dēscriptĭo, ōnis (in MSS. and edd. often confounded with discriptio, v. infra), f. [describo] (freq. in Cic.), a marking out, delineation, copy, transcript: in concreto.
I Lit. (rare): eadem caeli descriptio, Cic. Rep. 6, 22; cf. id. ib. 1, 14: explicate descriptionem imaginemque tabularum, id. Verr. 2, 2, 77 fin. In plur.: numeris aut descriptionibus aliquid explicare, id. Tusc. 1, 17: volutarum, sketches, drawings , Vitr. 3, 3: orbis terrarum, maps , id. 8, 2 et saep. —Far more freq.,
II Trop.
A A representation, delineation, description : nominis brevis et aperta descriptio, Cic. Inv. 2, 18: dilucida locorum, Quint. 9, 2, 44: regionum, id. 4, 3, 12: Siciliae, id. 11, 3, 164: convivii luxuriosi, id. 8, 3, 66 et saep.—In rhetor., the delineating of character , Cic. Top. 22, 83; id. de Or. 3, 53, 205; Quint. 9, 1, 31; cf. Auct. Her. 4, 39, 51.—
B A proper disposition, order, arrangement : via descriptionis atque ordinis (in oratione), id. de Or. 2, 9, 36: aedificandi, id. Off. 1, 39; legionum et auxiliorum, Suet. Tib. 30: descriptio centuriarum classiumque non erat, Liv. 4, 4, 2: populi, Vulg. 2 Reg. 24, 9.—In plur.: descriptiones temporum, id. Ac. 1, 3, 19 et saep. (Descriptio is often found in MSS. and edd. in the sense of distribution, division; but here the proper form is discriptio, e. g. Cic. Rep. 2, 22; id. de Off. 1, 7, 21 saep.)