Dirus, Adiect. Vengible: crnel: terrible: horrible: huge: great.Aconita dira. Auson. Aues diræ. Claud. Excutere diros amores. Oui. Cursed loues.Cædes dira.Ouid. Caputdirum. Senec.Cometæ diræ.Virg. Contagia dira. Virg.Cruciatus diri.Ouid.Cruell tormentes.Cupido dira.Virg.Diræ deprecationes. Plin. Horrible cursing.Detestatio dira. Hor. Dextra dira.Stat. Dira execratio. Liu.Dira viro facies.Ouid. Manus conscia diri facti. Ouid.Dira fames.Virg.Great hunger.Fata dira. Seneca. Forma dira. Claud. Funus dirum. Virg.Furor dirus. Sene. Diræ furiæ sunt. Virg.Gens dira.Virg. Grando dira. Hora. Hydrops dirus. Hor. Dira illuuies.Virg.A terrible and great deluge.Iudex dirus. Sene. Dira libido. Lucr. Dira lues. Oui. Mens dira. Virg.Dirus mœror. Plin. Mors dira. Sen. Cruell death.Mugitus diri.Ouid. Dira natura. Plin. Naufragia dira. Sen. Necessitas dira. Horat. Nefas dirum.Virg. Dira nubes. Plin. Omen dirum mortalibus.Ouid.Dirum oppidum. Plin. Dirum ostentum. Pli. Pestis dira.Virg.Hortible pestilence.Pugna dira.Virg.Cruell and deadly fight.Serpens dira.Ouid. Sanguinis dira sitis. Sen. Spes dira. Sen. Dirus spiritus. Sen. Supplicia dira.Virg.Dirum tempus Cic.A terrible time.Tyrannus dirus. Claud. A vengeable tyrane.Venena dira. Hora. Volucres diræ. Sil. Vox dira. Virg. Dirus, pro magno aliquando accipitur.Virg.Dira religio.Virg. Pro magna. Dirior, Comparatiuum.Cic.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
dīrus, a, um, adj. [Sanscr. root dī, to flee; Gr. de/os, dei/dw, deino/s], fearful, awful (for syn. cf.: saevus, atrox, ferox, crudelis, trux, furens, furiosus, immitis). I. Orig. belonging to the lang. of augurs; of fate, ill-omened, ominous, boding, portentous: QVAE AVGVR INIVSTA, NEFASTA VITIOSA DIRA DEFIXERIT, IRRITA INFECTAQVE SVNTO, Cic. Leg. 2, 8 fin.; cf. id. Div. 1, 16: tristissima exta sine capite fuerunt, quibus nihil videtur esse dirius, id. ib. 2, 15fin.; cf.: bubo, dirum mortalibus omen, Ov. M. 5, 550: omen, Tac. H. 3, 56; Suet. Aug. 92; id. Tib. 1, 3, 17: aves, Tac. A. 12, 43; Suet. Claud. 22: alites, Plin. 18, 1, 1, 4: somnia, Val. Fl. 3, 59: tempus, Cic. Poët. Div. 1, 11, 18: exsecrationes, Liv. 40, 56; 28, 22; Suet. Claud. 12; cf. deprecationes, Plin. 28, 2, 4, 19: detestatio, Hor. Epod. 5, 89: ritus sacrorum, Tac. A. 16, 8: religio loci, Verg. A. 8, 350 et saep.—Hence, as subst.: 1. dīrae, ārum, f.(a). (sc. res), ill-boding things, portents, unlucky signs: dirarum obnuntiatio, id. ib.; Plin. 28, 2, 4, 17; 28, 2, 5, 26; Tac. A. 6, 24 al.; Hor. Epod. 5, 89; Müll. Etrusk. 2, p. 117.—(b). As a nom. propr., Dīrae, the Furies, Verg. A. 12, 845 sq.; 4, 473; Val. Fl. 1, 804; Aur. Vict. Epit. 21 al.; called also Dirae deae, sorores, Verg. A. 7, 324 and 454.—2. dīra, ōrum, n., fearful things, ill-boding events: in dira et in vitiosa incurrimus, Cic. Div. 1, 16, 29; id. Leg. 2, 8, 21; cf.: me mihi dira precari cogis,
to curse, invoke curses on
, Tib. 2, 6, 17: dira passus, Vulg. Sirach, 38, 16.II.Transf., of character, dreadful, horrible, terrible, abominable, detestable (so almost exclusively poet.; a very favorite expression with the Aug. poets; in the Ciceron. per. not at all; but cf. diritas, II.): senex dirissimus, Varr. Poët. ap. Non. 100, 30: Dea, i. e.
Circe
, Ov. M. 14, 278: Ulixes, Verg. A. 2, 261; 762: Hannibal, Hor. C. 2, 12, 2 al.: durum, id. ib. 3, 6, 36 (also ap. Quint. 8, 2, 9): Afer, Hor. C. 4, 4, 42: Amulius, Ov. F. 4, 53: noverca, id. H. 12, 188: pellex, id. ib. 5, 60 et saep.: hydra, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 10: serpens, Ov. M. 2, 651: victima, id. A. A. 1, 334: parens,
fell, cruel
, id. ib. 2, 383: soror, Stat. S. 5, 3, 84: parentes, Manil. 5, 541.—b. Of inanimate and abstr. subjects: regio, Ov. Tr. 3, 3, 5: facies, id. F. 1, 553: dapes, id. ib. 6, 663: venena, Hor. Epod. 5, 61; id. S. 1, 9, 31: Asphaltites lacus, Plin. 5, 15, 15, 71: scopulus, id. 4, 11, 18, 51: duarum Syrtium vadoso mari diri sinus, id. 5, 4, 4, 26 et saep.: bellum, Verg. A. 11, 217: nefas, id. ib. 4, 563: sollicitudines, Hor. Epod. 13, 10: amores, Ov. M. 10, 426: superbia, id. ib. 3, 354: quies, Tac. A. 1, 65 et saep.—Poet., answering to the Gr. deino/s, with inf.: dira portas quassare trabs, Sil. 4, 284.—B.Skilful: in complicandis negotiis, Amm. 14, 5, 8.