dē-flecto — Lewis & Short
dē-flecto, xi, xum, 3, v. a. and n.
I Act., to bend downwards or aside, to turn aside or in another direction.
A Lit.:
ramum olivae,Col. 5, 11, 14; cf.:
palmitem,id. 4, 26, 3; Catull. 62, 51; Plin. 17, 23, 35, § 204:
tela (Venus),Verg. A. 10, 331:
amnis in alium cursum,Cic. Div. 1, 19 fin.: cursum ad Romanos. Liv. 10, 27:
vultum ab aliqua re ad aliquid,Val. Max. 5, 10, 1:
carinam quolibet,Luc. 5, 789; cf.:
rapidum iter,id. 3, 337;
novam viam,to turn off, construct in another direction, Liv. 39, 27 fin.—
B Trop.
1 In gen.:
lumina,Ov. M. 7, 789; cf.:
oculos a cura,Val. Fl. 8, 76:
cum ipsos principes aliqua pravitas de via deflexit,Cic. Rep. 1, 44:
aliquem ab institutis studiis,Quint. 10, 1, 91:
ut declinet a proposito deflectatque sententiam,Cic. Or. 40:
si ad verba rem deflectere velimus,id. Caecin. 18, 51:
quaedam in senectute deflexit (for which, shortly before, mutavit), Cels. praef.: in ipsos factum deflectitur,Quint. 7, 2, 23:
adversarios in suam utilitatem deflectere,id. 4, 1, 71; cf.:
dotes puellae in pejus,Ov. R. Am. 325:
tragoediam in obscenos risus,id. Tr. 2, 409:
perniciosa consilia fortuna deflexit in melius,Sen. Ben. 6, 8, 1:
virtutes in vitia,Suet. Dom. 3:
se de curriculo petitionis,to withdraw, id. Mur. 22 fin.—
2 Esp. (late Lat.), gramm. t. t., to inflect, to vary the form of a word:
non solet sic deflecti,August. in Psa. 140, 25.—
II Neutr., to turn off, turn aside.
A Lit.:
vulgus militum deflectere viā,Tac. H. 2, 70; cf.
without via,Suet. Aug. 93 fin.:
in Tuscos,Plin. Ep. 4, 1, 3.—
B Trop. (freq., but almost exclusively in Cicero):
deflexit jam aliquantulum de spatio curriculoque consuetudo majorum,Cic. Lael. 12; so,
de via (consuetudo),id. Off. 2, 3, 9:
de recta regione,Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 68:
a veritate,id. Rosc. Com. 16:
oratio redeat illuc unde deflexit,id. Tusc. 5, 28, 80:
a Domino,Vulg. Sirach 36, 28; 2, 7.