hāmus, i, m. [kindr. with ἁπ-, ἅπτω], a hook.
I Lit.
A In gen.: taleae pedem longae, ferreis hamis infixis, totae in terram infodiebantur, Caes. B. G. 7, 73 fin. : hamis ferreis pectitur stupa, heckles , Plin. 19, 1, 3, § 17: loricam consertam hamis, little hooks , Verg. A. 3, 467.—
B In partic.
1 A fish-hook; hence, in gen., an angle (so most freq.): hisce hami atque haec harundines sunt nobis quaestu, Plaut. Rud. 2, 1, 5: divine Plato escam malorum appellat voluptatem, quod ea videlicet homines capiantur, ut pisces hamo, * Cic. de Sen. 13, 44 (al. om. hamo; cf. Klotz in h. l.): occultum visus decurrere piscis ad hamum, Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 74; 1, 16, 51; Ov. M. 3, 586; 15, 101; id. H. 19, 13 et saep.: instrumento piscatoris legato, ... hami quoque et cetera ejusmodi usibus destinata debentur, Paul. Sent. 3, 6, 66.—
b Transf., as a figure of enticement, allurement, artifice (poet. and in post-Aug. prose): meus hic est: hamum vorat, Plaut. Truc. 1, 1, 21; id. Curc. 3, 61: si vafer unus et alter Insidiatorem praeroso fugerit hamo, Hor. S. 2, 5, 25: munera magna quidem misit, sed misit in hamo, Mart. 6, 63, 5; cf.: munera illitos cibis hamos aemulabantur, Plin. Pan. 43 fin. (for which: viscata hamataque munera, id. Ep. 9, 30, 2).—
2 A hook as a surgical instrument, Cels. 7, 7, 15.—
II Transf., of things hooked or crooked, the talons of a hawk, Ov. M. 11, 342; thorns , id. de Nuce, 115; a kind of pastry. Ap. Met. 10, 13, 22.