sĕrĭes (no gen. or dat.), em, ē, f. [2. sero], a row, succession, series; a chain of things fastened or holding together (syn. ordo).
I In gen.
A Lit. (mostly post - class.; not in Cic.); with gen.: series vinculorum, Curt. 3, 1, 17: structurae dentium, Plin. 7, 16, 15, § 70: sparsa ramorum, id. 11, 37, 69, § 182: longe porrecta viarum, Stat. S. 3, 3, 102: juvenum (in dancing), Tib. 1, 3, 63: omnis nepotum A Belo series, Sil. 1, 88: custodiarum, Suet. Calig. 27: prolixa series capillorum, Ap. Met. 2, 9, 11.— Absol. : ferreae laminae serie inter se conexae, Curt. 4, 9, 3; 7, 3, 21.—
B Trop., a series , chain , connection , train , sequence , course , etc. (class., but for the most part only in the sing.).
α With gen.: continuatio seriesque rerum, Cic. N. D. 1, 4, 9: fatum est ordo seriesque causarum, id. Div. 1, 55, 125: fatum est sempiterna quaedam series rerum et catena, etc., Gell. 6, 2, 1: rerum sententiarumque, Cic. Leg. 1, 19, 52: tanta series artis est, id. Part. Or. 39, 137: in complexu loquendi serieque, Quint. 1, 5, 3: disputationum, Cic. de Or. 2, 16, 68: fati, Ov. M. 15, 152: immensa laborum, id. H. 9, 5: malorum, id. M. 4, 563: longissima rerum, Verg. A. 1, 641: fabularum, Ap. Met. 1, 26, 16.—Of time (poet. and in post-Aug. prose): innumerabilis annorum, Hor. C. 3, 30, 5: temporis, Ov. Tr. 4, 10, 54: per longam saeculorum seriem, Tac. H. 1, 2: in tantā saeculorum serie, Just. 44, 2, 7: per tam longam seriem annorum, Col. 3, 10, 6; 4, 19, 1: cum omnis temporum series ex historiis colligatur, Lact. 4, 5, 8; 4, 10, 3.— Plur. : simulantes fictas litium, series, Vell. 2, 118: litium, Suet. Vesp. 10.—
β Absol. , Quint. 5, 14, 32: cetera series deinde sequitur, majora nectens, ut haec: Si homo est, animal est, etc., Cic. Ac. 2 ( Luc. ), 7, 21: quae bene composita erunt, memoriam serie sua ducent, Quint. 11, 2, 39: haec erit aeternae series ab origine Romae, Aus. Epigr. 140, 2.—Of the connection of words: tantum series juncturaque pollet, Hor. A. P. 242.—
II In partic., an unbroken line of descent , lineage (poet. and in post-Aug. prose): ab Jove tertius Ajax. Nec tamen haec series in causā prosit, Ov. M. 13, 29: digne vir hac serie, id. P. 3, 2, 109: serie fulcite genus, Prop. 4 (5), 11, 69; Val. Max. 2, 7, 5.