tacit.Not like to one in enterprising or doing a thing.Proles non degener. Sen. A childe not growing out of kind.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
dē-gĕner, is (abl. degeneri, Tac. A. 12, 19), adj. [genus], that departs from its race or kind, degenerate, not genuine (mostly poet. and in post-Aug. prose; esp. freq. in Plin. and Tac.; not in Quint. and Suet.). I.Lit.: Neoptolemum, Verg. A. 2, 549; cf. proles, Luc. 8, 693; Tac. A. 12, 62: dignitate formae haud degener, id. ib. 12, 51: hi (Galli) jam degeneres sunt, mixti, et Gallograeci vere, quod appellantur, Liv. 38, 17, 9; 38, 49, 4: canum degeneres, Plin. 11, 50, 111, 265: aquila, id. 10, 3, 3, 8: herbae, id. 17, 5, 3, 33: adamantes, id. 37, 4, 15, 58.—(b). With gen.: patrii non degener oris, Ov. Pont. 3, 5, 7; so, sanguinis, Stat. Th. 9, 619: patriae artis, Ov. M. 11, 314: altae virtutis patrum, Sil. 10, 68; Plin. 5, 8, 8, 44.—II.Transf., mentally or morally degenerate, ignoble, base: Muttinem sibi modum facere, degenerem Afrum!Liv. 25, 40, 12: Artabanum materna origine Arsacidem, cetera degenerem, Tac. A. 6, 42; cf.: vitā non degener, id. ib. 4, 61: non degener ad pericula, id. ib. 1, 40: degeneres animos timor arguit, Verg. A. 4, 13: animi, Luc. 6, 417: metus, id. 3, 149: questus, Val. Fl. 1, 164: preces, Tac. A. 12, 36 fin.: projectus, id. H. 3, 65 fin.: insidiae, id. A. 11, 19 et saep.—Of language: bilingues, paulatim a domestico externo sermone degeneres, Curt. 7, 5, 29.—Poet.: toga (for togati), Luc. 1, 365.—With abl. ( = indignus): degener haud Gracchis consul, Sil. 4, 5, 17: tantoduce, Ambros. de Jacob. 2, 11, 45.