dē-volvo, volvi, vŏlūtum, 3, v. a., to roll or tumble down (class.).
I Lit.: saxa in musculum, Caes. B. C. 2, 11, 1, and 2; cf. saxa (amnis), Quint. 12, 10, 61: auratas trabes, Verg. A. 2, 449: tonitrua, i. e. to imitate it (by rolling down balls behind the scenes), Phaedr. 5, 7, 23: clipeos e muris, Curt. 4, 3 fin. : panem ex igne, Cat. 59, 4: corpora in humum, Ov. M. 7, 574: se toris, Val. Fl. 1, 235 et saep.—Poet.: fusis mollia pensa, i. e. to spin off , Verg. G. 4, 349.—
b Pass. in mid. force, to roll itself down, to roll or tumble down, to fall headlong : monte praecipiti devolutus torrens, Liv. 28, 6; cf. Col. 1, 5, 2; Curt. 5, 3: jumenta cum oneribus devolvebantur, Liv. 21, 33: ex praecipiti, Curt. 7, 11.—
II Trop.: aliquem vitā suā, to remove from, i. e. to deprive of , Plaut. Men. 5, 5, 5: per audaces nova dithyrambos Verba devolvit (the figure being taken from a river), Hor. Od. 4, 2, 11.—
b Mid., to sink down, fall into : ad spem inanem pacis devoluti, * Cic. Phil. 7, 4, 13: retro ad stirpem, Liv. 1, 47: ad otium et inertiam, Col. 1 prooem. § 29: devolvuntur, hasten down , Amm. 15, 10, 4.