Flôsculus, huius flósculi, m. g. pen. cor. Diminutiuum. Cicer.A little flower.Lasciuiæ slosculi. Quint. Wanton oruametris of slile.Velox flosculus vitæ. luuenal. The beautie of life quickly fading.Flosculos carpere atque delibare.Cic.Ostendere flosculos, Quint Ornaments of thetoricke.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
floscŭlus, i, m. (collat. form, floscŭ-la, ae, f., Fulg. Serm. 6), dim. [flos], a little flower, floweret (rare but class.). I.Lit.: ficta omnia celeriter tamquam flosculi decidunt, Cic. Off. 2, 12, 43.—B.Transf., the part of a fruit where the blossom was, the eye, Col. 12, 45, 5.—II.Trop., the flower, pride, ornament: non enim flosculos ... sed, jam decimum aetatis ingressus annum, certos atque deformatos fructus ostenderat, Quint. 6 praef. 9; Cat. 24, 1: vitae, i. e.
youth
, Juv. 9, 127.—B. In partic., of speech. 1.Flower of rhetoric, ornament: omnes undique flosculos carpere atque delibare, Cic. Sest. 56, 119; cf.: juvenibus flosculos omnium partium in ea, quae sunt dicturi, congerentibus, Quint. 10, 5, 23; 2, 5, 22; 12, 10, 73: ut Noctes istae quadam tenus his quoque historiae flosculis leviter injectis aspergerentur, Gell. 17, 2, 1.—2.A motto, sentence culled from a writing, Sen. Ep. 33, 1.