(adjective) : răpax, ācis, rapio
* Grasping, greedy of plunder, rapacious.
* Lit. (class.; syn. furax): vos rapaces, vos praedones,Plaut. Men. 5, 7, 26; id. Pers. 3, 3, 6: olim furunculus, nunc vero etiam rapax,Cic. Pis. 27, 66; so with fur, Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 2, § 4: inopiā rapax,Suet. Dom. 3: procuratorum rapacissimum quemque,id. Vesp. 16; cf. Tac. H. 1, 20: Cinara,i. e. eager for presents,Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 33; so Tib. 1, 5, 59; 2, 4, 25: cervi, luporum praeda rapacium,Hor. C. 4, 4, 50; id. Epod. 16, 20; cf. Harpyiae,id. S. 2, 2, 40.— As subst.: răpax, ācis, comm., a beast of prey, Plin. 11, 45, 101, § 247.
* Of things, rapacious, ravenous (mostly poet.): falces rapaces,Lucr. 3, 650: ventus,Ov. A. A. 1, 388: ignis,id. M. 8, 837: mors,Tib. 1, 3, 65; cf. Orcus,Hor. C. 2, 18, 30: fortuna,id. ib. 1, 34, 14: dentes,fangs, tusks,Veg. 6, 1, 1.—With gen.: chryselectrum rapacissimum ignium,very ignitible,Plin. 37, 3, 12, § 51.—As a poet. epithet of floods: amnes,Lucr. 5, 341: fluvii,id. 1, 17: unda, Cic. poët. N. D. 3, 10, 24: undae,Ov. M. 8, 550: Danubius,id. ad Liv. 397.— Hence, transf., an appellation of the twenty-first legion and the soldiers composing it (qs. that sweeps every thing before it), Tac. H. 2, 43; 100; 3, 14; 18; 22.
* Trop. (rare), with gen., grasping, seizing eagerly or quickly, greedy, avaricious: nihil est rapacius quam natura,Cic. Lael. 14, 50: rapacia virtutis ingenia,Sen. Ep. 95, 36: nostri omnium utilitatum et virtutum rapacissimi,Plin. 25, 2, 2, § 4.

s. TLL