sicco, āvi, ātum, 1, v. a. and n. [siccus].
I Act. , to make dry , to dry , to dry up.
A In gen. (freq. and class.): venti et sol siccare prius confidunt omnia posse, Lucr. 5, 390; cf.: sol siccaverat herbas, Ov. M. 4, 82: siccabat rorantes capillos, id. F. 4, 141: sole capillos, id. M. 11, 770; Plin. 27, 9, 55, § 79: aliquid in sole, Col. 12, 46, 5; Plin. 12, 13, 27, § 47: aliquid ad lunam, id. 21, 11, 36, § 62: lina madentia, Ov. M. 13, 931: retia litore, id. ib. 11, 362: vellera, Verg. E. 3, 95: veste cruores, id. A. 4, 687: cruorem, Gell. 5, 14, 22: lacrimas, Prop. 1, 19, 23; Ov. M. 8, 469; 9, 395; id. F. 3, 509: jocis lacrimas siccare, Quint. 11, 1, 6 al.: genas, Ov. M. 10, 362: frontem sudario, Quint. 11, 3, 148.—
B Esp.
1 To dry up , drain land, marshes, springs, etc.: paludes, Cic. Phil. 5, 3, 7; so, paludem, Quint. 3, 8, 16; Suet. Caes. 44: amnes, Ov. M. 2, 257: fontes, id. ib. 13, 690; cf.: palustria aestate siccantur, Plin. 12, 22, 48, § 104: agri siccati, drained lands , lands uncovered by draining , Suet. Claud. 20: dea Sidereo siccata sitim collegit ab aestu, parched , Ov. M. 6, 341.—
2 To exhaust , drain dry , etc. (poet.): ovis ubera, Verg. E. 2, 42; so, distenta ubera, Hor. Epod. 2, 46; for which, transf.: distentas siccant pecudes, Luc. 4, 314; so, siccata ovis, i. e. milked , Ov. Am. 3, 5, 14: calices, i. e. to drain , empty , Hor. S. 2, 6, 68; so, cadis siccatis, id. C. 1, 35, 27; cf.: cum siccare sacram largo Permessida posset Ore, to drink deeply from the fountain of the Muses , i. e. to be a great poet , Mart. 8, 70, 3.—In Gr. construction: Arethusa virides manu siccata capillos, Ov. M. 5, 575.—
3 To dry up , heal up , remore an unwholesome humor; or, to heal up , free some part of the body from an unwholesome humor (poet. and in the elder Pliny): ad pituitam oris siccandam. Plin. 23, 1, 13, § 17: suppurata, id. 36, 17, 28, § 133: strumas, id. 24, 4, 6, § 11: corpora, id. 31, 6, 33, § 62: os, id. 12, 12, 26, § 43: arterias umidas, id. 20, 14, 53, § 148; cf.: corpus pilā, i. e. to strengthen , invigorate , Lucil. ap. Non. 394, 29; v. siccitas, I. B. 3.: vulnera, Ov. M. 10, 187; cf.: ad fluminis undam Vulnera siccabat lymphis, Verg. A. 10, 834; for which, in a Gr. construction: juvenes siccati vulnera lymphis, Stat. Th. 1, 527.—
II Neutr. , to become dry , get dry (very rare): quotiens flumina et stagna siccaverint, Lact. 7, 3, 8: tundis cuminum et postea infundis in aceto; cum siccaverit, etc., Apic. 3, 18, § 105; 4, 2, § 132 al.— Impers. : ubi pluerit et siccaverit, Cato R. R. 112, 2.