(verb) : tĕnŭo, āvi, ātum, 1, tenuis
* To make thin, slender, meagre, fine, rare; to dilute, rarefy, attenuate, etc. (poet. and in post-Aug. prose; syn.: rarefacio, minuo).
* Lit.: assiduo vomer tenuatur ab usu,Ov. P. 2, 7, 43: hoc (tempus) tenuat dentem aratri,id. Tr. 4, 6, 13: sol matutinum aëra spissum et umidum ortu suo tenuat,Sen. Q. N. 5, 3, 2; so, aëra,to rarefy,Stat. Th. 1, 338: auras,Ov. M. 14, 399: ipsā autem macie tenuant armenta volentes,make lean,Verg. G. 3, 129: tenuatum corpus,Hor. S. 2, 2, 84: corpus parvo victu tenuatum,Tac. A. 15, 63: exiles videor tenuatus in artus,Prop. 2, 22 (3, 15), 21: se in undas,to dissolve into water,Ov. A. A. 1, 761; so, artus in undas,id. M. 15, 551; cf.: tenuatus in auras, Aëraque umor abit,id. ib. 15, 246: vocis via est tenuata,narrowed, contracted,id. ib. 14, 498: flumina per multos rivos,id. R. Am. 445: chartam interpolatione,Plin. 13, 12, 23, § 75: adipes,Quint. 2, 10, 6: luna quater plenum tenuata retexuit orbem,i. e. waning,Ov. M. 7, 531: ne ad spadonum exilitatem vox nostra tenuetur, Quint. 11, 3, 19; so, vocem,id. 11, 3, 32.
* Trop., to make small or trifling, to lessen, diminish, reduce, weaken, enfeeble: utque meae famam tenuent oblivia culpae,Ov. Tr. 3, 11, 65: iram,id. H. 20, 73: vires amoris,id. M. 5, 374: magna modis tenuare parvis,to lessen, degrade,Hor. C. 3, 3, 72: gesta tanti viri enumerando,Pac. Pan. ad Theod. 5; Claud. IV. Cons. Hon. 127: dicite, quo pariter carmen tenuastis in antro,have spun out a slight elegiac poem,Prop. 3 (4), 1, 5. cf.: Maximo carmen tenuare tanto,Stat. S. 4, 7, 2; v. tenuis, II. B.