răpax, ācis, adj. [rapio], grasping, greedy of plunder, rapacious.
I Lit. (class.; syn. furax): vos rapaces, vos praedones, Plaut. Men. 5, 7, 26; id. Pers. 3, 3, 6: olim furunculus, nunc vero etiam rapax, Cic. Pis. 27, 66; so with fur , id. Verr. 2, 3, 2, § 4: inopiā rapax, Suet. Dom. 3: procuratorum rapacissimum quemque, id. Vesp. 16; cf. Tac. H. 1, 20: Cinara, i. e. eager for presents , Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 33; so Tib. 1, 5, 59; 2, 4, 25: cervi, luporum praeda rapacium, Hor. C. 4, 4, 50; id. Epod. 16, 20; cf. Harpyiae, id. S. 2, 2, 40.— As subst.: răpax , ācis, comm., a beast of prey , Plin. 11, 45, 101, § 247.—
2 Of things, rapacious , ravenous (mostly poet.): falces rapaces, Lucr. 3, 650: ventus, Ov. A. A. 1, 388: ignis, id. M. 8, 837: mors, Tib. 1, 3, 65; cf. Orcus, Hor. C. 2, 18, 30: fortuna, id. ib. 1, 34, 14: dentes, fangs , tusks , Veg. 6, 1, 1.—With gen.: chryselectrum rapacissimum ignium, very ignitible , Plin. 37, 3, 12, § 51.—As a poet. epithet of floods: amnes, Lucr. 5, 341: fluvii, id. 1, 17: unda, Cic. poët. N. D. 3, 10, 24: undae, Ov. M. 8, 550: Danubius, id. ad Liv. 397.— Hence, transf., an appellation of the twenty-first legion and the soldiers composing it (qs. that sweeps every thing before it ), Tac. H. 2, 43; 100; 3, 14; 18; 22.—
II Trop. (rare), with gen., grasping , seizing eagerly or quickly , greedy , avaricious : nihil est rapacius quam natura, Cic. Lael. 14, 50: rapacia virtutis ingenia, Sen. Ep. 95, 36: nostri omnium utilitatum et virtutum rapacissimi, Plin. 25, 2, 2, § 4.