unda, ae, f. [Sanscr. root ud-, und-, to be wet; whence, uda, water; Angl. -Sax. ydhu, wave; Slav. voda, water; Gr. ὕδωρ, ὑάδες; Goth. vatō, water], a wave, billow, surge (syn. fluctus).
I Lit.: mare plenum undarum, Plaut. Mil. 2, 6, 33: unda, cum est pulsa remis, purpurascit, Cic. Fragm. ap. Non. 162, 30: via, quae fert Acherontis ad undas, Verg. A. 6, 295; Lucr. 1, 374; 1, 380; 3, 494; Hor. C. 1, 12, 32; 4, 14, 20; id. Ep. 2, 2, 176; Ov. M. 1, 570.— Collect.: prora remissa subito navem undae adfligebat, Liv. 24, 34, 11.—
B Transf.
1 In gen.
a Water , moisture (mostly poet.; cf.: aqua, lympha): (Proteus) flumen eras, interdum undis contrarius ignis, Ov. M. 8, 737: fontis in undā, id. ib. 4, 98; cf.: fons tenui perlucidus undā, id. ib. 3, 161: (Noti) canis fluit unda capillis, id. ib. 1, 266: nivales, snow-water , Mart. 14, 118, 1: ignem Pollux undamque jugalem Praetulit, fire and water , as symbols of housekeeping, Val. Fl. 8, 245, hence, faciunt justos ignis et unda viros, i. e. real , proper husbands , Ov. A. A. 2, 598.—
b A fluid , liquid. manans naribus unda Sangninis, Sil. 10, 245: preli, i. e. oil , Plin. 15, 1, 2, § 5: croci, Mart. 8, 33, 4; 13, 40, 1.—Cf the lava from Aetna, Lucil. Aet. 303.—
2 Of wavelike things (poet.): aëriae, i. e. the air , Lucr. 2, 152: quā plurimus undam Fumus agit, Verg. A. 8, 257.—Of a lion's mane, Mart. 8, 55, 10.—
3 In architecture, for the Gr. cymatium (κυμάτιον, a little wave), a talon , ogee , Vitr. 5, 7.—
II Trop., of the wavelike agitation of a multitude, etc., a surge , billow , stream , tide , = aestus: campus atque illae undae comitiorum, Cic. Planc. 6, 15: nunc agilis fio et mersor civilibus undis, Hor. Ep. 1, 1, 16: adversis rerum immersabilis undis, id. ib. 1, 2, 22: curarum, Cat. 64, 62: bellorum, Claud. in Eutr. 2, 507: salutantūm unda, a stream , crowd , throng , Verg. G. 2, 462; so, undae Boiorum, Sil. 4, 159.