Virga, virgæ. Cic.A rod: a yarde.Signatus renui media inter cornua virga.Ouid.Hauing a sinal blacke strike along betweene the hornes, all the residue being white.Lentior virgis salicis.Ouid.Then wirgen twigs.Arbuteis virgis texunt feretrum.Virg.Aurea virga.Virg.Cornea virga, Vide Corneus in CORNVS.Fraxinea virga. Oui. Medicata virga. Ouid.Rasæ hastilia virgæ. Vir. Teneras adhuc & graciles virgas complicare. Colum. To wrap togither yong and smal twigs.Viscata virga fallere volucres.Ouid.With lime rods.Cædere virgis. Ci. To heate with rods.Cædere aliquem virgis ad necem. Ci. Lacerare aliquem virgis.Liu.Morientur in tergo virgæ, Vide MORIOR.Multari virgis. Vide MVLTA. Virga pastoris.The herbe called Tasel. Virga thuris. Plin. A twig of a frankenlenre tree.Virga Censoria. Quint. Vide CENSORIVS.
Lewis and Short: Latin dictionary
virga, ae, f. [root varg; v. virgo], a slender green branch, a twig, sprout, switch, rod.I.Lit.A. In gen., Cato, R. R. 101; Varr. R. R. 1, 59, 4; Plin. 17, 18, 30, 136; 24, 19, 112, 172; Verg. G. 1, 266; Ov. M. 3, 29; 11, 109.—B. In partic. 1.A graft, scion, set, Ov. M. 14, 630.—2.A limetwig, Ov. M. 15, 474.—3.A rod, switch for flogging, Plaut. Capt. 3, 4, 117; id. Bacch. 4, 6, 10; id. Cas. 5, 4, 24; for governing horses, etc.: virga quā ad regendum equum usus est, Front. 4, 5, 16; Val. Max. 3, 2, 12: nobilis equus umbrā quoque virgae regitur, Curt. 7, 4, 18; Mart. 9, 22, 14; cf. Luc. 4, 683; Juv. 3, 317.—Of the small rods in the fasces of the lictors, with which criminals were scourged, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 62, 161; Plin. 7, 43, 44, 136.—Hence, poet., for fasces, as a designation of one of the higher magistrates, Ov. Tr. 5, 6, 32; Stat. S. 1, 2, 47; Mart. 8, 66, 4.—4.A wand, a staff, as a support, Liv. 45, 12; Ov. F. 2, 706.—5.A magic wand, Verg. A. 7, 190; Ov. M. 14, 278; 14, 295; 14, 300.—II.Transf.A.A stalk of the flax-plant, Plin. 19, 1, 3, 17.—B.A streak, stripe in the heavens, a water-gall, Sen. Q. N. 1, 9 and 10.—C.A colored stripe in a garment: purpureae, Ov. A. A. 3, 269. —D.A twig or branch of the ancestral tree, Juv. 8, 7.—E. Genitalium, = membrum virile, Cassiod. Anim, 9.
