tĕnŭo — Lewis & Short
tĕnŭo, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a.tenuis,
I to make thin, slender, meagre, fine, rare; to dilute, rarefy, attenuate, etc. (poet. and in post-Aug. prose; syn.: rarefacio, minuo).
I Lit.:
assiduo vomer tenuatur ab usu,Ov. P. 2, 7, 43:
hoc (tempus) tenuat dentem aratri,id. Tr. 4, 6, 13:
sol matutinum aëra spissum et umidum ortu suo tenuat,Sen. Q. N. 5, 3, 2; so,
aëra,to rarefy, Stat. Th. 1, 338:
auras,Ov. M. 14, 399:
ipsā autem macie tenuant armenta volentes,make lean, Verg. G. 3, 129:
tenuatum corpus,Hor. S. 2, 2, 84:
corpus parvo victu tenuatum,Tac. A. 15, 63:
exiles videor tenuatus in artus,Prop. 2, 22 (3, 15), 21:
se in undas,to dissolve into water, Ov. A. A. 1, 761; so,
artus in undas,id. M. 15, 551; cf.:
tenuatus in auras, Aëraque umor abit,id. ib. 15, 246:
vocis via est tenuata,narrowed, contracted, id. ib. 14, 498:
flumina per multos rivos,id. R. Am. 445:
chartam interpolatione,Plin. 13, 12, 23, § 75:
adipes,Quint. 2, 10, 6:
luna quater plenum tenuata retexuit orbem,i. e. waning, Ov. M. 7, 531: ne ad spadonum exilitatem vox nostra tenuetur, Quint. 11, 3, 19; so,
vocem,id. 11, 3, 32.—
II Trop., to make small or trifling, to lessen, diminish, reduce, weaken, enfeeble:
utque meae famam tenuent oblivia culpae,Ov. Tr. 3, 11, 65:
iram,id. H. 20, 73:
vires amoris,id. M. 5, 374:
magna modis tenuare parvis,to lessen, degrade, Hor. C. 3, 3, 72:
gesta tanti viri enumerando,Pac. Pan. ad Theod. 5; Claud. IV. Cons. Hon. 127:
dicite, quo pariter carmen tenuastis in antro,have spun out a slight elegiac poem, Prop. 3 (4), 1, 5. cf.:
Maximo carmen tenuare tanto,Stat. S. 4, 7, 2; v. tenuis, II. B.