abs-cēdo, cessi, cessum, 3, v. n. (sync. abscēssem = abscessissem, Sil. 8, 109), to go off or away, to depart.
I Lit.
A In gen.: abscede hinc, sis, sycophanta, Plaut. Poen. 1, 2, 162: meo e conspectu, id. Capt. 2, 3, 74: numquam senator a curiā abscessit aut populus e foro, Liv. 27, 50, 4; so, a corpore (mortui), Tac. A. 1, 7; cf. id. ib. 3, 5: ut abscesserit inde (i. e. e castris) dictator, Liv. 22, 25, 9: illorum navis longe in altum abscesserat, Plaut. Rud. prol. 66.
B In partic.
1 Milit. t. t., to march off , to depart , retire : non prius Thebani Spartā abscessissent quam, etc., Nep. Iphicr. 2 fin. : longius ab urbe hostium, Liv. 3, 8, 8; cf.: a moenibus Alexandriae, id. 44, 19, 11.— Absol. : si urgemus obsessos, si non ante abscedimus quam, etc., Liv. 5, 4, 10; so Nep. Epam. 9.— Impers. : abscedi ab hoste, Liv. 22, 33, 10; cf. id. 27, 4, 1: nec ante abscessum est quam, etc., id. 29, 2, 16; so, a moenibus abscessum est, id. 45, 11, 7: manibus aequis abscessum, Tac. A. 1, 63.
2 To disappear , withdraw , be lost from view : cor (est) in extis: jam abscedet, simul ac, etc., will disappear , Cic. Div. 2, 37 fin. —Poet.: Pallada abscessisse mihi, has withdrawn from me , from my power , Ov. M. 5, 375.—Of stars, to set , Plin. 2, 17, 14, § 72 al.
3 Of localities, to retire , recede , retreat : quantum mare abscedebat, retired , Liv. 27, 47 fin. ; so in architecture: frontis et laterum abscedentium adumbratio, of the sides in the background , Vitr. 1, 2, 2; so id. 7, praef. 11.
4 With respect to the result, to retire , to escape : abscedere latere tecto, to escape with a whole skin , Ter. Heaut. 672.
II Fig., to leave off , retire , desist from , constr. with ab , the simple abl., or absol. : labor ille a vobis cito recedet, benefactum a vobis non abscedet (followed by abibit), Cato ap. Gell. 16, 1 fin. ; so, cito ab eo haec ira abscedet, Ter. Hec. 781.— With abl. only: haec te abscedat suspicio, Plaut. Ep. 2, 2, 100: abscedere irrito incepto, to desist from , Liv. 20, 7, 1.— Absol. : aegritudo abscesserit, Plaut. Merc. 1, 2, 29; so, somnus, Ov. F. 3, 307: imago, Plin. Ep. 7, 27, 6: ille abscessit (sc. petitione sua), desisted from the action , Tac. A. 2, 34: ne quid abscederet (sc. de hereditate), Suet. Ner. 34; so, semper abscedente usufructu, Dig. 7, 1, 3, § 2.