rŏto, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. and n. [rota].
I Act. , to turn a thing round like a wheel; to swing round , whirl about (poet. and in post-Aug. prose; cf. torqueo).
A Lit.: Learchum bis terque per auras More rotat fundae, Ov. M. 4, 517; cf. id. ib. 9, 217; id. A. A. 2, 374: jactare caput et comas excutientem rotare, fanaticum est, Quint. 11, 3, 71: sanguineos orbes (i. e. oculos), to roll about , Val. Fl. 4, 235: ensem fulmineum, to brandish (in order to add force to the blow), Verg. A. 9, 441: telum, Liv. 42, 65, 10: telum in ora loquentis, Stat. Th. 9, 802: clipeum, Val Fl. 6, 551: saxa, Sen. Q. N. 3, 27, 6: flammam (venti), Lucr. 6, 202; cf.: (venti) trudunt res ante rapidique rotanti turbine portant, in a whirling tornado , id. 1, 295: flammae fumum, Hor. C. 4, 11, 11: se in vulnus (ursa), Luc. 6, 222: conreptum rotatumque sternit, Plin. 8, 16, 19, § 51.— Mid., to turn or go round in a circle , to roll round , revolve : Tyrrheni greges circumque infraque rotantur, Stat. Ach. 1, 56: circum caput igne rotato, Ov. M. 12, 296: poterisne rotatis Obvius ire polis? id. ib. 2, 74; cf.: nivibus rotatis (with glomerari), id. ib. 9, 221: sphaerico motu in orbem rotari, Macr. Somn. Scip. 2, 14, 31.— *
B Trop.: aut curtum sermone rotato Torqueat enthymema, round , compact , concise , Juv. 6, 449: sic ordinem fati rerum aeterna series rotat, Sen. Q. N. 2, 35, 2.—
II Neutr. , = rotari, to turn or roll round , to revolve (very rare): parte ex aliā, quā saxa rotantia late Impulerat torrens, Verg. A. 10, 362 Serv. (cf.: volventia plaustra, id. G. 1, 163); so of a peacock spreading its tail out like a wheel, Col. 8, 11, 8.