coepto, āvi, ātum, 1, v. freq. a. and n. [coepi] (mostly poet., and in Tac.; in Cic. in prose only once, apparently for a change with coepit and incipit).
I Act. , to begin eagerly , to begin , undertake , attempt.
a With inf.: diffidere dictis, Lucr. 1, 267: oculi coeptant non posse tueri, id. 4, 113; 4, 405; 6, 255: contingere portus, Cic. Arat. 131: appetere ea, quae, etc., id. Fin. 5, 9, 24 (v. the passage in connection): coercere seditionem, Tac. H. 2, 29: loqui, id. ib. 3, 10; 3, 81; 5, 10: discedere et abire, * Suet. Oth. 11; Sil. 15, 696.—
b With acc.: quid coeptas, Thraso? Ter. Eun. 1025; id. Phorm. 626; and (acc. to Bentley's correction) id. Heaut. 734: seditionem, Tac. A. 1, 38; 1, 45; 2, 81: defectionem, id. ib. 4, 24: fugam, id. H. 3, 73: pontem, id. A. 1, 56: coeptata libertas, id. H. 4, 44.—
II Intr. , to begin , commence , make a beginning (only post-Aug. and rare): coeptantem conjurationem disjecit, Tac. A. 4, 27; id. H. 3, 4: Olympiade septimā coeptante, Sol. 1: nocte coeptante, Amm. 20, 4, 14.