flŭvĭus (in inscrr. also written FLOVIOS), ii (gen. plur.: fluvium, Val. Fl. 6, 391; flūviōrum scanned as a trisyllable, Verg. G. 1, 482), m. (access. form fluvia, ae, f., Sisenn. ap. Non. 207, 7 sq.) [fluo], a river.
I Lit. (class.; but much less freq. than flumen; not in Caes., who employs flumen several hundred times): postquam consistit fluvius, Enn. ap. Fronto Ep. de Orat. p. 129 ed. Nieb. (Ann. v. 68 ed. Vahl.): rapidus, Plaut. Men. prol. 64; id. Bacch. 1, 1, 52: de fluvio aquam derivare, id. Truc. 2, 7, 12: apud Hypanim fluvium, qui ab Europae parte in Pontum influit, Cic. Tusc. 1, 39, 94: Eurotas, id. Inv. 2, 31, 96: Sagra, id. N. D. 2, 2, 6: Atratus, id. Div. 1, 43, 98: Taurus, Liv. 38, 15, 7 Drak. N. cr. : ultra Albim fluvium, Suet. Aug. 21: se fluvio dea condidit alto, Verg. A. 12, 886: fluvio succedit opaco, id. ib. 7, 36: fluvium vinclis innaret Cloelia ruptis, id. ib. 8, 651: fluvio cum forte secundo Deflueret, id. ib. 7, 494: nec fluvii strepunt hibernā nive turgidi, Hor. C. 4, 12, 3 al.; of the Styx, Verg. A. 6, 384; 415; cf. Lethaeus, id. ib. 6, 749.—Prov.: quisnam istic fluvius est, quem non recipiat mare? Plaut. Curc. 1, 1, 86.—
II Transf., in gen., like flumen, for running water , a stream (poet. and in post-Aug. prose): arbuta sufficere et fluvios praebere recentes, Verg. G. 3, 301; cf. id. ib. 3, 126: purgatura malum fluvio vivente soporem, Stat. Th. 9, 574: perfusa certo fluvio terra, Plin. 34, 14, 41, § 142.