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The corpus record — Latin

urgeo

urgeo

to press, push

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 180 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. urgeo — de Vaan

urgeo 'to press, push' [v. II; pf. ursi] (PL+) Derivatives: exurgere 'to squeeze out* (PL+). « Pit *worg-eje/o-. h PIE *u(o)rg -eie-? IE cognates: Lith. verzti, 3s. verzia 'to string, tighten, squeeze', CS otbvrestU Is. othvrtzg 'to untie', Ru. otvirzt' (poet.) *to open', OHG wurgen 'to strangle', OS wurgiU, OIc, virgiU 'noose\ LIV assumes that urged belongs to a root *ureg- 'to follow a track', which via 'to hunt … — [de Vaan, s.v. urgeo, p. 658]

2. urgeo — Lewis & Short

urgeo (less correctly urgueo), ursi (

I perf. rare; past part. not found), 2, v. a. Gr. verg-, ei(/rgnumi, to shut in; Sanscr. varg-, vargami, prevent; Germ. Merk; Engl. work, to press, push, force, drive, impel, urge.
I Lit. (mostly poet.; syn.: pello, trudo): unda impellitur undā Urgeturque eadem veniens urgetque priorem, Ov. M. 15, 182: urgeris turbā circum te stante, Hor. S. 1, 3, 135: angustoque vagos pisces urgere catino, id. ib. 2, 4, 77: trepidique pedem pede fervidus urget, Verg. A. 12, 748; cf. Cic. Rep. 6, 20, 21: aut petis aut urges ruiturum, Sisyphe, saxum, i. e. roll up, Ov. M. 4, 460: versaque in obnixos urguentur cornua vasto Cum gemitu, Verg. G. 3, 222: tres (naves) Eurus ab alto In brevia et Syrtes urget, id. A. 1, 111: miserum tenues in jecur urget acus, Ov. H. 6, 92: equites in oppidum, Auct. B. Afr. 6, 3: (Mars) aetherias currus urgebat ad arces, Stat. Th. 3, 222.—
B Transf.
1 To press upon (as something burdensome or compulsory).
a To bear hard or close upon; press hard, beset (class.): Caesar cum septimam legionem, quae juxta constiterat, urgeri ab hoste vidisset, Caes. B. G. 2, 26; 2, 25; Sall. J. 56, 6; cf.: hinc Pallas instat et urget Hinc contra Lausus, Verg. A. 10, 433: urgent impavidi te Salaminius Teucer, te Sthenelus, Hor. C. 1, 15, 23: hac urget lupus, hac canis angit, id. S. 2, 2, 64. —
b To weigh or bear down, to burden, oppress: at onus urget, Plaut. Poen. 4, 2, 35; cf.: onus aut jam urgentis aut certe adventantis senectutis, Cic. Sen. 1, 2: quod latus mundi nebulae malusque Juppiter urget, Hor. C. 1, 22, 20: quem scabies aut morbus urget, id. A. P. 453; cf.: ergo Quintilium perpetuus sopor Urget, id. C. 1, 24, 5: omnes illacrimabiles Urgentur ignotique longa Nocte, id. ib. 4, 9, 27: populus militiā atque inopiā urguebatur, Sall. J. 41, 7: praesens atque urgens malum, Cic. Tusc. 3, 25, 61.—
c To urge, press, stimulate, drive, solicit (syn. insto): quod te urget, scelus, Qui huic sis molestus? Plaut. Men. 2, 2, 47: etiam atque etiam insto atque urgeo, Cic. Planc. 19, 48: quamobrem, ut facis, urge, insta, perfice, id. Att. 13, 32, 1: Lepidus ursit me et suis et Antonii litteris, ut, etc., Asin. ap. Cic. Fam. 10, 32, 4: nihil urget, is pressing, Cic. Att. 13, 27, 2: cur patrem non urserit ad exsolutionem, Dig. 23, 3, 33.—
2 To press, strain, exert in excess, etc.: vox autem ultra vires urgenda non est, Quint. 11, 3, 51; cf. orationem, id. 11, 3, 102.—
3 To press upon (by too great nearness), to crowd, hem in, confine: ne urbem hanc urbe aliā premere atque urgere possitis, Cic. Agr. 1, 5, 16: vallis, quam densis frondibus atrum Urget utrimque latus, Verg. A. 11, 524; 7, 566: quāque pharetratae vicinia Persidis urget, id. G. 4, 290.—
II Trop.
A To press, ply, urge with argument (a favorite expression of Cic.): urgerent praeterea philosophorum greges ... instaret Academia, Cic. de Or. 1, 10, 42: illum neque ursi, neque levavi, id. Q. Fr. 3, 9, 1: sed urges me meis versibus, id. Div. 2, 20, 45: urguebat Arcesilas Zenonem, cum ipse falsa omnia diceret, etc., id. N. D. 1, 25, 70.—With acc. and inf.: sed urguetis identidem hominum esse istam culpam non deorum, Cic. N. D. 3, 31, 76: illud urgeam, non intellegere eum, quid, etc., id. Fin. 5, 27, 80.—Absol.: ut interrogando urgeat, Cic. Or. 40, 137: urgent tamen et nihil remittunt, id. Fin. 4, 28, 77; id. Off. 3, 9, 39; id. Lig. 3, 9 (also ap. Quint. 9, 2, 57).—
B To follow up, keep to, stick to, ply hard, push forward, urge on any thing: eundem locum diutius, Cic. N. D. 1, 35, 97: quin tu urges istam occasionem et facultatem, id. Fam. 7, 8, 2: jus, aequitatem, id. Off. 3, 16, 67: idem illud de provinciis, Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8, 5, 3: propositum, Hor. S. 2, 7, 6: et durum terrae rusticus urget opus, Tib. 1, 9, 8; Ov. M. 4, 390; cf.: non tacta ligonibus arva, Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 26: vestem, Verg. A. 9, 489: iter, Ov. F. 6, 520: vestigia ad manes, Sil. 12, 419: Romae cum sum et urgeo forum, am often in the Forum, Cic. Fam. 9, 15, 4; cf. altum, to force or plunge into, Hor. C. 2, 10, 2.— Urgeri, with gen., to be hard pressed, prosecuted for any thing: male administratae provinciae aliorumque criminum, Tac. A. 6, 29.—Poet., with inf.: marisque Baiis obstrepentis urges Summovere litora, Hor. C. 2, 18, 20.—Hence, urgens, entis, P. a. (acc. to I.B.1.), pressing, cogent, urgent (postclass. and very rare): urgentior causa, Tert. Res. Carn. 2 med.: urgentissima ratio, Cod. Just. 3, 11, 1.—Adv.: urgenter, pressingly (late Lat.), Cypr. Ep. 30, 1.

3. urgeö — Walde–Hofmann

urgeö (daneben früh, aber unursprünglich urgueó, s. Bersu Gutt. 109 f), urst, -&re „dränge, bedrünge, presse“ (seit. Enn., Plaut., Lucil. Cic. usw., rom.; davon wrgéns, urgenter Spätl.). Komp.: ad- seit Hor.; ex- seit Plt.; per- seit Suet. ; sub- seit Verg.; super-urgeö seit Tac.): aus *urghejö (Persson Beitr. 506; anders Leumann-Stolz* 114: aus *uurg- und Hermann PhW, 1922, 232 ; idg. *urg-?) zu lit. verZià, aksl. … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. urgeö, p. 1747]

In the wild

6 of 848 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. urgeo (scan p. 658; entry #1890). Root candidates: *ureg-.
  • Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. urgeö (scan pp. 1747-1748; entry #3350). Root candidates: *uurg-.

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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.