rŏta (noun F) : kindred with Sanscr. ratha, chariot, and Germ. Rad (cf.rotundus), wheel
* A wheel.
* Lit.: pro rotā me uti licet,Plaut. Capt. 2, 3, 9; cf.: vorsutior es quam rota figularis,id. Ep. 3, 2, 35: orbes rotarum,Lucr. 6, 551; Plin. 8, 16, 19, § 52: axes rotarum,id. 16, 43, 84, § 229: radiata,Varr. R. R. 3, 5, 15: aurea curvatura summae rotae, Ov M. 2, 108: aquaria,Cato, R. R. 11, 3: ne currente rotā funis eat retro, while the wheel (in a hoisting machine) hurries forward, Hor. C. 3, 10, 10 et saep.
* In partic.
* Trop., a wheel: fortunae rotam pertimescere,i. e. fickleness, inconstancy,Cic. Pis. 10, 22; cf.: versatur celeri Fors levis orbe rotae,Tib. 1, 5, 70; Prop. 2, 8, 8 (10); Tac. Or. 23; Amm. 26, 8, 13.—Poet.: imparibus vecta Thalia rotis,i. e. in elegiac metre,Ov. A. A. 1, 264; so, disparibus (elegorum) rotis,id. P. 3, 4, 86: jactor, crucior, agitor, stimulor, vorsor in amoris rotā miser, on the rack of love (cf. I. A. 2. b. supra), Plaut. Cist. 2, 1, 4.
* Poet., transf.
* A roller: aliquid subjectis rotis traicere,Front. 1, 5, 7: propellere,Tac. H. 4, 23; Vitr. 10, 13, 2.
* (Pars pro toto.) A car, chariot: si rota defuerit, tu pede carpe viam, Ov.A. A. 2,230; cf. (opp. pedibus) id. M. 1, 448; so Prop. 1, 2, 20; 2, 25 (3, 20), 26; 4 (5), 10, 42: subdiderat rotas,Verg. A. 12, 675; Ov. M. 2, 139; 312; 3, 150. —Of the span of horses: Cynthia fraternis afflata rotis,Sil. 4, 483.
* Of things in the shape of a wheel or disk.
* The disk of the sun: solis rota,Lucr. 5, 432; 564; cf.: flammea Phoebi,Sen. Herc. Oet. 1022; and simply rota, Enn. ap. Isid. Orig. 18, 36 fin.; Val. Fl. 3, 559.
* A kind of sea-fish, Plin. 9, 4, 3, § 8; 32, 11, 53, § 144.