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The corpus record — Latin

ostendo

ostendo

to stretch out

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 261 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. ostendo — Lewis & Short

ostendo, di, sum, and tum (ostensus, Varr. ap.

Prisc. p. 892 P.; Luc. 2, 192: ostentus, Att. ap. Cic. Div. 1, 22, 45; Pac. and Varr. ap. Prisc. l. l.; Tac. H. 1, 78:
I ostensurus, Suet. Ner. 13; App. ap. Prisc. p. 892 P.: ostenturus, Cato, Or. 52, 2; v. also the apoc. form: ostende ostendam, ut permultis aliis exemplis ejus generis manifestum est, Paul. ex Fest. p. 201 Müll.; perh. used by Cato, v. Müll. ad loc., and cf. the letter E), v. a. obs-tendo, to stretch out or spread before one; hence, to expose to view, to show, exhibit, display (syn.: monstro, exhibeo).
I Lit.
A In gen.
1 Ostendo manus, Plaut. Ep. 5, 2, 17: os suum populo Romano ostendere audet, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 1, § 1: pectora, Sil. 2, 669: umeros, Verg. A. 5, 376: dentem, Suet. Vesp. 5: se, to show one's self, appear, Ter. Hec. 4, 4, 5: aciem, to display, Liv. 29, 7: equites sese ostendunt, show themselves, appear, Caes. B. C. 1, 63. —
2 Transf.: vocem, to make heard, Phaedr. 1, 13, 9.—
B In partic., to lay open, expose (poet.): Aquiloni glaebas, Verg. G. 2, 261: lucos Phoebo, Stat. Th. 6, 90: ager qui soli ostentus erit, Cato, R. R. 6, 2. —
II Trop.
A In gen., to show, disclose, exhibit, manifest: ille dies cum gloriā maximā sese nobis ostendat, Enn. ap. Prisc. p. 880 P. (Ann. v. 384 Vahl.): non ego illi extemplo ita meum ostendam sensum, Plaut. Most. 5, 1, 21: verum hoc facto sese ostendit, he has exposed himself, id. As. 5, 2, 12: sententiam, Ter. Heaut. 2, 1, 7: potestatem, id. Eun. 5, 8, 3: spem, metum, i. e. to promise, threaten, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 34, § 75 et saep.—With two acc.: aliquem nocentem, Plin. Ep. 3, 9, 2; cf. Tit. ap. Gell. 2, 27, 5.—Mid., to show itself, appear: nisi cum major spes ostenderetur, Suet. Aug. 25.—
B In partic.
1 To show, express, indicate by speech or signs; to give to understand, to declare, say, tell, make known, etc. (syn.: indico, declaro, significo).—With acc.: illud ostendit, Cic. Att. 1, 1, 4.—With obj.- or rel.-clause: ostendit se cum rege colloqui velle, Nep. Con. 3, 2: quid sui consilii sit, ostendit, Caes. B. G. 1, 21; cf. id. ib. 5, 2, 3.—Absol.: ut ostendimus supra, as we showed above, Nep. Ages. 1, 5: sed aliter, atque ostenderam, facio, Cic. Fam. 2, 3, 2: signum est per quod ostenditur idonea perficiendi facultas esse quaesita, Auct. Her. 2, 4, 6: primum ostendendum est, id. ib. 2, 16, 23.—
2 To hold up conspicuously, flourish (ironically): sed quaedam mihi magnifica et praeclara ejus defensio ostenditur, Cic. Verr. 2, 5, 1, § 1.—Hence, osten-tus, a, um, P. a.
A Exposed (ante-class.): ager soli ostentus, Cato, R. R. 6, 2; so id. ib. 6, 4; Varr. R. R. 1, 24, 1; 1, 25.—
B Subst.: ostentum, i, n.
1 Lit., a prodigy, wonder, that announces something about to happen, a portent (class.; syn.: monstrum, portentum): praedictiones vero et praesensiones rerum futurarum quid aliud declarant, nisi hominibus ea, quae futura sunt, ostendi, monstrari, portendi, praedici? ex quo illa ostenta, monstra, portenta, prodigia dicuntur, Cic. N. D. 2, 3, 7; cf. id. Div. 1, 42, 93; Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 49, § 108; Suet. Caes. 32.—
2 Transf., a wondrous thing, prodigy: scis Appium ostenta facere, Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8, 14, 4: ostenti prorsus genus, Just. 10, 1, 6.

2. ostendo — Walde–Hofmann

ostendo, -di, -tum (sek. -sum, Sommer Hb.* 609), -ere „halte vor, setze aus; stelle vor Augen, zeige“ (seit Enn., ostentum n. pVorzeichen“ seit Varro u, Cic., [auguralsprchl, vgl portentum; ostentürius seit Mart. Cap., ostentifer Gl), ostentus, -üs seit Sall. Ki; -ü seit Gell.] ostänsiö fi seit Apul, ostönsor Tert., ostensiönälis Scr. h. Aug.; ostentó, -äre „biete dar, trage .zur Schau“ seit Enn. [ostentätiö seit … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. ostendo, p. 1133]

In the wild

6 of 2,369 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. ostendo (scan p. 1133; entry #1916).

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Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.