(verb) : tondĕo, tŏtondi, tonsum, 2 (collat. form acc. to the third conj.: OVES TONDVNTVR, Calend. ap. Grut. 138), for tomdeo; root in Gr. τέμνω, to cut
* To shear, clip, crop, to shave, etc.
* Lit.: barbam et capillum,Cic. Tusc. 5, 20, 58; so, barbam,Mart. 11, 39, 3: capillum,Ov. M. 8, 151: cutem,Hor. Ep. 1, 18, 7: os,Cat. 61, 139: ovem,Plaut. Merc. 3, 1, 28; Hor. Epod. 2, 16; Verg. G. 3, 443; Plin. 18, 27, 67, § 257; cf. lanam,Hor. C. 3, 15, 14: naevos in facie,Plin. 28, 4, 6, § 34: saltatrix tonsa, i. e. with hair clipped short (of the Consul Gabinius), Cic. Pis. 8, 18; cf.: tonsus puer or minister, cropped, i. e. common, mean, Mart. 10, 98, 9; 11, 11, 3: ad alta tonsum templa cum reum misit, i. e. acquitted (prop. without the untrimmed hair of accused persons), id. 2, 74, 3.—Mid.: lavamur et tondemur et convivimus ex consuetudine,Quint. 1, 6, 44.— Absol.: ne tonsori collum committeret, tondere filias suas docuit,Cic. Tusc. 5, 20, 58.—And in reflex. sense: ut decrescente lunā tondens calvus fiam,shaving myself,Varr. R. R. 1, 37, 2: candidior postquain tondenti barba cadebat,Verg. E. 1, 29.
* Transf.
* To crop, lop, prune, trim: ille comam mollis jam tondebat hyacinthi,was cropping,Verg. G. 4, 137: violas manu,Prop. 3, 13, 29: vitem in pollicem,Col. 4, 21, 3: oleas, vites,Plin. 15, 1, 2, § 4: balsamum,id. 12, 25, 54, § 112: ilicem bipennibus,to lop,Hor. C. 4, 4, 57: myrtos,Quint. 8, 3, 8.
* To mow, reap: tonsas cessare novales patiere,after harvest,Verg. G. 1, 71: nocte arida prata Tondentur,id. ib. 1, 290: tondeturque seges maturos annua partus,Tib. 4, 1, 172: tonsam verrit humum,Ov. R. Am. 192; Sen. Phoen. 130.
* To crop, to graze, feed, or browse upon, to eat off; to pluck, gather, cull (poet.): ex uno tondentes gramina campo Lanigerae pecudes,Lucr. 2, 660: pabula (pecudes),id. 2, 317: dumeta (juvenci),Verg. G. 1, 15: campum late (equi),id. A. 3, 538: viridantia gramina morsu,id. Cul. 49: tondentes comam fluvii capellae,App. M. 5, p. 169, 37: jecur rostro (vultur),Verg. A. 6, 598: ales avida fecundum jecur,Sen. Agam. 18; cf. in a Greek constr.: illa autem, quae tondetur praecordia rostro Alitis,Sil. 13, 839.
* As in Engl., to shave, fleece, for to deprive, plunder (very rare): adibo hunc . . . itaque tondebo auro usque ad vivam cutem,Plaut. Bacch. 2, 3, 8: tondens purpureā regna paterna comā,Prop. 3, 19 (4, 18), 22.