frăgĭlis — Lewis & Short
frăgĭlis, e, adj.id.,
I easily broken, brittle, fragile (class.; esp. freq. in the transf. signif.; cf.: caducus, fluxus).
I Lit.:
cadi,Ov. M. 12, 243:
coryli (with tiliae molles),id. ib. 10, 93:
rami,Verg. E. 8, 40:
myrtus,Hor. C. 3, 23, 16:
ratis,id. ib. 1, 3, 10; cf.
phaselus,id. ib. 3, 2, 28:
aes malleis,Plin. 34, 8, 20, § 94; cf.:
saccharon dentibus,id. 12, 8, 17, § 32:
crystalli centrum,id. 37, 2, 10, § 28:
caput ictibus parvis,Gell. 6, 1, 11:
tenuior fragiliorque penna scarabaeorum,Plin. 11, 28, 34, § 97:
ut fragilis glacies interit ira mora,Ov. A. A. 1, 347.—Poet.:
aquae,i. e. ice, Ov. Tr. 3, 10, 26:
fragiles sonitus chartarum,i. e. crackling, Lucr. 6, 112:
lauri,Verg. E. 8, 82:
pollicibus fragiles increpuere manus,Prop. 4 (5), 7, 12. cf. fragor.—
II Transf., in gen., weak, perishable, frail (physically or mentally):
fragile corpus animus sempiternus movet,Cic. Rep. 6, 24 fin.;
in fragili corpore odiosa omnis offensio est,id. Sen. 18, 65; cf.:
(corpora) fragili natura praedita,Lucr. 1, 581; and absol.:
fragili quaerens illidere dentem, Offendet solido,Hor. S. 2, 1, 77: fragilissimus alvus, Att. ap. Non. 193, 26.—Of an effeminate man: Julius et fragilis Pediatia (sarcastically in the fem. gen. instead of Pediatius), qs. the delicate Miss Pediatius, Hor. S. 1, 8, 39:
quis enim confidit, sibi semper id stabile et firmum permansurum, quod fragile et caducum sit?Cic. Fin. 2, 27, 86:
res humanae fragiles caducaeque sunt,id. Lael. 27, 102; id. Leg. 1, 8, 24; cf.:
divitiarum et formae gloria fluxa atque fragilis est,Sall. C. 1, 4:
fortuna populi,Cic. Rep. 2, 28 fin.:
nec aliud est aeque fragile in homine (quam memoria),Plin. 7, 24, 24, § 90:
nulli vita fragilior (quam homini),id. 7 praef. § 5; cf.:
(hominum) aevum omne et breve et fragile est,Plin. Pan. 78, 2:
haud aevi fragilis sonipes,Sil. 3, 386: anni fragiles et inertior aetas, the frail years (of age), Ov. Tr. 4, 8, 3.—Adv. does not occur.