cŭnĕus, i, m. [cf. Sanscr. çā, çān, to sharpen; Lat. cos, cautes], a wedge.
I Prop., Cato R. R. 10, 3; 11, 4; Att. ap. Cic. Tusc. 2, 10, 23; Verg. G. 1, 144; Hor. C. 1, 35, 18: jamque labant cunei, i. e. the plugs or wedges by which the ship's hull was made tight , Ov. M. 11, 514: Britannia in cuneum tenuatur, is shaped like a wedge , Tac. Agr. 10; cf. cuneo, II.—*
B Trop.: hoc cuneo veritatis omnis extruditur haeresis, Tert. adv. Marc. 1, 21 fin. —
II Meton.
A Troops drawn up for battle in the form of a wedge , Caes. B. G. 6, 39; Liv. 2, 50, 9; 10, 29, 7 al.; Tac. A. 1, 51; id. H. 2, 42; id. G. 6 sq.; Quint. 2, 13, 4; Verg. A. 12, 269; 12, 575 al.; cf. Veg. Mil. 1, 26; 3, 19; of the Macedonian phalanx: cohortes invicem sub signis, quae cuneum Macedonicum (phalangem ipsi vocant) si possent, vi perrumperent, emittebat, Liv. 32, 17, 11; and Dict. of Antiq.—So of a mob: turbandae rei causā publicani cuneo inruperunt, Liv. 25, 3, 18; of a flight of geese, Plin. 10, 23, 32, § 63.—
B The wedge-form division of the rows of seats in a theatre , Vitr. 5, 6: ad tumulum cuneosque theatri perferre, etc., Verg. A. 5, 664; Suet. Aug. 44; Juv. 6, 61; cf. Dict. of Antiq.—Hence, *
2 Transf., the spectators : ut vero cuneis notuit res omnibus, all the boxes , Phaedr. 5, 8, 35.—
C In architecture, the wedge-like space between the different painted or inlaid panels in walls , Vitr. 7, 4, 4; 7, 5, 1.