(v. a.P. a.) : dē-scrībo, psi, ptum (in MSS. and edd. often confounded with discribo, q. v.), 3, v. a.
* To copy off, transcribe any thing from an original (freq. in Cic.; elsewh. rare): scripsit Balbus ad me, se a te (i. e. e tuo exemplo) quintum de Finibus librum descripsisse,Cic. Att. 13, 21; cf. id. Ac. 2, 4, 11: epistolam,id. Att. 8, 9; id. Fam. 12, 17, 2; 12, 7, 22: legem,Suet. Cal. 41; id. Dom. 20; so, to write down, write out: carmina in foliis,Verg. A. 3, 445; in carved letters: in viridi cortice carmina,id. E. 5, 14.— Class. and far more freq.
* To sketch off, to describe in painting, writing, etc.: delineare, definire.
* Lit.: non potuit pictor rectius describere ejus formam,Plaut. As. 2, 3, 22; so, geometricas formas in harena,Cic. Rep. 1, 17 fin.: formas in pulvere,Liv. 25, 31; cf. Cic. Fin. 5, 19; id. Clu. 32, 87; id. Sen. 14, 49: sphaeram,id. Rep. 1, 14; cf. caelum,Varr. R. R. 2, 1, 7: caeli meatus radio,Verg. A. 6, 851; cf. id. E. 3, 41: vitam votivā tabellā,Hor. S. 2, 1, 33 et saep.
* Trop.
* To represent, delineate, describe: malos mores,Plaut. Mil. 3, 1, 165; cf.: hominum sermones moresque,Cic. Or. 40, 138: definienda res erit verbis et breviter describenda,id. Inv. 1, 8fin: qualem (mulierem) ego paulo ante descripsi,id. Cael. 20, 50; id. Phil. 2, 44; id. Sull. 29 fin.: me latronem ac sicarium,id. Mil. 18, 47: si quis erat dignus describi, quod malus ac fur, etc.,Hor. S. 1, 4, 3: malo carmine,id. Ep. 2, 1, 154; Quint. 3, 4, 3: vulnera Parthi,Hor. S. 2, 1, 15: lucum, aram Dianae, flumen Rhenum, pluvium arcum,id. A. P. 18 et saep.: praecepta,id. S. 2, 3, 34: facta versibus,Nep. Att. 18, 6. —Rarely
* With acc. and inf.: nec qui descripsit corrumpi semina matrum,Ov. Tr. 2, 415; Gell. 9, 1.—Part. subst.: dēscrip-ta, ōrum, n.: recitari factorum dictorumque ejus descripta per dies jussit,the diary,Tac. A. 6, 24.
* To mark off, define, divide, distribute into parts. (But whenever the notion of distribution or division is implied, the form discribo seems to have been used by class. writers; and is now restored where de-scr. is found in earlier edd., e.g. Cic. Rep. 2, 8; id. de Or. 2, 71, 288; id. Sest. 30, 66 et saep.) Cf.: libertinos in quatuor urbanas tribus,Liv. 45, 15: annum in duodecim menses,Liv. 1, 19; Flor. 1, 2, 2. —Without in.: commode omnes descripti, aetates, classes, equitatus,Cic. Rep. 4, 2; and: classes centuriasque et hunc ordinem ex censu descripsit,Liv. 1, 42: terram,Vulg. Jos. 18, 6 al. et saep.
* Aliquid (alicui), to ascribe, apportion, appoint, assign to any one (cf. remark, no. 2 supra); cf.: vecturas frumenti finitimis civitatibus, * Caes. B. C. 3, 42, 4; Liv. 1, 32 al.: officia,to define,Cic. Ac. 2, 36; id. Fam. 12, 1: vices (poetae),Hor. A. P. 86: munera pugnae,Sil. 9, 267 et saep.—Hence, dēscrip-tus, a, um, P. a., qs. marked out, i. e. precisely ordered, properly arranged (ap. Cic.): materies orationis omnibus locis descripta, instructa ornataque,Cic. de Or. 2, 34, 145; cf.: ordo verborum,id. Or. 59, 200: natura nihil est aptius, nihil descriptius,id. Fin. 3, 22, 74.—Neutr. plur. as subst.: dēscrip-ta, orum, things recorded, writings, Tac. A. 6, 24.—Sup. does not occur.—* Adv.: dē-scriptē, distinctly, precisely: descripte et electe digerere, opp. confuse et permixte dispergere,Cic. Inv. 1, 30, 49.

s. TLL