baltĕus, i, m., more rare baltĕum, i, n. (in plur. baltea was generally used in the poets metri gr.; and in ante-class. prose balteum, e. g. Varr. L. L. 5, § 116 Müll.; Non. p. 194, 21; Charis. p. 59 P.) [acc. to Varr. ap. Charis. 1. 1. a Tuscan word; but cf. O. H. Germ. balz; Engl. belt] (not in Cic.).
I Lit., a girdle , belt; esp. a swordbelt , or the band passing over the shoulder (cf. Quint. 11, 3, 140; Dict. of Antiq.): baltea, Att. ap. Non. p. 194, 21; Varr. ib.: infelix umero cum apparuit alto Balteus, Verg. A. 12, 942: lato quam circumplectitur auro Balteus, id. ib. 5, 313 Serv.; 12, 274: verutum in balteo defigitur, Caes. B. G. 5, 44: aurata baltea illis erant, Liv. H. ap. Non. p. 194, 21: gregarius miles viatica sua et balteos phalerasque loco pecuniae tradebant, Tac. H. 1, 57 fin. ; Vulg. Exod. 28, 39: regum, ib. Job, 12, 18.—
B Poet., like ζωστήρ, a woman’s girdle; so of that of Amazonian queens at Thermodon, Ov. M. 9, 189; the girdle of the wife of Cato , Luc. 2, 362; of Venus , Mart. 14, 207.—
C The girdle of the Jewish high-priest , Vulg. Exod. 28, 4.—
D The girdle or belly-band of a horse, = cingula, Claud. Epigr. 21, 2; Ap. Met. 10, 18, 21.—
II Transf., that which surrounds like a girdle , a border , rim , edge , circle.
A The belt of the heavens , the zodiac : stellatus balteus, Manil. 1, 677; 3, 334.—
B The edge , the crust of a cake , Cato R. R. 76, 3, and 78.—
C The bark of the willow , Plin. 16, 37, 68, § 174.—
D = praecinctio, and Gr. διάζωμα, the vacant space between the seats in the amphitheatre , Calp. Ecl. 4, 47; Tert. Spect. 3.—
E Baltei pulvinorum, in architecture, the broad bands by which the cushions upon Ionic capitals are , as it were, held together , Vitr. 3, 5, 7.—
F A strapping , blow with a belt : quoties rumoribus ulciscantur Baltea, Juv. 9, 112.