nĕco, āvi, ātum (perf. necuit, Enn. ap. Prisc. p. 861 P.; v. infra; part. nectus, Ser. Samm. 33, 627; cf. Diom. p. 362 P.), 1, v. a. [Sanscr. naç, disappear; Gr. νέκυς, corpse, νεκρός, dead], to kill, slay, put to death, destroy (usually without a weapon, by poison, hunger, etc.; cf.: occido, interficio, interimo, perimo).
I Lit.: neci datus proprie dicitur, qui sine vulnere interfectus est, ut veneno aut fame, Paul. ex Fest. p. 162 Müll.: occisum a necato distingui quidam volunt, quod alterum a caedendo atque ictu fieri dicunt, alterum sine ictu, id. s. v. occisum, p. 178 ib.: necare aliquem odore taetro, Lucr. 6, 787: plebem fame, Cic. Q. Fr. 2, 3, 2: legatum P. R. vinculis ac verberibus necavit, id. Imp. Pomp. 5, 11: aliquem igni, Caes. B. G. 1, 53: aliquem ferro, Hor. S. 2, 7, 58; Verg. A. 8, 488: veneno, Suet. Ner. 43: securi Gell. 17, 21, 17; Juv. 10, 316: suspendiosa fame, Plin. 8, 37, 56, § 134: vidissem nullos, matre necante, dies, Ov. Am. 2, 14, 22: homines in ventre necandos conducit, Juv. 6, 596: colubra necuit hominem, Phaedr. 4, 14, 4.—Of impersonal subjects: hos pestis necuit, pars occidit illa duellis, Enn. ap. Prisc. p. 861 P. (Ann. v. 549 Vahl.): lien necat, renes dolent, Plaut. Curc. 2, 1, 21: radices herbarum vomere, Col. 2, 4, 1: salsi imbres necant frumenta, Plin. 31, 4, 29, § 52: hedera arbores, id. 16, 44, 92, § 243; cf. Laber. ap. Macr. Sat. 2, 7: aquae flammas necant, quench , Plin. 31, 1, 1, § 2; to drown (late Lat.): deducti ad torrentem necati sunt, Sulp. Sev. Hist. 1.—
II Trop.: quid te coërces et necas rectam indolem, i. e. thwart, check , Sen. Hippol. 454.—So to worry or bore to death with talking, Plaut. Bacch. 5, 2, 43 (cf.: occidis saepe rogando, Hor. Epod. 14, 5).