flŭĭto — Lewis & Short
flŭĭto (contract. flūto,
Lucr. 3, 189; 4, 77; Varr. ap. Macr. S. 2, 12), āvi, ātum, 1,I v. freq. n. [fluo], to float, swim, or sail about on the water, to flow (mostly poet. and in post-Aug. prose).
I Lit.:
in lacu Apuscidamo omnia fluitant, nihil mergitur (shortly before: in quo stagno nihil innatet),Plin. 31, 2, 18, § 22:
materies primo sidit, postea fluitare incipit,id. 13, 7, 14, § 57: rei publicae navem fluitantem in alto tempestatibus, *Cic. Sest. 20, 46:
fluitans alvĕus,Liv. 1, 4, 6:
fluitantes insulae,Plin. 16, 36, 66, § 168:
ebenus in aquis non fluitat,id. 16, 40, 76, § 204:
in summo,id. 28, 9, 35, § 134:
contra aquas,id. 29, 3, 12, § 52:
fusile aurum per rictus,to flow, Ov. M. 11, 127:
jucundum utrumque per jocum ludumque fluitantibus,those who sail about, Plin. Ep. 8, 8, 4.—
B Transf., to move in a waving, unsteady manner; to wave, undulate:
fluitantia aplustra,Lucr. 2, 555:
pleno fluitantia vela theatro,Prop. 3, 18 (4, 17), 13:
vela summo fluitantia malo,Ov. M. 11, 470:
fluitantia lora,i. e. flowing, slack, id. A. A. 2, 433:
vestis non fluitans sed stricta et singulos artus exprimens,flowing, loose, Tac. G. 17:
amictus,Cat. 64, 68:
fluitans labansque miles,staggering, Tac. H. 5, 18; 3, 27:
vela (in theatris) per malos trabesque trementia flutant namque ... cogunt suo fluitare colore,to wave, Lucr. 4, 77 sq.—
II Trop., to be doubtful or uncertain, to waver:
animi incerto errore fluitans,Lucr. 3, 1052:
spe dubiae horae,Hor. Ep. 1, 18, 110:
unde primum creditur Caecinae fides fluitasse,Tac. H. 2, 93 fin.:
fluitans fides,Claud. B. G. 247:
citra lectionis exemplum labor ille (scribendi) carens rectore fluitabit, i. e. will be performed at random,Quint. 10, 1, 2.