Mordax, mordâcis, pen. prod. om. g. Plaut.He that byteth be it with teeth or wordes: that stingeth.Mordax canis.Plaut.Ferro mordaci icta pinus. Horat. The pyne tree cut with a sharpe axe.Mordax folium. Plin. A leafe that hath a byting taste.Vis prurit mordax. Plin. Hauing a strength to sting like a nettle.Mordax homo.Cic.A backbiter or slannderer.Liuidus & mordax. Horat. Non ego mordaci distrinxi carmine quenquam.Ouid.I haue not in any tamiting derse spoken euill of any man.Sollicitudines mordaces. Hor. Nipping or pinching cares.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
mordax, ācis, adj. [mordeo], biting, given to biting, snappish (poet. and in postAug. prose). I.Lit.: canis, Plaut. Bacch. 5, 2, 27: equus, Labeo ap. Gell. 4, 2: asinus, App. M. 8, p. 213 init.: Memmius, Auct. ap. Cic. de Or. 2, 59, 240.—Poet.: fibula, Sid. Carm. 5, 18.—B.Transf., stinging, sharp, biting, pungent: urtica,
, Hor. C. 4, 6, 9: pumex, Ov. A. A. 1, 506: pulvis,
corrosive
, Plin. 15, 29, 37, 123: fel,
biting, sharp
, Ov. P. 3, 3, 106: acetum,
sharp, pungent
, Pers. 5, 86: sucus, Plin. 25, 8, 50, 89.—II.Trop., biting, disposed to bite. A. Of persons: Cynicus,
biting, snarling
, Hor. Ep. 1, 17, 18: lividus et mordax, id. S. 1, 4, 93.—B. Of inanim. and abstr. things: carmen, Ov. Tr. 2, 563: invidia, Phaedr. 5 prol. 8: verum, Pers. 1, 107: sollicitudines,
biting, carking
, Hor. C. 1, 18, 4: belle interim subicitur pro eo, quod neges, aliud mordacius,
a more stinging assertion
, Quint. 6, 3, 74.—Hence, adv.: mordācĭter, bitingly (poet. and postclass. prose), Macr. S. 7, 3, 8.—Comp.: neque enim in nobis febris alias partes mordacius impellit, sed per omnia pari aequalitate discurrit, Sen. Q. N. 6, 15, 3: limā mordacius uti,