ā-vello, velli or vulsi, vulsum or volsum, 3, v. a. (pluperf. avellerat, Curt. 5, 6, 5; perf. avulsi, Luc. 9, 764), to tear off or away, to pull or rend off (syn.: abripio, eximo).
I In gen. (class.): avellere tigna trabesque, to tear away planks and beams , Lucr. 6, 241: avolsaque saxa Montibus, the rocks rent from the mountains , id. 4, 141: avolsum umeris caput, Verg. A. 2, 558; so Ov. M. 3, 727; 2, 358: avolsos silices a montibus altis, Lucr. 5, 313: avolsus radicibus oculus, id. 3, 563: poma ex arboribus, si cruda sunt, vix avelluntur; si matura et cocta, decidunt, Cic. Sen. 19, 71; id. Verr. 2, 4, 49 fin. : Cum ripa simul avolsos ferat Aufidus acer, Hor. S. 1, 1, 58; 2, 8, 89: Avellit frondes, Ov. M. 2, 351: summitatem frondium ejus avulsit, Vulg. Ezech. 17, 4 al.: Ex eā avolsa postea Therasia, Plin. 4, 12, 23, § 70: Euboea avolsa Boeotiae, id. 4, 12, 21, § 63.—
II Esp.
A To take away by force , to tear away : rus ab aliquo, Ter. Eun. 520: pretium alicui, Hor. S. 1, 2, 104: fatale sacrato avellere templo Palladium, Verg. A. 2, 165: fundum emptori, Dig. 23, 7, 17; 40, 7, 3: avellamus eum ad nos, Vulg. Isa. 7, 6; so of carrying off the bride, Cat. 62, 21 Ellis.—
B To separate from something by pulling , to part , to remove : aliquem de matris complexu avellere atque abstrahere, Cic. Font. 17: ab uberibus avellere, to wean , Vulg. Isa. 28, 9: ut sperem posse (eum) avelli, Ter. And. 553: Non potes avelli! simul, ah, simul ibimus, inquit, Ov. Tr. 1, 3, 81: complexu avolsus Iuli, Verg. A. 4, 616: ut avellerentur castris, Tac. A. 1, 44: se, to tear one’s self away , Ter. Hec. 554.— And in pass. without the notion of violence, to withdraw : Et ipse avulsus est ab eis, Vulg. Luc. 22, 41 Tisch.—Trop.: aliquem a tanto errore, Cic. Off. 3, 4, 83.