dē-volvo, volvi, vŏlūtum, 3
* V. a., to roll or tumble down (class.).
* Lit.: saxa in musculum,Caes. B. C. 2, 11, 1, and 2; cf. saxa (amnis),Quint. 12, 10, 61: auratas trabes,Verg. A. 2, 449: tonitrua, i. e. to imitate it (by rolling down balls behind the scenes), Phaedr. 5, 7, 23: clipeos e muris,Curt. 4, 3 fin.: panem ex igne,Cat. 59, 4: corpora in humum,Ov. M. 7, 574: se toris,Val. Fl. 1, 235 et saep.—Poet.: fusis mollia pensa,i. e. to spin off,Verg. G. 4, 349.
* Pass. in mid. force, to roll itself down, to roll or tumble down, to fall headlong: monte praecipiti devolutus torrens,Liv. 28, 6; cf. Col. 1, 5, 2; Curt. 5, 3: jumenta cum oneribus devolvebantur,Liv. 21, 33: ex praecipiti,Curt. 7, 11.
* Trop.: aliquem vitā suā, to remove from,i. e. to deprive of,Plaut. Men. 5, 5, 5: per audaces nova dithyrambos Verba devolvit (the figure being taken from a river),Hor. Od. 4, 2, 11.
* Mid., to sink down, fall into: ad spem inanem pacis devoluti, * Cic. Phil. 7, 4, 13: retro ad stirpem,Liv. 1, 47: ad otium et inertiam,Col. 1 prooem. § 29: devolvuntur,hasten down,Amm. 15, 10, 4.

s. TLL